1.
Basketball
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Basketball is a non-contact team sport played on a rectangular court by two teams of five players each. The objective is to shoot a ball through a hoop 18 inches in diameter and 10 feet high that is mounted to a backboard at each end of the court. The game was invented in 1891 by Dr. James Naismith, a team can score a field goal by shooting the ball through the basket being defended by the opposition team during regular play. A field goal scores three points for the team if the player shoots from behind the three-point line. A team can also score via free throws, which are worth one point, the team with the most points at the end of the game wins, but additional time is mandated when the score is tied at the end of regulation. The ball can be advanced on the court by passing it to a teammate and it is a violation to lift, or drag, ones pivot foot without dribbling the ball, to carry it, or to hold the ball with both hands then resume dribbling. The game has many techniques for displaying skill—ball-handling, shooting, passing, dribbling, dunking, shot-blocking. The point guard directs the on court action of the team, implementing the coachs game plan, Basketball is one of the worlds most popular and widely viewed sports. Outside North America, the top clubs from national leagues qualify to continental championships such as the Euroleague, the FIBA Basketball World Cup attracts the top national teams from around the world. Each continent hosts regional competitions for teams, like EuroBasket. The FIBA Womens Basketball World Cup features the top womens basketball teams from continental championships. The main North American league is the WNBA, whereas the EuroLeague Women has been dominated by teams from the Russian Womens Basketball Premier League, in early December 1891, Canadian Dr. He sought a vigorous indoor game to keep his students occupied, after rejecting other ideas as either too rough or poorly suited to walled-in gymnasiums, he wrote the basic rules and nailed a peach basket onto a 10-foot elevated track. Basketball was originally played with a soccer ball and these laces could cause bounce passes and dribbling to be unpredictable. Eventually a lace-free ball construction method was invented, and this change to the game was endorsed by Naismith, dribbling was not part of the original game except for the bounce pass to teammates. Passing the ball was the means of ball movement. Dribbling was eventually introduced but limited by the shape of early balls. Dribbling only became a part of the game around the 1950s
2.
EuroLeague
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Introduced in 2000, the competition replaced the FIBA EuroLeague, which had been run by FIBA since 1958. For Euroleague Basketball records purposes, the FIBA European Champions Cup and EuroLeague are considered to be the same competition, with the change of name being simply a re-branding. EuroLeague is one of the most popular professional sports leagues in the world, with an average attendance of 8,184. The EuroLeague title has been won by 20 different clubs,13 of which have won the more than once. The FIBA European Champions Cup was originally established by FIBA and it operated under its umbrella from 1958 until the summer of 2000 and that was when Euroleague Basketball was created. FIBA had never trademarked the EuroLeague name, even though it had used that name for the competition since 1996. Euroleague Basketball simply appropriated the name, and since FIBA had no recourse to do anything about it, it was forced to find a new name for its championship series. Thus, the following 2000–2001 season started with 2 separate top European professional club competitions, the FIBA SuproLeague. The rift in European professional club basketball initially showed no signs of letting up, in May 2001, Europe had two continental champions, Maccabi of the FIBA SuproLeague and Kinder Bologna of the Euroleague. The leaders of both organizations realized the need to come up with a unified competition, although only a year old, Euroleague Basketball negotiated from a position of strength and dictated proceedings. FIBA essentially had no choice but to agree to Euroleague Basketballs terms, as a result, European club competition was fully integrated under Euroleague Basketballs umbrella and teams that competed in the FIBA SuproLeague during the 2000–01 season joined it as well. In essence, the authority in European professional basketball was divided over club-country lines, FIBA stayed in charge of national team competitions, while Euroleague Basketball took over the European professional club competitions. From that point on, FIBAs Korać Cup and Saporta Cup competitions lasted only one season before folding. In November 2015, Euroleague Basketball and IMG agreed on 10-year joint venture, both Euroleague Basketball and IMG will manage the commercial operation, and the management of all global rights covering both media and marketing. The deal was worth €630 million euros guaranteed, with projected revenues reaching €900 million euros, FIBA era, FIBA European Champions Cup, FIBA European League, FIBA EuroLeague, FIBA SuproLeague, Euroleague Basketball era, Euroleague. *There were two separate competitions during the 2000–01 season, the SuproLeague, which was organized by FIBA, and the Euroleague, which was organized by Euroleague Basketball. On 26 July 2010, Turkish Airlines and Euroleague Basketball announced a €15 million strategic agreement to sponsor the top European basketball competition across the globe, according to the agreement, starting with the 2010–11 season, the top European competition would be named Turkish Airlines Euroleague Basketball. Similarly, the EuroLeague Final Four would be named the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Final Four and this title partnership was set to run for five seasons, with the option of extending it to an additional five
3.
