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Zeljko Obradovic
holds the 2002 Euroleague trophy while telling everyone that
he just won his fifth top continental title. Obradovic helped
Panathinaikos to win its third European Cup title - its second
in three years. He had previously won the competition with Partizan
in 1992, Joventut in 1994 and Real Madrid in 1995. With a sixth
title won with Panathinaikos won in 2007, Obradovic is the most
successful coach in European club basketball history. He is
just 48 years old and has plenty of time to keep lifting European
Cup trophies. PHOTO: Euroleague Basketball |
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Sarunas Jasikevicius celebrates
the 2003 Euroleague title with thousands of FC Barcelona fans
at Palau San Jordi, Spain. FC Barcelona had lost five European
Cup finals in the past but finally lifted the Euroleague trophy
on May 9, 2003. At the same time, Jasikevicius had just won
his first of three consecutive Euroleague titles. Nobody else
has achieved this goal since 1991, so it is safe to say that
"Saras" is nothing but a legendary player, as well as one of
the most charismatic players in European basketball history.
PHOTO: Euroleague Basketball |
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Maccabi won it all again and
became the 2005 Euroleague champion. It also became the first
team to successfully defend the Euroleague title since 1991,
downing Tau Ceramica 90-78 in the final. Sarunas Jasikevicius,
who was named MVP, led Maccabi with 22 points and whole lot
of floor leadership. Maceo Baston added 16 points for the winners,
who got a big boost off the bench in 13 first-half points from
Nestoras Kommatos. "Yellow is still in fashion in European basketball!",
Jasikevicius said right after the final. Maccabi had just won
its fifth European club title and its legend lives on. PHOTO:
Giorgos Matthaios, Euroleague Basketball |
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Dino Radja of Jugoplastika
Split dunks it in a European Cup game against Commodore Den
Helder of The Netherlands. Radja won consecutive European Cup
titles with Split in 1989 and 1990 as the highlight of career
rewarded with his being named one of the 50 greatest contributors
to the first half-century of European Club Basketball. He also
won league titles in Yugoslavia, Greece and Croatia, a 1992
Korac Cup title, the 1989 and 1991 EuroBasket titles, as well
as the silver medal at the 1992 Olympic games with Croatia.
PHOTO: KK Split, Croatia |
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Arguably the most incredible
play in European Cup history took place in the 1992 European
Cup final. After Tomas Jofresa completed a wild Joventut comeback
with an acrobatic jumper that gave Joventut a 68-70 edge with
seconds to go, Sasha Djordjevic raced downcourt and buried a
running three-pointer to make Partizan beat Joventut 71-70 and
win its only continental title. Predrag Danilovic paced the
winners with 25 points and Djordjevic added 23, including the
shot that changed Partizan's history for good. Joventut would
bounce back from its loss by lifting the 1994 European Cup trophy.
PHOTO: Diario As, Spain |
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In one of the most talked-about
plays in competition history, Stojan Vrankovic of Panathinaikos
blocks a shot by Jose Montero of FC Barcelona in the final seconds
of the 1996 European Cup final. Barcelona trailed 67-66 at the
moment, and despite getting the offensive rebound, could not
score on the game's remaining time. Protests of the referees
decison to consider Vrankovic's block legal were heard into
the early hours of the next morning before the play was upheld
and Panathinaikos declared the winner, 67-66, making it the
first Greek team to win the European Cup title. Fragiskos Alvertis
led the Greens with 17 points. PHOTO:
Action Images, Greece |
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Pierluigi Marzorati opens a champagne bottle to celebrate that Squibb Cantu has just become the 1982 European Cup champion. Cantu downed Maccabi Elite Tel Aviv 86-80 in the title game in Cologne, Germany. Bruce Flowers paced the winners with 23 points, Charles Kupec added 21 while Marzorati and Antonello Rive each had 18. Riva (left) is close to the action. Cantu had previously won four Saporta Cups and also lifted three Korac Cups trophies, but this was its first top continental crown. Cantu won successfully defend the European Cup title the following season. PHOTO: La Gazzetta dello Sport, Italy |
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Tracer Milano playmaker Mike D'Antoni celebrates the 1987 European Cup title, as part of the trophy is about to hit him in the head. D'Antoni, a successful coach nowadays, fired in 5 three-pointers in his team's 71-69 win against Maccabi in the final and finished the game with 17 points. Roberto Premier led Milano with 23 points while Bob McAdoo added 21. Just like Cantu and Cibona did also in the eighties, Milano won a second consecutive European Cup title in 1988. Milano met Maccabi once again in the final and registered a 90-84 win behind 25 points from an unstoppable McAdoo. PHOTO: La Gazzetta dello Sport, Italy |
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Andro Knego and the Petrovic brothers, Aca and Drazen, arrive in Zagreb with the European Cup trophy the day after the 1985 final. Knego holds the European Cup trophy while Aca Petrovic has the game basketball signed by the entire team. Drazen Petrovic had 26 of his 36 points in the second half to lead Cibona to a 87-78 win at the Peace and Friendship Stadium in Athens, Greece. Aca Petrovic and Zoran Cutura added 16 points each for Cibona, that would successfully defend the European Cup title with a 94-82 win against Zalgiris in the 1986 final in Budapest, Hungary. PHOTO: Robert Valai, Sportske Novosti, Croatia |
