By Aris Barkas/ barkas@eurohoops.net
The Mercedes Benz Arena is expected to be full by Fenerbahce fans and compared to last season’s Final Four in Madrid their domination will not be denied.
It’s quite a common sigh in the Final Fours which are held in “neutral” cities – and that means also cities in a “neutral” country – to see fans of one team dominating the stands.
According to the official data from January 30% of the 14.500 seats are sold to Fenerbahce fans, but considering the fact that there’s a big Turkish community in Germany, the final percentage is expected to be much, much bigger.
After their first excursion in Madrid last year – where, of course, Real Madrid fans dominated the stands – Fenerbahce fans are the next in line to take over a Final Four, behind the usual trio of Maccabi Tel Aviv, Panathinaikos and Olympiacos fans.
This was not possible in Berlin back in 2009 when both Panathinaikos and Olympiacos fans were present in the gym and the tickets were divided. So let’s take a trip down the memory lane, investigating the biggest “invasions” in a Final Four.
Ghent 1988 – The age of Galis
In the first ever Final Four, Greece was leaving the age of Nick Galis. According to the reports of this era a total of 5000 Aris fans traveled to “Flanders Expo Pavilion”.
Tracer Milano and Bob McAdoo prevailed in the end, but a tradition of fans traveling around Europe for the Final Four was born.
Tel Aviv 1994 – The first Red and Green war
Despite the notorious security checks in Israel – even Olympiacos‘ mascot, Thrileon, was searched – this is an interesting case not because of the number of the fans traveling, which was pretty moderate.
It was the first time that Olympiacos and Panathinaikos fans clashed in a Final Four. That included incidents of hooligans fighting in the beach of Tel Aviv and boats traveling from Greece to Israel. In the end, Obradovic and Juventut Badalona got the trophy.
Paris 1996 – Dominique and Panathinaikos on top
After two lost semifinals by Olympiacos, it was the time of the Greens in the Final Four. Panathinaikos dominated the stands of “Bercy” with 8.000 fans and Dominique Wilkins dominated on the court.
This was the first out of six Panathinaikos trophies and a Final Four to remember, including the much debated block of Stojan Vrankovic to Barcelona’s Jose Antonio Montero in the final.
Rome 1997 – Seeing Red
Olympiacos wanted its own Euroleague trophy after the succes of Panathinaikos and the Final Four in Rome proved to be one historic achievement.
The gym was Red, a total of almost 10.000 Olympiacos fans made the – not so long trip – to the Italian capital and made it their own. Simply there were no fans from other teams in the stands. Of course, Olympiacos won the trophy.
Munich 1999
This is an interesting Final Four, because the two teams of the Italian “Basketcity” stole the spot light. Yes it was Virtus vs Fortitudo Bologna with the team of Danilovic and Ettore Messina getting the title.
It was a tense Final Four, we had incidents on the gym and in the stands and Italian fans had their biggest presence ever outside the borders of their country.
Moscow 2005 – The power of Maccabi
While Maccabi Tel Aviv had on the court one of the best teams ever in Euroleague, its fans proved ready to do more than it was needed.
The Final Four was held in Moscow, but the gym was full by Maccabi Tel Aviv fans, who have seen their team taking back to back titles after winning also in Tel Aviv in 2004. At least 7.000 fans of the “people’s team” were present in Moscow. Also it was the first Final Four of Baskonia and 1.000 loyal fans made it to Moscow. This is pretty much the number of Spanish fans each Spanish team has in every Final Four.
Prague 2006 – Next stop Tel Aviv
CSKA Moscow won the title and did it once again in hostile ground. This was the “definition” of a neutral Final Four and the fact that there were no Olympiacos and Panathinaikos fans – the Greens were present in 2005 in Moscow – had the usual result.
Maccabi Tel Aviv dominated a 16.000 seats Arena. It’s safe to say that more than 11.000 Maccabi Tel Aviv fans were in the houst. Still CSKA did it.