Spain
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By population, Spain is the sixth largest in Europe and the fifth in the European Union. Spains capital and largest city is Madrid, other urban areas include Barcelona, Valencia, Seville, Bilbao. Modern humans first arrived in the Iberian Peninsula around 35,000 years ago, in the Middle Ages, the area was conquered by Germanic tribes and later by the Moors. Spain is a democracy organised in the form of a government under a constitutional monarchy. It is a power and a major developed country with the worlds fourteenth largest economy by nominal GDP. Jesús Luis Cunchillos argues that the root of the span is the Phoenician word spy. Therefore, i-spn-ya would mean the land where metals are forged, two 15th-century Spanish Jewish scholars, Don Isaac Abravanel and Solomon ibn Verga, gave an explanation now considered folkloric. Both men wrote in two different published works that the first Jews to reach Spain were brought by ship by Phiros who was confederate with the king of Babylon when he laid siege to Jerusalem. This man was a Grecian by birth, but who had given a kingdom in Spain. He became related by marriage to Espan, the nephew of king Heracles, Heracles later renounced his throne in preference for his native Greece, leaving his kingdom to his nephew, Espan, from whom the country of España took its name. Based upon their testimonies, this eponym would have already been in use in Spain by c.350 BCE, Iberia enters written records as a land populated largely by the Iberians, Basques and Celts. Early on its coastal areas were settled by Phoenicians who founded Western Europe´s most ancient cities Cadiz, Phoenician influence expanded as much of the Peninsula was eventually incorporated into the Carthaginian Empire, becoming a major theater of the Punic Wars against the expanding Roman Empire. After an arduous conquest, the peninsula came fully under Roman Rule, during the early Middle Ages it came under Germanic rule but later, much of it was conquered by Moorish invaders from North Africa. In a process took centuries, the small Christian kingdoms in the north gradually regained control of the peninsula. The last Moorish kingdom fell in the same year Columbus reached the Americas, a global empire began which saw Spain become the strongest kingdom in Europe, the leading world power for a century and a half, and the largest overseas empire for three centuries. Continued wars and other problems led to a diminished status. The Napoleonic invasions of Spain led to chaos, triggering independence movements that tore apart most of the empire, eventually democracy was peacefully restored in the form of a parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Spain joined the European Union, experiencing a renaissance and steady economic growth
4.