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Dino Meneghin of Ignis Varese tries to intimidate Jose Ramon Ramos of Real Madrid while Manuel Raga watches the action in the 1970 European Cup semifinals. That semifinal series marked the start of one of the biggest sports rivalries ever seen in continental basketball. Varese would sweep its series against Madrid and down CSKA Moscow in the 1970 European Cup final to win its first of five continental crowns in the next decade. Madrid would also lifted the European Cup trophy in 1974, 1978 and 1980. Both teams faced each other four times in the European Cup final from 1974 to 1978. PHOTO: Fundacion Pedro Ferrandiz |
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Sergei Belov lifts the European Cup trophy in front of his CSKA Moscow teammates. CSKA had just beaten Ignis Varese 67-53 in the 1971 European Cup title game and Belov had 24 points off the bench. FIBA general secretary William Jones (right) follows the action while teammates like Alexander Kulkov, Vadim Kapranov, Alzhan Zharmukhamedov and Nikolaj Kovyrkin start to celebrate. CSKA had just won its fourth European Cup title - but it had to wait for 35 long years to regain the continental crown until it beat Maccabi Elite in the 2006 Euroleague final.PHOTO: Fundacion Pedro Ferrandiz |
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FIBA general secretary Borislav Stankovic hands Maccabi Elite Tel Aviv captain Tal Brody the European Cup title - with a little bit of trouble - at the end of the 1977 final. Maccabi went against all expectations and downed heavy favourite Mobilgirgi Varese 78-77 in the title game. Jim Boatwright led the winners with 26 points, Mickey Berkowitz added 17 while Aulcie Perry had 12 for Maccabi, that won its first European Cup title in that night in Belgrade. Dino Meneghin had 23 points for Varese, that could not score in the game's final possession, allowing an entire country to celebrate. PHOTO: Fundacion Pedro Ferrandiz |
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Perhaps the most unknown Euroleague champion in the last half-century is Dinamo Tbilisi of Georgia, who lifted the top continental European Cup trophy in 1962. Dinamo swept its semifinal series against defending champion CSKA Moscow to make it to the final against Real Madrid. Dinamo beat Madrid 90-83 in the first ever single-game final in European Cup history, played at the Patinoire Arena in Geneva, Switzerland. Vladimir Altabaev led Dinamo with 19 points, Ilarion Khazaradze added 18 while Vladimir Ugrekhelidze had 15 for Dinamo. The entire team poses as the 1962 European Cup champions along with head coach Otar Korkija and FIBA general secretary William Jones. PHOTO: Fundación Pedro Ferrandiz |
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Real Madrid celebrates its second European Cup title with team president Santiago Bernabeu after the 1965 title game. Madrid also won the Spanish League and the Spanish Cup that season to complete its first-ever Triple Crown. Emiliano Rodriguez grabs Bernabeu's right arm while Carlos Sevillano helps him to hold the trophy. Head coach Pedro Ferrandiz, Bob Burgess, Clifford Luyk, Julio Descartin, Miguel Gonzalez, Jim Scott, Lolo Sainz, Jorge Garcia, Fernando Modrego and Moncho Monsalve completed the 1965 roster. Madrid downed CSKA Moscow in the two-way finals on points differential. Luyk averaged 24 points in the series. PHOTO: Fundación Pedro Ferrandiz |
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Few players had a bigger impact in European basketball than Bill Bradley, to led Simmenthal Milano to win its first European Cup trophy in 1966. It was also the first title for an Italian team. Bradley helped Milano to reach the first-ever Final Four, played in Bologna and Milano. Simmenthal downed CSKA 68-57 in the semifinal and then knocked off Slavia Prague 77-72 in the title game. Bradley had 14 points in the final while Skip Thoren and Gabriele Vianello led Milano with 21 apiece. In this picture, Bradley tries a layup in a game against Hapoel Tel-Aviv in the two-way eighthfinals series. PHOTO: Gazzetta dello Sport |
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Belgian champion Royal IV SC Anderlechtois became the first team to win a European Cup game defeated Luxembourg champion BBC Etzella 82-43 in the opening preliminary round of the new "European Cup of Club Champions" on February 22, 1958. Francois DePaun and Jean Crick scored 23 points apiece and Albert Nicodeme added 20 to chisel their names into the history books as victors in Europe's first-ever international club game. Royal IV went on to win the second game between them and advance to the quarterfinals, losing there to Real Madrid, which then forfeited its semifinal series against ASK Riga, the eventual champions. PHOTO: Fundación Pedro Ferrandiz |
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Bulgarian League champion Academic Sofia took Hungarian League powerhouse Honved Budapest in the 1958 European Cup semifinals. Academic won the first leg 87-89 in front of 2,000 fans in Budapest Sports Hall and then swept the series with a 76-64 in the second leg. As many as 10,000 fans watched the game, played in a wooden platform set in a football ground. This image belongs to the first leg, as an Academic player comes off the baseline and tries to find some help being close watched by the referee in the left corner. Notice that the basketball was way different than the ones used nowadays! PHOTO: Fundación Pedro Ferrandiz |
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The late William Jones, FIBA's first general secretary for more than four decades, hands Maigonis Valdmanis of ASK Riga the European Cup trophy at the end of the 1960 title game. ASK had just won its third consecutive European Cup title, building the first dynasty in competition history. Valdmanis was one of the superstars of that team that also included Valdis Muiznieks, Teobalds Kalherts, Ivars Veritis, Olgerts Hehts, Ainars Gulbis, Leons Jankovskis and above all, center Janis Krumins, the most dominant European player in the fifties. Krumins was the first-ever European Cup superstar, the original legend in 50 Years of European Club basketball. PHOTO: Fundación Pedro Ferrandiz |
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