By Aris Barkas/ barkas@eurohoops.net
Panathinaikos announced that the official number of spectators on the final game of the 2024 “Pavlos Giannakopoulos” tournament was 42.000, creating a new record in the modern EuroLeague.
Since 2001 and the creation of the current EuroLeague structure, the official record is held by Partizan again on a game against Panathinaikos with 22.567 fans in Belgrade Arena.
With almost double the number, the record set by Panathinaikos will be hard to replicate unless the games are held again in an open-air stadium.
To be exact, on a national team games level, the record is 26.135 fans during Eurobasket 2015 in Lille, where the football stadium Pierre Mauroy was converted into a basketball arena.
On the same site, there was a new record in the Summer Olympics of 2024 in the game between the USA and Serbia with a total of 27.328 spectators in the 27.360 capacity arena.
It has to be noted that Panathinaikos was punished in 2013 for over-attendance by the Euroleague. According to unofficial reports, almost 30.000 fans were inside OAKA – the official seat capacity is 18.500 persons – in the quarterfinal Euroleague game against Barcelona.
Still, the All-Time record in Europe for a basketball game was also registered in the Panathenaic Arena, the same venue where the “Pavlos Giannakopoulos” tournament was held.
A total of 80.000 fans were present in the 1968 European Cup Winners final between AEK and Slavia Prague, a number almost unheard of by modern standards.