Italy
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Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a unitary parliamentary republic in Europe. Located in the heart of the Mediterranean Sea, Italy shares open land borders with France, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, San Marino, Italy covers an area of 301,338 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate and Mediterranean climate. Due to its shape, it is referred to in Italy as lo Stivale. With 61 million inhabitants, it is the fourth most populous EU member state, the Italic tribe known as the Latins formed the Roman Kingdom, which eventually became a republic that conquered and assimilated other nearby civilisations. The legacy of the Roman Empire is widespread and can be observed in the distribution of civilian law, republican governments, Christianity. The Renaissance began in Italy and spread to the rest of Europe, bringing a renewed interest in humanism, science, exploration, Italian culture flourished at this time, producing famous scholars, artists and polymaths such as Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo, Michelangelo and Machiavelli. The weakened sovereigns soon fell victim to conquest by European powers such as France, Spain and Austria. Despite being one of the victors in World War I, Italy entered a period of economic crisis and social turmoil. The subsequent participation in World War II on the Axis side ended in defeat, economic destruction. Today, Italy has the third largest economy in the Eurozone and it has a very high level of human development and is ranked sixth in the world for life expectancy. The country plays a prominent role in regional and global economic, military, cultural and diplomatic affairs, as a reflection of its cultural wealth, Italy is home to 51 World Heritage Sites, the most in the world, and is the fifth most visited country. The assumptions on the etymology of the name Italia are very numerous, according to one of the more common explanations, the term Italia, from Latin, Italia, was borrowed through Greek from the Oscan Víteliú, meaning land of young cattle. The bull was a symbol of the southern Italic tribes and was often depicted goring the Roman wolf as a defiant symbol of free Italy during the Social War. Greek historian Dionysius of Halicarnassus states this account together with the legend that Italy was named after Italus, mentioned also by Aristotle and Thucydides. The name Italia originally applied only to a part of what is now Southern Italy – according to Antiochus of Syracuse, but by his time Oenotria and Italy had become synonymous, and the name also applied to most of Lucania as well. The Greeks gradually came to apply the name Italia to a larger region, excavations throughout Italy revealed a Neanderthal presence dating back to the Palaeolithic period, some 200,000 years ago, modern Humans arrived about 40,000 years ago. Other ancient Italian peoples of undetermined language families but of possible origins include the Rhaetian people and Cammuni. Also the Phoenicians established colonies on the coasts of Sardinia and Sicily, the Roman legacy has deeply influenced the Western civilisation, shaping most of the modern world
5.
Pallacanestro Varese
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Pallacanestro Varese, also called by its current sponsors name, the Openjobmetis Varese, is an Italian professional basketball club based in Varese, Lombardy. Founded in 1945, the plays in the Italian first division LBA. For past club sponsorship names, see sponsorship names, basketball was introduced in Varese in 1945, with the creation of the historical club, Pallacanestro Varese. Varese is also due to the lack of its having a main sponsor in the mid-1990s, and the choice of its franchise name. With 10 titles, Varese is the third most winning team ever in the Italian League, after Olimpia Milano, between 1970 and 1975, the club was named Ignis Varese. Varese accomplished the feat of winning the Triple Crown, winning all the trophies available in 1973. Varese also won two championships of the European-wide first-tier level FIBA European Cup Winners Cup, in 1967 and 1980, and four Italian Cups, in 1969,1970,1971, and 1973. Vareses great age ended in the nineties, when the team dropped down to the Italian second division. Varese has never repeated that triumph so far, but that success is still remembered to this day, Varese has been trying to return to the top of the Italian League and European-wide competitions in the years since. com Team Page Varese Basket Blog
6.
Israel
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Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in the Middle East, on the southeastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea and the northern shore of the Red Sea. The country contains geographically diverse features within its small area. Israels economy and technology center is Tel Aviv, while its seat of government and proclaimed capital is Jerusalem, in 1947, the United Nations adopted a Partition Plan for Mandatory Palestine recommending the creation of independent Arab and Jewish states and an internationalized Jerusalem. The plan was accepted by the Jewish Agency for Palestine, next year, the Jewish Agency declared the establishment of a Jewish state in Eretz Israel, to be known as the State of Israel. Israel has since fought several wars with neighboring Arab states, in the course of which it has occupied territories including the West Bank, Golan Heights and it extended its laws to the Golan Heights and East Jerusalem, but not the West Bank. Israels occupation of the Palestinian territories is the worlds longest military occupation in modern times, efforts to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict have not resulted in peace. However, peace treaties between Israel and both Egypt and Jordan have successfully been signed, the population of Israel, as defined by the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics, was estimated in 2017 to be 8,671,100 people. It is the worlds only Jewish-majority state, with 74. 8% being designated as Jewish, the countrys second largest group of citizens are Arabs, at 20. 8%. The great majority of Israeli Arabs are Sunni Muslims, including significant numbers of semi-settled Negev Bedouins, other minorities include Arameans, Armenians, Assyrians, Black Hebrew Israelites, Circassians, Maronites and Samaritans. Israel also hosts a significant population of foreign workers and asylum seekers from Africa and Asia, including illegal migrants from Sudan, Eritrea. In its Basic Laws, Israel defines itself as a Jewish, Israel is a representative democracy with a parliamentary system, proportional representation and universal suffrage. The prime minister is head of government and the Knesset is the legislature, Israel is a developed country and an OECD member, with the 35th-largest economy in the world by nominal gross domestic product as of 2016. The country benefits from a skilled workforce and is among the most educated countries in the world with one of the highest percentage of its citizens holding a tertiary education degree. The country has the highest standard of living in the Middle East and the third highest in Asia, in the early weeks of independence, the government chose the term Israeli to denote a citizen of Israel, with the formal announcement made by Minister of Foreign Affairs Moshe Sharett. The names Land of Israel and Children of Israel have historically used to refer to the biblical Kingdom of Israel. The name Israel in these phrases refers to the patriarch Jacob who, jacobs twelve sons became the ancestors of the Israelites, also known as the Twelve Tribes of Israel or Children of Israel. The earliest known artifact to mention the word Israel as a collective is the Merneptah Stele of ancient Egypt. The area is known as the Holy Land, being holy for all Abrahamic religions including Judaism, Christianity, Islam
7.
