2025 EuroLeague Final Four

The 2025 EuroLeague Final Four was the concluding EuroLeague Final Four tournament of the 2024–25 EuroLeague season, the 68th season of Europe's premier club basketball tournament, and the 25th season since it was first organised by Euroleague Basketball. It was the 38th Final Four of the modern EuroLeague Final Four era (1988–present), and the 40th time overall that the competition has concluded with a final four format. Euroleague Basketball announced that the Final Four would be played at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, on 23–25 May 2025, marking the first time in history that the EuroLeague's Final Four was held outside of Europe in the competition's history since 2004.

Turkish club Fenerbahçe won its first title in 8 years, after beating French club Monaco in the championship game.

Venue and hosting rights

On 28 January 2025, the EuroLeague, the Abu Dhabi Department of Culture and Tourism, and Etihad Arena reached an agreement that the Final Four would be played at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, on 23–25 May 2025, marking the first time the event would take place outside of Europe in the competition's history in 21 years. The venue has a basketball capacity of 12,000. Three-time EuroLeague Final Four MVP and former NBA player Toni Kukoč was involved in marketing the tournament in Abu Dhabi. Thousands of Turkish and Greek basketball fans traveled to Abu Dhabi out of personal expense to cheer on their favorite teams.

Criticism

Critics argued that the move prioritized financial gains over fan engagement. Abu Dhabi reportedly paid €50 million to host the event, a sum that helped trigger a contract extension between EuroLeague and IMG until 2036. Former EuroLeague CEO Jordi Bertomeu acknowledged the decision as "risky" emphasizing the importance of fan experience. Journalist Faustino Sáez of ''Cadena SER'' described the move as emblematic of sports becoming "purely a business that overlooks emotions", undermining the competition's foundations.

Fans also faced logistical challenges due to the distance and cost of traveling to Abu Dhabi. The city's limited public transport and higher expenses compared to European hosts like Belgrade or Barcelona were highlighted as deterrents. Technical issues during ticket sales further frustrated supporters, with many unable to purchase tickets due to platform errors. To boost attendance, organizers resorted to incentives like daily car raffles and free tickets. The venue choice also raised questions about the EuroLeague's European identity. With no EuroLeague teams based in the Middle East, critics viewed the move as brand dilution. Only Real Madrid and Olympiacos openly opposed the decision, expressing concerns about the maturity of the Arabian market and the potential alienation of core European fans. Others, including Žalgiris coach Andrea Trinchieri, saw potential benefits in expanding basketball's reach, the consensus among critics was that the move compromised the competition's integrity and accessibility in favor of commercial interests.

Teams

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Bracket

Semifinals

Semifinal A

Olympiacos' Evan Fournier scored a EuroLeague career-high 31 points, but his team still lost to Monaco 78–68. Nigel Williams-Goss was the only other Olympiacos player to reach double figures in scoring, with 12 points. Sasha Vezenkov had a difficult game offensively, with only 7 points and 8 rebounds; he also missed all six of his three-point field goal attempts. Aside from Fournier, Olympiacos was 1 of 19 on three-pointers. Monaco was ahead for most of the game, led by the scoring of Mike James and Alpha Diallo, with 22 and 17 points respectively. The game began with Olympiaco's defense locking down Monaco in the first three minutes; both team's defenses maintained an advantage over the offenses throughout the first quarter, with the score tied at 17 apiece when it concluded. Monaco scored the first four points of the second quarter, but Olympiacos' head coach Georgios Bartzokas' small ball lineup of three guards responded with their own 6–0 run to take the lead. Nikola Milutinov of Olympiacos contributed with some help on offense and rebounding, but this was not enough compared to his team's shooting woes combined with Monaco's fast break, as Monaco went ahead by five (31–26).

Olympiacos entered halftime just 2 of 12 on three pointers, with seven assists and eight turnovers, all far worse than their typical performance. Monaco increased their lead throughout the second half by taking advantage of Olympiacos' low shooting percentage and questionable decisions. Several key baskets to open the third quarter from Monaco's Daniel Theis, Diallo, and Jaron Blossomgame pushed their lead to twelve, but Olympiacos' Fournier answered with his own scoring surge to cut Monaco's lead down to four (55–51). Fournier alone had trouble keeping up, as he received little scoring help from teammates in the fourth quarter, while Monaco expanded their lead into double digits highlighted by Mike James dishing out crowd-pleasing assists. With two minutes remaining and his team down by seven, Fournier committed a crucial turnover, which Monaco converted into a basket to increase their lead to nine (74–65) with 79 seconds left. As a result of the victory, Monaco became the first French team in 32 years to play in the final of the European highest level league, and only the second team to reach the stage, following Limoges CSP in the 1992–93 FIBA European League.

