On March 3, 2012, a decade ago, a group of five journalists, Nikos Varlas, Aris Barkas, Lefteris Moutis, Niki Bakouli, and Rigas Dardalis, started the project of creating a specialized basketball website. Their goal was to create a news medium that would embrace the sport and promote pure love for the game. Eurohoops started as a bilingual website with opinion articles on European and world basketball. It soon managed to gain the trust of online readers in Greece and Europe.
Having established itself as the main source of quality coverage of the Euroleague, in 2015 it expanded to six different languages-editions, expanding its journalistic team, but also its subject matter. In just three years of operation, Eurohoops.net became the Official Global Media Partner of the Euroleague, the leading basketball competition in Europe. Its growth, however, did not stop there.
From 2016, its activities began to expand outside the journalistic content. The AntetokounBros Events was the starting point for a new field: organizing sporting events. Giannis, Thanasis, and the whole Antetokunbo family created a basketball “party”, with the help of Eurohoops.
The next year, 2017, was a turning point for Eurohoops, as the Eurohoops Academy was founded and found its home in the Eurohoops Dome. The birth of the Eurohoops Academy by EuroLeague legends and Academy directors Thodoris Papaloukas and Dimitris Diamantidis created a unique basketball hub. Eurohoops Academy offers a complete basketball experience: individual training programs, basketball camps, visits by distinguished athletes, on-field and off-field activities. The Eurohoops Dome is an indoor training facility, with three FIBA approved basketball courts, state-of-the-art equipment, a Café, and a Boutique for every need. The Eurohoops Dome, however, was not created to be just a modern basketball facility, but a place of multifaceted learning and healthy entertainment.
The huge success of the 2016 AntetokounBros Events was repeated in the summer of 2017. The “golden generation” of Greek basketball played against Giannis, Thanasis, and their friends in the iconic Nick Galis Hall at the Athens Olympic complex. It was a night to remember on a full gym. The team of Eurohoops Events created a unique celebration of basketball with the message selected by Giannis Antetokounmpo: “We are all bros”.
Due to this roaring success, the organization of sporting events became one of the main pillars of Eurohoops activities. At the same time, Eurohoops.net started its collaboration with the FIBA Basketball Champions League.
In 2019 the activity of Eurohoops Academy was extended to the center of Athens. The partnership with Lycee Leonin in the Athenian neighborhood of Patissia set a new goal: the emergence of young talented athletes. At the same time, Eurohoops undertook the implementation of the AntetokounBros Academy program. The vision of the Antetokunbo brothers and Eurohoops is to inspire boys and girls from marginalized social groups through basketball.
In April and May of the same year, Eurohoops Dome hosted the Euroleague Academy U12 Tournament, bringing the top level of European basketball to young athletes. The Eurohoops team also organized a unique sporting event for the opening of the “Park of Colors” multipurpose field in the Greek city of Larissa.
In June, Eurohoops made a trip back in time, organizing the event “we live the dream again” at The Mall Athens. It was a tribute to the 2006 FIBA World Cup National Team, the only team that beat Team USA under coach Mike Krzyzewski’s tenure.
However, the 3×3 GalisBasketball was the highlight of the sporting events of 2019. The Greek islands of Rhodes and Kos honored Greek Hall of Famer Nick Galis through an exciting 3×3 Tournament, with hundreds of young athletes and distinguished guests.
In 2021 Eurohoops introduced its own Scouting service. Eurohoops Scouting provides NCAA coaches with a thorough analysis of European talent, saving them time and resources.
Eurohoops also combined sports, social solidarity, and ecological vigilance in a unique way, through the organization of pioneering sports activities. Dozens of young men and women played basketball and became environmentally aware at the 3×3 Basketball Tournament of EcoFest 2021.
Eurohoops has always had high social awareness. However, the challenges of the modern world created the need to do more. That’s why Eurohoops founded EUROhope, the Corporate Social Responsibility program of the organization which created Special Basketball Education departments for young men and women in the Autism Spectrum.
Having gone through a ten-year course, Eurohoops spreads its passion for basketball in every way, in every place. And we are just getting started…
Happy birthday, Eurohoops!