Maccabi Tel Aviv B.C.
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Maccabi Tel Aviv B. C. for sponsorship reasons Maccabi FOX Tel Aviv, is a professional basketball club based in Tel Aviv, Israel. The team plays in the Israeli Premier League and internationally in the EuroLeague, the club started in the mid-1930s, as part of the Maccabi Tel Aviv Sports Club, which had been founded in 1906. With six European Championships, one Adriatic Championship,51 Israeli Championships,44 Israeli Cups and it is also one of the most successful basketball teams of all time. The Israeli Basketball Super League started in 1954, and Maccabi Tel Aviv was the first champion and it has dominated the championship ever since, winning the title 50 times, including a run of 23 titles in a row between 1970 and 1992. The team has won the Israeli Basketball State Cup 41 times. Maccabi is considered Israels national sporting representative in the world, from 1969 until 2008, Maccabi Tel Aviv was sponsored by Elite, Israels largest food company, and carried its name. Since July 2008, Maccabi has had a new sponsor – Electra, since 1963, the clubs home court has been the Yad Eliyahu Arena in Tel Aviv. Originally an open-air court for 5,000 spectator, it is now an indoor arena with a capacity of 11,000. Most Maccabi head coaches have been former players of the club, yehoshua Rozin was involved with the club for 40 years. Ralph Klein started as an 18-year-old player and later had spells as a coach. Zvi Sherf played for Maccabis second team, and coached the team for three spells, Pini Gershon played in the Youth Section, and as a coach led Maccabi to three European titles, in 2001,2004, and 2005. Maccabi Tel Aviv has always provided the team with a large number of players. Five Maccabi players, headed by Avraham Shneur, were on the team that represented Israel in its first European Championship, Tanhum Cohen-Mintz was one of Europes top centers in the sixties, and was selected for the first European All Star Team which played in Madrid in 1964. Mickey Berkowitz, Motty Aroesti, Lou Silver, and Eric Minkin played a part in winning the silver medal in the European Championship in 1979 in Torino. Doron Jamchy played 16 years for the team, and holds the record for appearances. Maccabi Tel Aviv was the first Israeli club to enter the European Cup for Champions in 1958, since then, it has played over 600 games in European competitions, and was the only Israeli club to play in a Final and to win the Champions Cup on six occasions. Maccabi has played in 15 Champions Cup Finals, in 1994 and 2004, Maccabi organized the European Final Four in Tel Aviv. The first basketball game between an NBA and an FIBA team was held in 1978 in Tel Aviv, Maccabi Tel Aviv beat the defending NBA champion Washington Bullets, 98–97
8.
