The 18 Final Four host cities

By Dimitris Minaretzis / info@eurohoops.net

History takes us back to 1988, when the institution of the Final Four was implemented and established in order to decide the absolute champions of European basketball.

A start was made in 1966 and 1967 in Bologna and Madrid, respectively, but 21 years had to go by for the Final Four to be reintroduced and to stay in place.

In 1988, FIBA decided to bring back the system that had been successfully applied for many years in the NCAA and Ghent was the first city to host the Final Four in the modern era of the European Champions Cup and later, the EuroLeague.

Up to 2000 in Thessaloniki, the same plan was in place, until European basketball was split in two and became beset with the same dilemma since then: EuroLeague or FIBA? There may have been a Final Four held in 2001, with Panathinaikos going all the way to the Final in Paris, but that SuproLeague was the first and last, and, at the same time, Kinder and Tau were battling it out in the playoffs of the newly-established EuroLeague. It was the first and last time that the champions of that competition were decided in a best-of-5 series.

The cities

Eight cities have hosted at least two Final Fours, Paris being at the top with four tournaments, including the one SuproLeague. Barcelona and Istanbul follow with three and so on.

A total of 18 cities have hosted the Final Four since 1988, and Belgrade will be the 19th to do so. Among those, three different cities in Greece, starting with Piraeus (1993 in the Peace and Friendship Stadium), as well as Thessaloniki (2000 in Pylaia) and Athens (2007, Olympic Sports Center Athens).

Prague and London were the most puzzling destinations since those cities never had a team that dominated in European basketball, while all the others have given birth to one big club.

The countries

Finally, regarding the countries that have hosted this celebration of basketball, the culmination of each season, Spain has by far the most, as we’ve seen the Final Four taking place there seven times: in Barcelona, Madrid and Zaragoza. Germany follows with four – two in Berlin and two in Munich, as many as France has (always in Paris), and there have been three in Greece and Italy – in three different cities for both of these countries – and Turkey, always in Istanbul.

A total of 11 countries have hosted at least one Final Four, with Serbia rounding out the bunch with the twelfth…

YEAR	CITY	WINNERS	RUNNERS-UP	3RD-4TH
1988	Ghent	Tracer Milan	Maccabi	Partizan-Aris
1989	Munich	Jugoplastika	Maccabi	Aris-Barcelona
1990	Zaragoza	Jugoplastika	Barcelona	Limoges-Aris
1991	Paris	Pop 84 (Jugoplastika)	Barcelona	Maccabi-Scavolini
1992	Istanbul	Partizan	Badalona	Milan-Estudiantes
1993	Piraeus	Limoges	Benetton	PAOK-Real
1994	Tel Aviv	Badalona	Olympiacos	Panathinaikos-Barcelona
1995	Zaragoza	Real	Olympiacos	Panathinaikos-Limoges
1996	Paris	Panathinaikos	Barcelona	CSKA-Real
1997	Rome	Olympiacos	Barcelona	Olimpija Ljubljana-Villeurbanne
1998	Barcelona	Kinder	ΑΕΚ	Benetton-Partizan
1999	Munich	Zalgiris	Kinder	Olympiacos-Fortitudo
2000	Thessaloniki	Panathinaikos	Maccabi	Efes-Barcelona
2001 (ΣΟΥΠΡΟΛΙΓΚΑ)	Paris	Maccabi	Panathinaikos	Efes–CSKA
2002	Bologna	Panathinaikos	Kinder	Benetton-Maccabi
2003	Barcelona	Barcelona	Benetton	Siena-CSKA
2004	Tel Aviv	Maccabi	Fortitudo	CSKA-Siena
2005	Moscow	Maccabi	Tau	Panathinaikos-CSKA
2006	Prague	CSKA	Maccabi	Tau-Barcelona
2007	Athens	Panathinaikos	CSKA	Malaga-Tau
2008	Madrid	CSKA	Maccabi	Siena-Tau
2009	Berlin	Panathinaikos	CSKA	Barcelona-Olympiacos
2010	Paris	Barcelona	Olympiacos	CSKA-Partizan
2011	Barcelona	Panathinaikos	Maccabi	Siena-Real
2012	Istanbul	Olympiacos	CSKA	Barcelona-Panathinaikos
2013	London	Olympiacos	Real	CSKA-Barcelona
2014	Milan	Maccabi	Real	Barcelona-CSKA
2015	Madrid	Real	Olympiacos	CSKA-Fenerbahce
2016	Berlin	CSKA	Fenerbahce	Lokomotiv-Laboral
2017	Istanbul	Fenerbahce	Olympiacos	CSKA-Real
2018	Belgrade