By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Sixteen years later, Euroleague Basketball President & CEO Jordi Bertomeu paid tribute to the teams that started it all in the very first game of the competition between Real Madrid and Olympiacos Piraeus.
Hours before those teams met to open a new era of the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague at Barclaycard Center in the capital of Spain, Bertomeu was joined by former Real Madrid player and current club executive Alberto Herreros and former Olympiacos guard David Rivers for a pre-game media conference.
Both Herreros and Rivers played in that game on October 16, 2000, which Madrid won 75-73, and Bertomeu was delighted they and their clubs were both present for the start of the competition’s new era.
“We thought it would be a good idea to celebrate the last time we were beginning something so new and fresh by having Real Madrid and Olympiacos Piraeus raise the curtain today,” he said. “We are very excited that in one hour a new era will begin. This ultimate evolution also marks a revolution.
“At the centre of everything that Euroleague Basketball do are the fans – offering them the best possible product, with the best clubs visiting their arena every season.”
Herreros said: “We are before an exciting season that will be unparalleled. Our fans for sure have been asking for this for a long time, as no doubt many other fans will have also.”
And Rivers added: “The EuroLeague in being a real European league will reach great new heights, and it is very exciting to see this develop.”