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By George Orfanakis/ info@eurohoops.net
Which teams have created the longest streak of titles in the history of European basketball? Eurohoops pulled out the golden bible of the biggest championships on the continent and showcases the biggest “orange” empires.
Most championships are drawing to a close and the end of the year finds some teams celebrating and others troubled. As the years go by, what lingers in the minds of fans and to a large extent determines the magnitude of a team on the basketball map, are the titles.
At times there were teams that emerged in European basketball that won one title after the other, creating unbelievable streaks within their borders. Maccabi who… forgot to lose, CSKA of the three empires, the Serbian battle between Crvena Zvezda and Partizan, Real of the 10 consecutive championships and Zeljko Obradovic’s Panathinaikos, are only some of those cases. On the occasion of Patizan losing the title and coming to the end of a huge streak, Eurohoops found and presents to you the biggest powerhouses that ever existed in Europe.
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[lptitle title=”CSKA“]
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9 championships (1976-1984)
In the Soviet Union the big boss was CSKA and their streak of 9 championships (1976-1984) proves that in the best possible way. The leader of this great accomplishment was the late great Alexander Gomelsky (photo) who was the team’s coach from 1969 to 1980. Important players of this period were Evgeny Kovalenko and Anatoly Myshkin, while the streak was completed with Sergei Belov and Yuri Selikov as coaches for CSKA.
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[lptitle title=”Zalgiris“]
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9 championships (1991-1999)
The greatest team ever to come out of Lithuanian basketball had a monopoly on domestic titles, winning 9 consecutive championships in the 90s. Zalgiris, with a blend of excellent Lithuanian and foreign players, created a team that had no competition domestically, while at the same time they were reaching the top of Europe in 1999, completing a golden decade. The main opponent of the team from Kaunas at the time was Atletas, a team that nevertheless could not win a championship on the 4 occasions when they challenged Zalgiris in the finals.
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[lptitle title=”CSKA“]
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9 championships (1992-2000)
The second big dynasty, out of the three in total created by the team of the Red Army, was realized in the period 1992-2000 with CSKA sweeping all the domestic titles in Russia. What’s impressive is that the period of achievements began and ended with Stanislav Eremin on CSKA’s bench for the same exact period of time. Cornerstones of this team were important Russian players such Igor . Kudelin, Sergei Panov, Evgeni Kisourin and Vasily Karasev.
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[lptitle title=”Panathinaikos“]
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9 championships (2003-2011)
The greatest empire that was ever built in the history of Greek basketball belongs to Panathinaikos. With Olympiacos as their main opponent, the Greens were the ones who managed to celebrate at the end of every single season in the period 2003-2012. The excellent collaboration of the Giannakopoulos family with Zelimir Obradovic, but also the presence of many important players (Alvertis, Diamantidis, Batiste, Jasikevicius and more) on the team, created a long streak of successes that is going to be hard for any other team to beat in the years to come.
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[lptitle title=”Crvena Zvezda “]
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10 championships (1946-1955)
The legendary Crvena Zvezda team that won 10 consecutive championships in the period 1946-1955 is a part of the rich history of Yugoslavian basketball! Some emblematic figures of the club of that time but also of Yugoslavian basketball subsequently were Aleksandar Nikolic, Borislav Stankovic, Radomir Saper and Nebojsa Popovic who actually sat on the team’s bench in the period 1945-1955. These trophies, as well as important photographs from this period, are held to this day in the Crvena Zvezda museum in Belgrade.
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[lptitle title=”Real Madrid “]
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11 championships (1968-1977)
It could even be called Real Madrid’s “golden” decade since the queen, apart from the 10 consecutive domestic titles, also celebrated 2 European Cups! The architect of all these achievements was Pedro Ferrandiz who managed to build a team that had no competition in Spain and at the same time had a constant presence in Europe in the top four of the European championship. Important players of that team were the excellent playmaker Juan Antonio Corbalan, the legendary Clifford Luyk (photo) and American-Spanish scorer Wayne Brabender.
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[lptitle title=”Cibona”]
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11 championships (1992-2002)
From the moment Croatia became independent from Yugoslavia, Cibona were the permanent champions winning the title 11 years in a row, up to 2002! Taking advantage of the crisis the traditional powers of Croatian basketball found themselves in – teams like Zadar and KK Split – Cibona celebrated the title at the end of every season. Important players who wore the team’s jersey in this period of successes were Alihodzic, Zuric, Alanovic but also Mulaomerovic.
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[lptitle title=”CSKA“]
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13 championships (2003-2015)
The most contemporary of the empires presented by Eurohoops and the only one that is still going! Now a synonym for success domestically, CSKA is unaware of what a lost title means since 2002 when Ural won the championship two seasons in a row interrupting the “army’s team” streak. Since then, any coach that sits on the team’s bench (Ivkovic, Messina, Kazlauskas, Itoudis) has been managing to bring the title to Moscow. Of course, a big impact is made by the high budget with which CSKA constantly acquires top-level players such as Andrei Kirilenko, JR Holden, Milos Teodosic, Theodoros Papaloukas. CSKA’s winning streak has to do with the Russian championship until 2013, because the last two years the Russian teams play only in the VTB League.
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[lptitle title=”Partizan”]
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13 championships (2002-2014)
Partizan can boast of having the longest streak in Serbia with 13 championships! The person who is primarily responsible for this huge feat is coach Dusko Vujosevic who has been on the team’s bench, with a break lasting one season, since 2001 and whose name is identified with the club’s modern history more than anybody else. Having players with extensive talent, Partizan has managed all these years to create a team that always celebrated the championship at the end of every season. It is worth noting that Crvena Zvezda managed to interrupt this long streak just a few days ago.
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[lptitle title=”Maccabi“]
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14 championships (1994-2007)
This is the second empire out of the two that Maccabi has built all these years in Israel. Playing essentially on their own domestically, since they have won 51 out of a total 60 championships, Maccabi did not find things especially difficult against the co-challengers for the title. Hapoel Holon managed to interrupt Maccabi’s streak of 14 championships in 2008. A special mention has to be made to Derrick Sharp’s presence who has connected his name to this club more than anybody else and who was present in all the championships from 1996 onwards!
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