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
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Covering an area of 255,804 km², the SFRY was bordered with Italy to the west, Hungary to the north, Bulgaria and Romania to the east and Albania and Greece to the south. In addition, it included two autonomous provinces within Serbia, Kosovo and Vojvodina, the SFRY traces back to 29 June 1943 when the Anti-Fascist Council for the National Liberation of Yugoslavia was formed during World War II. On 29 November 1945, the Federal Peoples Republic of Yugoslavia was proclaimed after the deposal of King Peter II thus ending the monarchy. Following the death of Tito on 4 May 1980, rising ethnic nationalism in the late 1980s led to dissidence among the multiple ethnicities within the constituent republics. This led to the federation collapsing along the borders, followed by the final downfall and breakup of the federation on 27 April 1992. The term former Yugoslavia is now commonly used retrospectively, the name Yugoslavia, an Anglicised transcription of Jugoslavija, is a composite word made-up of jug and slavija. The Serbo-Croatian, Slovene and Macedonian word jug means south, while slavija denotes a land of the Slavs, thus, a translation of Jugoslavija would be South-Slavia or Land of the South Slavs. The term is intended to denote the lands occupied by the six South Slavic nations, Serbs, Croats, Bosniaks, Montenegrins, Slovenes, the full official name of the federation varied significantly between 1945 and 1992. Yugoslavia was formed in 1918 under the name Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, the name deliberately left the republic-or-kingdom question open. In 1963, amid pervasive liberal constitutional reforms, the name Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was introduced, the state is most commonly referred to by the latter name, which it held for the longest period of all. The most common abbreviation is SFRY, though SFR Yugoslavia was also used in an official capacity, particularly by the media. On 6 April 1941, Yugoslavia was invaded by the Axis powers led by Nazi Germany, by 17 April 1941, Yugoslav resistance was soon established in two forms, the Royal Yugoslav Army and the Yugoslav Partisans. The Partisan supreme commander was Josip Broz Tito, and under his command the movement soon began establishing liberated territories which attracted the attentions of the occupying forces. The coalition of parties, factions, and prominent individuals behind the movement was the Peoples Liberation Front. The Front formed a political body, the Anti-Fascist Council for the Peoples Liberation of Yugoslavia. The AVNOJ, which met for the first time in Partisan-liberated Bihać on 26 November 1942, during 1943, the Yugoslav Partisans began attracting serious attention from the Germans. In two major operations of Fall Weiss and Fall Schwartz, the Axis attempted to stamp-out the Yugoslav resistance once, on both occasions, despite heavy casualties, the Group succeeded in evading the trap and retreating to safety. The Partisans emerged stronger than before and now occupied a significant portion of Yugoslavia
9.
KK Partizan
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KK Partizan is a Serbian professional basketball club based in Belgrade. It is part of the multi-sports Belgrade-based club Partizan, the club competes in the KLS and Adriatic League. Since 1945, Partizan has won around 45 trophies, and is the holder of the 21 national champion titles and they have also won 14 national basketball cups and 6 Adriatic championships, and notably the European Champion trophy at the Final Four of the Euroleague in Istanbul in 1992. Same year club took national championship and cup, and won Triple Crown, KK Partizan was not allowed to defend the Euroleague title in the 1992–93 season, because of UN sanctions. They also won 3 Korać Cups in 1978,1979 and 1989, in September 2009, KK Partizan became the first Serbian team to play an official game against NBA teams. The club was founded on 4 October 1945, as a section of the Sports Association of the Central House of the Yugoslav Army. KK Partizan officially ceased to be a club of the Army in 1953, since the sports society became independent. Although with a roster, including players who played for the national team of Yugoslavia. In the early 1970s, when players started to run the club. He made a selection of young players led by Dražen Dalipagić. He gathered around him other young professionals, and in late 1970s and this period in the clubs history included a few trophies. The first of these was the title of Yugoslav champion in 1975–76 season, after a calm period due to a change of generations, by the end of the 1980s under the leadership of new club director, Dragan Kićanović involved young experts, such as Duško Vujošević. After losing in the semifinals to Maccabi Tel Aviv, Partizan won over Aris, in 1989, enforced by young Predrag Danilović, Partizan won the FIBA Korać Cup for the third time, triumphing over Wiwa Vismara Cantù. After losing the first game in Italy, Partizan celebrated the return leg in Belgrade with 101–82 and that same season, Partizan won the Yugoslav Cup over new European champions Jugoplastika. Vlade Divac and Žarko Paspalj in late 1989, along with Dražen Petrović from Cibona became the first players from the territory of Yugoslavia who pursued their careers in the NBA league. For the new coach, management chose a team captain and former team player with almost no coaching experience. His professional counselor became former Partizan coach and player, top European basketball expert, FIBA decided not to allow teams from the former Yugoslavia to play their home games at their home venues, because of open hostilities in the region. Belgrades Black and Whites have opted to be hosts in the Madrid suburb of Fuenlabrada, obradovićs team began a long season of European and domestic matches, often traveling thousands of kilometers in just a few days, with performance gradually improving
10.
