By Selcuk Bugra Gokalp
The Turkish Airlines EuroLeague's 2023/2024 season is set to tip off on Thursday as holders Real Madrid stands out as the team that has won the most trophies.
The Spanish club won 11 trophies in the competition, which was formerly known as FIBA SuproLeague, then FIBA EuroLeague.
Real Madrid, which won their last trophy by beating Greece's Olympiacos in the final last season, bagged their first trophy in 1964.
Los Merengues won the competition in 1965, 1967, 1968, 1974, 1978, 1980, 1995, 2015 and 2018 as well.
- CSKA Moscow rank second with 8 trophies
Russian team CSKA Moscow follow Real Madrid with eight championships.
The Russian side, which beat Anadolu Efes 91-83 in the final of the 2018-2019 season, won the EuroLeague titles in 1961, 1963, 1969, 1971, 2006, 2008 and 2016.
Russian teams, which were expelled from the league in the 2021-2022 season due to the Russia-Ukraine war, will not be able to participate in the organization this season, as of the 2022-2023 season.
- Maccabi Tel Aviv, Panathinaikos have six championships each
Maccabi Tel Aviv and Panathinaikos have six championships each in the top-tier men's basketball league in Europe.
Maccabi, which reached final 15 times, clinched the trophy in 1977, 1981, 2001, 2004, 2005 and 2014.
Greek club Panathinaikos carried the trophy to their museum in 1996, 2000, 2002, 2007, 2009 and 2011.
Italy's Varese team won the cup five times.
- 2 champion clubs from Türkiye
Two different clubs from Türkiye won the EuroLeague championship.
Anadolu Efes won the competition back-to-back in 2021 and 2022, while Fenerbahce became the champions in 2017.
- Individual records
Maccabi Tel Aviv's US player Anthony Parker is the only player to win the EuroLeague Regular Season MVP award twice, by winning it back-to back in 2005 and 2006.
Croatian forward Toni Kukoc (Jugoplastika, Pop 84, Benetton Treviso) and Greek guard Vassilis Spanoulis (Panathinaikos, Olympiacos) both own record of the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Final Four MVP award wins with three awards each.
Spanoulis also owns the record of the most inclusion to the All-EuroLeague Team with eight selections.
The Greek athlete also dropped the most points in the competition with 4.335 and made the most assists with 1.558.
Lithuanian Paulius Jankunas have the most total rebounds of all-time with 2.010.