By Lefteris Moutis/ moutis@eurohoops.net
Shortly before the close of the 16th Euroleague season of this century, Fenerbahce Istanbul became the 15th team to complete a season with a perfect home record. Eurohoops.net presents a rundown of them all.
It’s not easy to complete an undefeated season at home, which the history of the competition proves. Fenerbahce Istanbul just became the 15th team to complete an undefeated campaign in front of its home crowd. And Fenerbahce’s achievement is all the more impressive because there are many more games in a season than in previous seasons! Fenerbahce has now reeled off 21 consecutive wins on its home court going back to last season, are still far away from the ultimate home winning streak.
Check out the teams that have gone undefeated at home for an entire season, what the longest streaks are and the strange statistic that connects the teams that have accomplished this feat: only one of them managed to win the Euroleague trophy!
Season: 2001-02
Team: Benetton Treviso
Home win record: 10-0
Reached: Final Four
Benetton launched its streak of 22 consecutive home wins at the start of the 2001-02 season. The team lost only five road games during the season as well in securing a berth at the Final Four in Bologna before falling in the semifinal to Kinder.
Season: 2002-03
Team: FC Barcelona
Home win record: 10-0
Reached: Euroleague champion
The only team that won the Euroleague while finishing the season undefeated at home is Barcelona! After winning all seven regular season home games and three more in the Top 16, Barca actually hosted the 2003 Final Four, in which it knocked off CSKA Moscow in the semifinals and Benetton in the championship game. Barcelona’s win streak at home would reach 25 in total, starting with a November 2001 victory over Zalgiris Kaunas and lasting until March 2004, when it lost to Benetton.
Season: 2002-03
Team: Benetton Treviso
Home win record: 10-0
Reached: Final Four
Benetton built the original home-court fortress as it completed its second straight perfect season at home. That success on the home floor led to back-to-back Final Four appearances.
Season: 2002-03
Team: CSKA Moscow
Home win record: 10-0
Reached: Final Four
CSKA completed the 2002-03 season a perfect record in Moscow, which helped start its run of 13 Final four appearances over the next 14 years. CSKA’s home-court streak reached 12 with wins in its first two games the following season.
Season: 2004-05
Team: Efes Pilsen Istanbul
Home win record: 11-0
Reached: Playoffs
Efes finished the 2004-05 season unbeaten at home and got to the playoffs, but was unable to advance to the Final Four. Efes’s streak spanned parts of three seasons and reached 21 home wins in total.
Season: 2005-06
Team: Tau Ceramica Vitoria
Home win record: 11-0
Reached: Final Four, Championship Game
The first of back-to-back undefeated seasons at home for the club was in 2005-06. The streak, which would eventually get to 34, began the previous January and lasted 34 months.
Season: 2006-07
Team: CSKA Moscow
Home win record: 12-0
Reached: Final Four, Championship Game
The second biggest home-court winning streak belongs to CSKA, which won 28 consecutive games in Moscow from January 2006 through April 2008, when it lost Game 1 of the playoffs against Olympiacos Piraeus.
Season: 2006-07
Team: Tau Ceramica Vitoria
Home win record: 11-0
Reached: Final Four
The team completed a second consecutive perfect season at home and extended the run into the next season for 30 consecutive wins, for the longest such streak in Euroleague history. The streak came to an end in November 2007 at the hands of CSKA.
Season: 2007-08
Team: Panathinaikos Athens
Home win record: 10-0
Reached: Top 16
Panathinaikos’s only season with an unbeaten home record was not one of the team’s better overall campaigns. The Greens lost in all three Top 16 road games and missed out on the playoffs. Panathinaikos won 16 straight home games in total, including its last four home games of the 2006-07 season and first two in 2008-09.
Season: 2007-08
Team: Unicaja Malaga
Home win record: 10-0
Reached: Top 16
Like Panathinaikos that season, Unicaja was also undefeated at home, but because of three defeats on the road in the Top 16, missed the playoffs. Unicaja won 23 consecutive games at the Martin Carpena from December 2006 through February 2009.
Season: 2009-10
Team: Olympiacos Piraeus
Home win record: 10-0
Reached: Final Four, Championship Game
The Reds’ unbeaten streak at the Peace & Friendship Stadium reached 20 games in total, starting from the Top 16 in 2008-09 and lasting two years until the Top 16 opener in 2010-11.
Season: 2011-12
Team: CSKA Moscow
Home win record: 10-0
Reached: Final Four, Championship Game
CSKA not only won every home game in 2011-12, but lost only two games in total (at Galatasaray Istanbul in the Top 16 and at Bilbao in the playoffs) before landing in Istanbul for the Final Four. The unbeaten streak at home reached 14 games, taking into account two games from the previous season and two games from the following.
Season: 2011-12
Team: FC Barcelona Regal
Home win record: 10-0
Reached: Final Four
Barcelona’s excellent season saw it win every game at Palau Blaugrana and, up to the Final Four in Istanbul, experience only one defeat (at Montepaschi Siena in the regular season). Barcelona won 14 in a row at home before losing to CSKA the following regular season.