Anadolu Efes in the 18th European Final of Our Men’s Basketball History

By Can Bedel / [email protected]

Defeating Olympiakos in the Final Four held in Belgrade in Turkish Airlines EuroLeague, Anadolu Efes will make it to the finals for the third time in a row, and will make Turkish Men’s Basketball experience the final excitement of the European Cups for the 18th time. Having won the EuroLeague championship for the first time in its history last season, Efes will take the field to defend its title in the final in Belgrade. Turkish Basketball lastly experienced the excitement of the final with Frutti Extra Bursaspor at 7DAYS EuroCup.

In the history of Turkish Men’s Basketball, 11 different teams experienced the final excitement of the European cups, while 6 of our representatives reached a happy ending. Turkish Basketball experienced its first final excitement in European cups with Anadolu Efes in the 1992-93 season. The navy-whites faced Aris in the Saporta Cup final, but our representative was defeated by 50-48 and placed 2nd.

Anadolu Efes won the first European Cup for Turkish Basketball 3 years later. Our representative defeated Olimpia Milano in the Korac Cup final and achieved a historic success. After this period, Turkish teams continued to be successful in European Cups.

Even though Tofaş played in the final of the Korac Cup in the 1996-97 season, it could not reach the championship and lost the cup to Aris.

Beşiktaş won the Milangaz EuroChallenge in the 2011-12 season and took the 2nd European Cup in Turkish Basketball in its museum. Although Pınar Karşıyaka played in the final of the EuroChallenge this time in the 2012-13 season, they lost the trophy to BC Krasnye Krylia 76-77 in the match in İzmir. 2 years later, this time Trabzonspor managed to play in the final of the EuroChallenge, but the burgundy-blue team lost the championship by losing 63-64 to Nanterre.

The 2015-16 season was recorded as the year in which Turkish Basketball achieved a happy ending for the 3rd time in Europe. While Galatasaray made it to the final by eliminating Gran Canaria in the EuroCup, they defeated SIG Strasbourg 78-67 in the rematch of their 66-62 in the final and became the EuroCup champion.