Semifinal B

Fenerbahçe won 82–76 over Panathinaikos, who lacked consistency on both offense and defense, and struggled with little to no scoring from several key players: Juancho Hernangómez (5 points), Ömer Yurtseven (2), Kostas Sloukas (2), and Dinos Mitoglou (0). For offensive help, they relied on Cedi Osman and Jerian Grant, who scored 22 and 15 points respectively, though these two players alone had difficulty establishing momentum for the team. Fenerbahçe won the game with proficient three point shooting and timely scoring runs, as well as successfully executing plays during clutch moments. Panathinaikos' guards being outmatched by Fenerbahçe's was another deciding factor in the game's outcome.

Panathinaikos had five first-quarter turnovers, which gave Fenerbahçe the chance to grab an early lead. Panathinaikos continued to be behind for the majority of the first half, but were able to trim the lead down to five by halftime. A turning point came when Kendrick Nunn of Panathinaikos, the game's top scorer at the time with 19 points, fouled out with 5:45 remaining; his consistent scoring output had kept the game close. Without their main scoring threat, Panathinaikos was subsequently unable to overcome Fenerbahçe's high-percentage three-point shooting, which had persisted all game long. Clutch perimeter shots from Devon Hall and Errick McCollum following Nunn's disqualification maintained the lead for Fenerbahçe until game's end. The game marked the return of Mathias Lessort, the Panathinaikos center who had sat out the preceding 150 days due to a broken left leg; he had 14 minutes of action and scored seven points.

Third place game

The third place game was contested between two Greek rivals, with Olympiacos defeating Panathinaikos 97–93. Fans of the two clubs clashed before the game, though these incidents were quelled by security forces prior to the opening tip-off. In spite of this, the gameplay on the court was considered to have a "friendly exhibition feel", with soft defense, minimal ball pressure, and few fouls. Olympiacos took the early lead by making several open shots from long range, and enjoyed leads of up to 15 points on two different occasions. Panathinaikos had to rely on their bench (led by Alexandros Samodurov) to score enough to keep the game close.

Panathinaikos was able to reduce the lead in the final two minutes, but consistent free throw shooting from Giannoulis Larentzakis and Alec Peters helped clinch the victory for Olympiacos. Olympiacos was ahead the entire game; Peters led all scorers with 32 points, tying a tournament record. Olympiacos displayed proficient ball movement and offensive efficiency with 25 assists in the first 25 minutes. By game's end, they set the Final Four single-game team record for most assists with 34, led by Luca Vildoza with nine and Thomas Walkup with eight; this broke the previous high of 31 assists accomplished by Maccabi Tel Aviv in the 2004 championship game.

Championship game

Turkish squad Fenerbahçe claimed the championship by defeating French team Monaco 81–70. The title game began with intense defense from both teams, though Monaco hit several buckets (led by Mike James) to build early leads of 13–4 and 16–8. Production from the Fenerbahçe bench by Wade Baldwin, Tarik Biberović, and Nicolò Melli reduced this gap down to a two-point 20–18 lead for Monaco by first quarter's end. Baldwin opened the second quarter's scoring with a three pointer to put Fenerbahçe ahead by one, but Monaco responded with a 7–0 run sparked by Alpha Diallo, compelling Fenerbahçe to call a timeout; when play resumed, Diallo answered with another basket, this one a deep three-pointer to put Monaco ahead by nine, 32–23. In response, Devon Hall led Fenerbahçe offensively on a 12–1 run to close out the first half while the defense stepped up, putting the team ahead 35–33 at halftime.

Monaco's offensive rebounding and free throw opportunities kept the game close throughout the third quarter, with the lead changing back and forth on multiple occasions; key three-pointers towards the end of the quarter by Marko Gudurić and Nigel Hayes-Davis put Fenerbahçe up 54–51 at the break. The defenses succeeded at the beginning of the fourth quarter, but then a Baldwin three-pointer and Errick McCollum three-point play concluded an 11–0 run that gave Fenerbahçe the game's first double-digit lead. Additional clutch offensive performances from Hayes-Davis and Hall increased and preserved Fenerbahçe's lead which they did not relinquish.

Hayes-Davis was awarded the Final Four MVP. In the championship game, he did not shoot well, making only 4 of 13 field goal attempts, but went a perfect 14 of 14 from the free throw line. He was the game's leading scorer and rebounder, with 23 points and nine rebounds respectively, and also had two steals, a block, and an assist. Monaco head coach Vassilis Spanoulis said, "We didn't distribute the ball properly. They hit some important shots, we played good defense, but their offense was better." This was the second EuroLeague championship for Fenerbahçe, following their 2017 title, and the first for Šarūnas Jasikevičius as a head coach. The team celebrated the title with an open-bus parade through Istanbul on May 27.

References

External links

Official website

{{Portal bar, Sports, Europe
Final Four
EuroLeague Finals
EuroLeague
EuroLeague Final Four