Greece
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Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, historically also known as Hellas, is a country in southeastern Europe, with a population of approximately 11 million as of 2015. Athens is the capital and largest city, followed by Thessaloniki. Greece is strategically located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, situated on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, the Republic of Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to the northeast. Greece consists of nine regions, Macedonia, Central Greece, the Peloponnese, Thessaly, Epirus, the Aegean Islands, Thrace, Crete. The Aegean Sea lies to the east of the mainland, the Ionian Sea to the west, the Cretan Sea and the Mediterranean Sea to the south. Greece has the longest coastline on the Mediterranean Basin and the 11th longest coastline in the world at 13,676 km in length, featuring a vast number of islands, eighty percent of Greece is mountainous, with Mount Olympus being the highest peak at 2,918 metres. From the eighth century BC, the Greeks were organised into various independent city-states, known as polis, which spanned the entire Mediterranean region and the Black Sea. Greece was annexed by Rome in the second century BC, becoming a part of the Roman Empire and its successor. The Greek Orthodox Church also shaped modern Greek identity and transmitted Greek traditions to the wider Orthodox World, falling under Ottoman dominion in the mid-15th century, the modern nation state of Greece emerged in 1830 following a war of independence. Greeces rich historical legacy is reflected by its 18 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, among the most in Europe, Greece is a democratic and developed country with an advanced high-income economy, a high quality of life, and a very high standard of living. A founding member of the United Nations, Greece was the member to join the European Communities and has been part of the Eurozone since 2001. Greeces unique cultural heritage, large industry, prominent shipping sector. It is the largest economy in the Balkans, where it is an important regional investor, the names for the nation of Greece and the Greek people differ from the names used in other languages, locations and cultures. The earliest evidence of the presence of human ancestors in the southern Balkans, dated to 270,000 BC, is to be found in the Petralona cave, all three stages of the stone age are represented in Greece, for example in the Franchthi Cave. Neolithic settlements in Greece, dating from the 7th millennium BC, are the oldest in Europe by several centuries and these civilizations possessed writing, the Minoans writing in an undeciphered script known as Linear A, and the Mycenaeans in Linear B, an early form of Greek. The Mycenaeans gradually absorbed the Minoans, but collapsed violently around 1200 BC and this ushered in a period known as the Greek Dark Ages, from which written records are absent. The end of the Dark Ages is traditionally dated to 776 BC, the Iliad and the Odyssey, the foundational texts of Western literature, are believed to have been composed by Homer in the 7th or 8th centuries BC. With the end of the Dark Ages, there emerged various kingdoms and city-states across the Greek peninsula, in 508 BC, Cleisthenes instituted the worlds first democratic system of government in Athens
11.
Olympiacos B.C.
