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.