By Dimitris Minaretzis/ info@eurohoops.net
The meeting of clubs/shareholders of Euroleague Basketball on Thursday expands beyond known items on the agenda to several more important issues, including disciplinary actions against team officials.
The board talked about introducing a new, stricter penalty and removing wins from the respective team tally in sanctioning team officials with extreme behaviors, inappropriate statements, and hate speech.
Depending on the actions in each case, the disciplinary decisions can extend to removing one or more wins. However, no final decision has been made yet.
Meanwhile, the vote for the hosting rights of the Final Four 2026 was postponed, as expected. The official bid of Athens altered the initial approach, with Euroleague waiting for a new offer by Belgrade before deciding on the home of the season-ending tournament of the 2025-26 season.
This is likely to happen next week.
“The Assembly reviewed the ongoing process for awarding hosting rights for the 2026 and 2027 EuroLeague Final Four editions. Discussions with candidate cities are progressing, with final decisions expected soon,” was noted in the official update released by Euroleague Basketball on Thursday.
Also, the third-place game of the annual Final Four was officially scraped from the season schedule, as expected.
“As part of the updated EuroLeague By-Laws, the Third-Place Game will be removed starting with the 2025–26 Final Four, which will now feature the two semifinals and the championship game.”
Therefore, the last third-place matchup in league history was in Abu Dhabi, with the Greek eternal enemies, Olympiacos and Panathinaikos Aktor, facing each other in Etihad Arena.