By Stelios Toromanidis / info@eurohoops.net
The EuroLeague, or, as it used to be called, the European Champions Cup, whether under the roof of FIBA or not, in any of its various formats, is the best that European basketball has to offer at the club level and is the favorite pastime of European basketball fans, while it has been engrossing millions of people in arenas, in front of TVs and radios every week for more than 60 years with its competition, intensity, spectacle and emotions.
Over the 60 seasons it exists, there have been 21 different teams that have won the precious trophy, originating from a total of 14 countries. Nine of those are still playing in the competition, while the rest are no longer among the best.
Real Madrid (9 trophies), CSKA Moscow (7 trophies), Maccabi Tel Aviv and Panathinaikos (6 trophies), Olympiacos and Armani Milan (3 trophies), Barcelona (2 trophies), Zalgiris Kaunas and Fenerbahce (1 trophy) are still integral parts of the EuroLeague to this day. But the sum of seasons they have dominated is numbered at 38. This means that the teams that won the other… 23 out of the total of 61 trophies – if we also take into account the 2000-2001 season when there were two different competitions – no longer take part in the competition.
Whether because of financial problems, or the change of the EuroLeague’s format, or other factors, there are 12 championship-winning teams that no longer participate in the competition. Despite their absence, they’ve played an important role in the past and their accomplishments are still remembered by basketball fans.
Seven of those teams have played in the EuroLeague in its current format (2000 to today), while the last of those exited in the 2015-2016 season. It’s worth mentioning that there is a team that played in the competition for the last time in the 1960-1961 season. Of course, this doesn’t mean that none of the trophy-winning teams will ever take part in the future among the elite of European teams.
We should point out that the order of presentation is random.
1. Badalona (Spain)
Seasons in the EuroLeague: 8 (1967-1968, 1978-1979, 1991-1995, 2006-2007, 2008-2009)
Final Four appearances: 2 (1992,1994)
EuroLeague titles: 1 (1994)
Games: 119
Record (W-L) in the EuroLeague: 62-57 (52,1%)
They are one of the best and most historic teams in Spain, while together with Real Madrid they are the only teams that have never been relegated to lower divisions thus far.
Their best moment in the EuroLeague was in the 1993-1994 season, when they climbed to the top of Europe in the Final Four in Tel Aviv and the final against Olympiacos, with Thompson, Villacampa, Martinez and the Jofresa brothers their starring players. They had also been finalists two years earlier in Istanbul, where they lost the trophy to Partizan with Djordjevic’s three-point buzzer beater and to coach Obradovic, who later led the team all the way to the title.
They returned to the competition for two seasons in the past decade.
Right now they are in second to last place in the ACB and they are fighting to avoid relegation, while they’re also playing in FIBA’s Basketball Champions League. They are the holders of another four European titles.
2. Limoges (France)
Seasons in the EuroLeague: 12 (1983-1985, 1988-1991, 1992-1995, 1996-1998, 2014-2016)
Final Four appearances: 3 (1990, 1993, 1995)
EuroLeague titles: 1 (1993)
Games: 179
Record (W-L) in the EuroLeague: 88-91 (49,2%)
Aside from their famous porcelain, Limoges also has a very good basketball team that had a starring role in the top competition in the 90s. Then, they appeared in three Final Fours and won their only trophy in the competition when they prevailed over Real (semifinal) and Benetton (final) in the Peace and Friendship Stadium in 1993, by playing a super defensive game of very few possessions that wasn’t to the liking of lovers of attacking basketball, but which turned out to be effective.
Coach Maljkovic and Zdovc, Young, Dacoury, were the protagonists of this success. In the next years the French team encountered financial problems, fell to the lower divisions of the domestic league and returned to the higher level this decade. In fact, they played in the EuroLeague again for two seasons between 2014 and 2016.
They are in fourth place in the LNB right now and they’re playing in the EuroCup, with the hope of returning to Europe’s top club competition in the coming years.
3. Partizan Belgrade (Serbia)
Seasons in the EuroLeague: 21 (1979-1980, 1981-1982, 1987-1988, 1991-1992, 1995-1998, 2000-2014)
Final Four appearances: 4 (1988, 1992, 1998, 2010)
EuroLeague titles: 1 (1992)
Games: 350
Record (W-L) in the EuroLeague: 154-196 (44%)
Perhaps the best Serbian team and the only one that is a EuroLeague title-holder, even though in 1992 when they won it, their country still belonged to Yugoslavia. They reached the top in a season when they used Fuenlabrada as their home because of the war raging at home, beating Badalona in the final in Istanbul and winning the trophy with Djordjevic’s legendary three-pointer and then first-time winner, Zeljko Obradovic, on the bench.
They count a total of 350 games in the EuroLeague and four appearances in the Final Four, while from the 2014-2015 season and onwards they haven’t been playing in the competition due to Crvena Zvezda’s domination in the Adriatic League as well as the serious financial problems that have been plaguing them.
Right now, they are in sixth place in the ABA and they’re fighting to return to their old, high standards, as they are also playing in the EuroCup.