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They play their home matches at Peace and Friendship Stadium. As European champions, Olympiacos played in the 1997 McDonalds Championship and reached the final of the tournament, where they met Michael Jordans NBA champions, the Chicago Bulls. They also dominated Greek basketball during the decade of the 90s, based on all those achievements, FIBA declared Olympiacos as the Best European Team of the 1990s. The Spanoudakis brothers led the club to its first Greek Championship in 1949, Olympiacos would win another Greek title and it did so in unprecedented fashion, running off 22 victories in 22 games. Reds completed the first double in their history, winning the Greek Cup, while they did well in the Cup Winners Cup as well. The next year Kostas Mourouzis was appointed as coach and the team won the Greek cup. Melini led Olympiacos with 24 points, while Kastrinakis scored 22, in 1978 the team did their second double in 3 years, winning both the Greek championship and their third Greek cup in a row, beating AEK 103–88 in the final. In 1979 the club also had their first significant success in Europe, the final round of that year was one of the toughest ever in the competition. Olympiacos finished 6th, winning one game, the 79–77 home victory against Maccabi Elite. Olympiacos won another Greek Cup title in 1980 which was the last of the successful Giatzoglou–Kastrinakis era, in 1979,1980 and 1981 Olympiacos finished at the second place of the Greek championship. The team was led by Greek players such as Dimitris Maniatis and Argiris Kambouris, the hero of EuroBasket 1987, well-known players such as Carey Scurry and Todd Mitchell couldnt lead the club to success. It was in the 1990s that the Reds made their biggest mark, the middle of that decade belonged to Olympiacos, not only in Greece, but also in Europe. In the 1991–92 season, record holding Greek basketball coach Giannis Ioannidis left Aris to manage Olympiacos, the torpid giant, by that year the club had fully rebounded, climbing all the way back to rule Greece. Five consecutive Greek Championships from 1993 to 1997 and two Greek Cups in 1994 and 1997, made the team the indubitable dominant club in Greece. In addition to their success, Olympiacos became the most successful team in the EuroLeague of that period. Paspalj scored 22 points and Tarpley recorded a double-double against Panathinaikos, scoring 21 points, the Reds, despite being strong favourites to win the European crown, lost 57–59 to 7up Joventut in the final after a dramatic ending. In addition to domestic competitions Olympiacos had become regime and the goal was winning the double, there, they played against another Spanish team, Real Madrid, who were playing on their home soil and managed to defeat Olympiacos 61–73. In the quarter-finals Olympiacos faced Real Madrid with home-court disadvantage and didnt manage to make the Final Four for a season in a row
12.
Greek Basket League
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The Greek Basket League, often referred to as the Greek Basketball League, Greek A1 Basketball League, or Greek Basketball Championship, is the first tier professional basketball league in Greece. It is run by HEBA, under the authority of the Hellenic Basketball Federation. The league is known as the Stoiximan. gr Greek Basket League for sponsorship reasons. It consists of 14 teams and runs from October to June, with teams playing 26 games each during the season. The first official Greek Basketball Championship was held in the 1927–28 season, the league first held a playoff round in the 1986–87 season. The league has always ranked as one of the top 3-5 level national domestic leagues in European basketball. For further information, see historical European national basketball league rankings, Basketball first came to Greece in the year 1910. By the 1927–28 season, the first official Greek basketball championship began, the league was originally organized by the Hellenic Amateur Athletic Association. There have been four different official championship eras, the first era was the Panhellenic Championship, which lasted from the 1927–28 to 1962–63 seasons, when the champions of every regional district played each other to decide the Greek Champion. The second era started in the 1963–64 season, when the A National Category, in 1969, the Hellenic Basketball Federation took over the duties of overseeing the competition, and did so until the year 1992. The 1988–89 season, marked the first time that Greek Basket League teams were allowed to have foreign players on their rosters. The fourth era of the began in the 1992–93 season. The league was renamed to Greek Basket League, starting with the 2010–11 season. It currently ranks among the best national domestic leagues in the world, such as Liga ACB in Spain, VTB United League, and BSL in Turkey. It has always considered one of the top 3-5 European national domestic leagues under the historical European national basketball league rankings. Also, Aris Thessaloniki, led by Nikos Galis, Panagiotis Giannakis, and Slobodan Lefteris Subotić, was the dominant Greek club, the first five aforementioned clubs, are also the most widely supported by fans in Greece. Despite the championship having been contested 76 times, only nine different clubs have won it so far, the dominating club has always been Panathinaikos, having claimed the championship 34 times. Since the foundation of the Alpha National Category in the 1963–64 season, the main elements of the logo were changed in 2013
Maccabi Tel Aviv
Real Madrid
Varese
Split
Panathinaikos
Partizan
CSKA Moscow
Limoges CSP
Smelt Olimpija
Lietuvos rytas
Efes Pilsen
Asesoft Ploiesti
