By Aris Barkas/ barkas@eurohoops.net
BELGRADE – There’s a frenzy among Olympiacos fans for the upcoming EuroLeague Final Four and at least 11.500 Greeks are expected in the Stark Arena for the semifinal against Anadolu Efes.
This may end up being a modest estimation since the number of the Greeks who are traveling to the Serbian capital – most of them by car creating a traffic jam at the borders of Serbia – is much bigger and not all of them have secured tickets. EuroLeague strongly advised against arriving at the arena without tickets, but that didn’t stop a big number of fans to make the trip to Serbia.
With a capacity of 18,386 seats, a total of 15.500 general public tickets have been sold out and initial calculations had the rest of the three Final Four teams having in total 2,000 of their fans on the stands.
However, Barcelona alone expects around 2,000 of their fans to make the trip to Belgrade and that leaves the other two teams with a fraction of representation in the stands, especially compared to the bulk of Olympiacos fans.
Euroleague has already provided the following recommendations to all fans who will be traveling to Belgrade.
1. DO arrive early to the arena so that you can enter the arena comfortably on time to cheer for your team. Gates will be open 2h45min before the start of the game.
2. DO follow all instructions of the organizers and local authorities to make sure everyone has an enjoyable experience in the arena.
3. DO stay in your seats for the games and for the trophy ceremony to make sure you don’t miss any of the action on the court. Moving outside of the assigned areas is not allowed and, if not following the recommendations of the arena staff, may result in being invited to leave the arena and reported to the local authorities.
4. DO bring a good attitude, have fun cheering for your team in an enjoyable and respectful way. Any offensive acts or messages may result in the perpetrator being invited to leave the arena and reported to the local authorities.
5. DON’T bring in flags that are larger than 2sqm; they are not allowed by Serbian law.
6. DON’T bring in any pyrotechnics; they are not allowed by Serbian law.
7. DON’T come to the Final Four if you don’t have a ticket to enter the arena.
We encourage all traveling fans to carefully review the Terms & Conditions and In-Arena Code of Conduct, as well as the Frequently Asked Questions