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Which team has the greatest experience in Final Fours? Which players from those who are going to compete in Berlin have won the Turkish Airlines Euroleague trophy in the past? Eurohoops.net counts the distinctions and trophies.
Beyond the obvious reasons, the Final Four in Berlin is expected to be unique and thrilling for another reason as well. It’s the only one after 2003 in which three teams that have never won the trophy before are going to compete. CSKA Moscow have celebrated winning the title in the past, while Fenerbahce Istanbul, Laboral Kutxa Vitoria Gasteiz and Lokomotiv Kuban Krasnodar are going to try to make it for the first time.
Then, in 2003, in the competition that took place in Barcelona, only CSKA already had the title in their trophy cabinet. FC Barcelona Lassa, Siena and Benetton were trying to win their first ever Euroleague.
But how experienced are the players of the four finalists? CSKA’s players are the most experienced, followed by those of Fenerbahce, and then the players of Lokomotiv and Laboral. “Participations in a Final Four” refers to the seasons a player has competed even in one game with his team and was active when that team had reached the final stage.
The situation from the benches of the four finalists is completely different. All four coaches – Zeljko Obradovic, Dimitrios Itoudis, Georgios Bartzokas, Velimir Perasovic – have taken part in a Final Four before, while the three first ones have celebrated winning the trophy (even though Itoudis did it as Obradovic’s assistant).
The team with by far the greatest experience in this Final Four is CSKA! And how could it be otherwise since the Russian team will be taking part for the 12th season in the last 13 years. Ten players from the team’s roster have taken part in a Final Four before and four of those have celebrated winning the Turkish Airlines Euroleague. Kyle Hines did it two times with Olympiacos Piraeus and Kurbanov, Vorontsevich and Khryapa with CSKA in 2006 and 2008.
Very experienced in the Final Four is also Dimitrios Itoudis who coached CSKA last year in Madrid, but who has taken part eight times as an assistant coach on the side of Zeljko Obradovic in Panathinaikos Athens and has won the trophy five times.
| Player | Wins | Defeats | Trophies |
| Kyle Hines | 5 | 3 | 2 |
| Nikita Kurbanov | 7 | 3 | 2 |
| Andrey Vorontsevich | 8 | 8 | 1 |
| Victor Khryapa | 8 | 10 | 1 |
| Milos Teodosic | 4 | 8 | – |
| Aaron Jackson | 2 | 4 | – |
| Vitaly Fridzon | 1 | 3 | – |
| Nando De Colo | 1 | 1 | – |
| Demetris Nichols | 1 | 1 | – |
| Pavel Korobkov | 1 | 1 | – |
| In total | 38 | 42 | 6 |
| Coach | Wins | Defeats | Trophies |
| Dimitrios Itoudis | 1 | 1 | – |
| As Zeljko Obradovic’s assistant | 12 | 4 | 5 |