The EuroLeague, officially the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague, is a European men's professional basketball club competition. The league is widely recognised as the top-tier men's league in Europe. The league consists of 18 teams, of which 16 are given long-term licences and wild cards, making the league a semi-closed league. The league was first organized by FIBA in 1958, subsequently by ULEB in 2000 and then solely the Euroleague Basketball.
Maccabi Tel Aviv Basketball Club, known for sponsorship reasons as Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv, is a professional basketball club based in Tel Aviv, Israel. The team plays in the Israeli Basketball Premier League, and internationally in the EuroLeague. Maccabi Tel Aviv is known as one of the best teams in Europe, having won 6 Euroleague titles since joining, and having sent numerous players to the NBA draft.
Suzuki Arka Gdynia is a Polish professional basketball team, based in Gdynia. The team plays in the Polish PLK. The club's sponsorship name comes from the company Suzuki. Historically the team is one of the most successful in Poland, mainly because of the nine championships in a row the team won from 2004 to 2012.
Among all sportin Turkey, the most popular one is football. Turkey's top teams include Fenerbahçe, Galatasaray and Beşiktaş. In 2000, Galatasaray won the UEFA Cup and UEFA Super Cup. Two years later, the Turkish national team finished third in the 2002 FIFA World Cup Finals in Japan and South Korea, while in 2008, the national team reached the semi-finals of the UEFA Euro 2008 competition. The Atatürk Olympic Stadium in Istanbul hosted the 2005 and 2023 UEFA Champions League Final, while the Şükrü Saracoğlu Stadium in Istanbul hosted the 2009 UEFA Cup Final. Turkey will host the UEFA Euro 2032 along with Italy.
PAOK BC, commonly known in European competitions as PAOK, is the professional basketball department of the major Greek multi-sports club A.C. PAOK, which was founded in 1926, and is based in Thessaloniki. The club's basketball section was founded in 1928. The club's home arena is the PAOK Sports Arena, which is an indoor arena with a seating capacity of 8,142 people.
Club Baloncesto Málaga, S.A.D., for sponsorship reasons named Unicaja Málaga, is a Spanish professional basketball team that is based in Málaga, Spain. The team plays in the Liga ACB and the Basketball Champions League. The team is sponsored by the Spanish bank Unicaja.
Valencia Basket Club S.A.D., commonly known as Valencia Basket, is a professional basketball team based in Valencia, Spain. The team plays in the Liga ACB and the EuroCup, with home games played at the Font de Sant Lluís. The club is owned by retail tycoon Juan Roig.
Maroussi B.C. alternately translated as Marousi, Amaroussi, or Amaroussion, is a professional basketball club that is based in Marousi, a northern suburb of Athens, Greece. The club's full name is Gymnastikos Syllogos Maroussi Basketball Club, which is commonly abbreviated as G.S. Maroussi B.C.
Futebol Clube do Porto, commonly referred to as FC Porto, or simply Porto, is a Portuguese professional basketball team based in Porto. Created in 1926, it is the senior representative side of the basketball section of multi-sports club FC Porto. The team competes domestically in the Liga Portuguesa de Basquetebol (LPB) and internationally in FIBA Europe competitions, such as the Champions League and the FIBA Europe Cup. The team plays its home matches at the Dragão Arena, alongside the club's handball and roller hockey teams, and is managed by Portuguese head coach and former club player Fernando Sá since 2022.
Panathinaikos B.C., also known simply as Panathinaikos, currently also known as Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens for sponsorship reasons, is the professional basketball team of the major Athens-based multi-sport club Panathinaikos A.O. It is owned by the billionaire Giannakopoulos family.
The Swiss Basketball League, also known as SB League or SBL, is the top-tier professional club basketball league in Switzerland. It is organized by Swiss Basketball. The winners of the SBL are crowned Swiss national basketball champions. Currently, twelve teams compete in the league. Historically, Fribourg Olympic is the league's most successful team, as it has won a league-record 19 championships. Until 2017, the league was known as the Championnat LNA.
Khimik Yuzhne is a Ukrainian professional basketball club that is based in Yuzhne. The club plays in the Ukrainian Basketball SuperLeague. In 2006, the club reached the final of the EuroCup Challenge, where they were defeated by Ural Great Perm.
Peristeri B.C., or Peristeri Athens B.C. is a Greek professional basketball club that is located in Peristeri, Greece, which is both a city and a suburb in the western part of the Athens agglomeration. The club's full name is Gymnastikos Syllogos Peristeriou K.A.E.. It is a part of the G.S. Peristeri multi-sports club. The club was founded on October 22, 1971.
The 2000–01 Euroleague was the inaugural basketball season of the EuroLeague, under ULEB and its newly formed Euroleague Basketball Company authority. Overall it was the 44th season of the premier competition for European men's professional basketball clubs overall. Initially it was not recognised or sanctioned by FIBA and considered a breakaway competition. It started on October 16, 2000, with a regular season game between hosts Real Madrid Teka and Olympiacos, which was held at the Raimundo Saporta Pavilion, in Madrid, Spain, and it ended with the last championship finals game on May 10, 2001, which was held at the PalaMalaguti arena, in Bologna, Italy.
The 2001–02 Euroleague was the second season of the professional basketball competition for elite clubs throughout Europe, organised by Euroleague Basketball Company, and it was the 45th season of the premier competition for European men's clubs overall. The season started on October 10, 2001, and ended on May 5, 2002.
Basketballin Greece erupted with the win of the Greece men's national basketball team at the 1987 EuroBasket in Athens, which caused a general basketball euphoria in the country. Since then, the Greece men's national teams have achieved consistent international success, leading Greece to join Russia, Serbia, Croatia, Italy, Spain, France, and Lithuania in the circle of European basketball powers. In addition to the Greece national team's triumph in 1987, they won the gold medal at the 2005 EuroBasket, silver medals at the 1989 EuroBasket, and the 2006 FIBA World Cup, and the bronze medal at the 2009 EuroBasket.
Kristaps Janičenoks is a Latvian professional basketball player who currently plays for VEF Rīga. He also plays for the Latvian national basketball team.
FC Barcelona Bàsquet, commonly referred to as FC Barcelona and colloquially known as Barça, is a professional basketball team based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. It is a part of the FC Barcelona multi-sports club, and was founded on 24 August 1926, which makes it the oldest club in the Liga ACB. The team, which competes in the Liga ACB and the EuroLeague, is one of the most successful basketball teams domestically as well as internationally. Two times European champions, Barça completed a triple crown in 2003 by winning the season's league, cup and EuroLeague. Their home arena is the Palau Blaugrana, which was opened on 23 October 1971. They share the facilities with the roller hockey, futsal and handball teams of the club.
AS Viganello, also known as Viganello Basket was a Swiss men's and women's professional basketball club based in the city of Viganello. The club was played for several years in the National League A and won the Swiss men's championship in 1980 and the Swiss Men's Cup in 1977 and 1980.
AEK Basketball Club, also known as AEK B.C. or AEK, and more commonly known in European competitions as AEK Athens, is a Greek professional basketball club based in Athens, Greece, part of the major multi-sport club AEK. The club was established in Athens in 1924 by Greek refugees from Constantinople in the wake of the Greco-Turkish War (1919–1922).
