By Selcuk Bugra Gokalp
ANKARA (AA) – The 2024 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Final Four will tip off on Friday, with four basketball clubs with rich pedigree facing off for a shot at the title: Real Madrid, Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens, Olympiacos Piraeus and Fenerbahce Beko.
The Spanish and Greek teams have won the championship multiple times, while the Turkish side has one title to its name.
Real Madrid are the record-holders with 11 titles from 20 final appearances; Olympiacos have three from nine finals; and Panathinaikos have six from seven finals.
Fenerbahce secured its sole championship by beating Olympiacos on home soil in 2017.
The Final Four games will be played at the Uber Arena in Germany’s capital Berlin until Sunday.
- Real Madrid
Real Madrid finished top in the regular season with 27 wins and seven losses, before sweeping aside Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz in the playoffs to book their third straight Final Four place.
The reigning champions led in scoring, rebounds, assists and the performance index ratings this season, while their French center Vincent Poirier is the season’s block leader with 1.5 blocks per game.
For captain Sergio Llull, this will be the 10th Final Four appearance of his career.
Real Madrid will face Olympiacos on Friday, a rematch of last season’s thrilling final that they won 79-78.
- Olympiacos
Olympiacos finished the regular season in fifth spot and eliminated another Spanish giant Barcelona in the playoffs.
Their French center Mostapha Fall is leading the 2-Point Field Goal Percentage of the season with 79.1%, while Greek small forward Kostas Papanikolaou will be making his eighth Final Four appearance.
Papanikolaou won back-to-back EuroLeague titles with Olympiacos in 2012 and 2013.
- Panathinaikos
Panathinaikos, currently coached by Ergin Ataman from Türkiye, finished the regular season second behind Real Madrid.
They beat Israeli side Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv 3-2 in the playoffs to reach their first Final Four since 2012.
Their star players will be Kendrick Nunn, this season’s free throw percentage leader with 95.7%, and veteran guard Kostas Sloukas, who will be making his 10th Final Four appearance.
Panathinaikos will take on Fenerbahce on Friday.
- Fenerbahce
Fenerbahce squeaked into this year’s Final Four, first finishing the regular season in sixth place and then edging out French side Monaco 80-79 in Game 5 of their playoff series.
The standout trio for the Turkish club are point guard Nick Calathes and center Georgios Papagiannis, both former Panathinaikos players, and Tarik Biberovic, this season’s 3-Point Field Goal Percentage leader with 54.4%.
Their head coach Sarunas Jasikevicius was previously in charge of Panathinaikos, and he will be crucial in plotting a way past his former team as they clash on Friday.