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FENERBAHCE BEKO ISTANBUL:
DID YOU KNOW?
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Fenerbahce will compete in its fourth Championship Game? It played three consecutive Championship Games from 2016 to 2018, lifting the trophy in 2017.
Sarunas Jasikevicius has a chance to become the fourth person to win the EuroLeague as a player and head coach. Jasikevicius won four EuroLeague championships as a player. Armenak Alachachan, Lolo Sainz and Stevislav Pesic are the only three members of this exclusive club.
Coach Jasikevicius is one of two players to win the EuroLeague with three different teams. Jasikevicius lifted the trophy with FC Barcelona in 2003, Maccabi Tel Aviv in 2004 and 2005, and Panathinaikos Athens in 2009. Kostas Sloukas is the other (Olympiacos 2012, 2013; Fenerbahce 2017; Panathinaikos 2024).
Coach Jasikevicius has made it to the Final Four as a head coach with three different teams: Zalgiris Kaunas, Barcelona and Fenerbahce. Zeljko Obradovic, Bozidar Maljkovic, Dusan Ivkovic, Ettore Messina, Ioannis Ioannidis and Ergin Ataman did so in the past.
Coach Jasikevicius has made it to his fifth consecutive Final Four. Only two other coaches in EuroLeague history achieved that: Obradovic and Dimitris Itoudis.
Fenerbahce won the EuroLeague in 2017. It became the first Turkish team to lift the trophy. Melih Mahmutoglu is the only current Fenerbahce player who was on that championship-winning roster.
Scottie Wilbekin and Errick McCollum are former EuroCup MVPs. Four EuroCup MVPs are also EuroLeague champions: Nick Calathes, Tyrese Rice, Alexey Shved and Jerian Grant. Mam Jaiteh, the 2021-22 EuroCup MVP, is also present at the Championship Game with Monaco.
Wilbekin and McCollum can join a select group of players that won the EuroLeague and EuroCup titles. Only 22 players won both competitions. The list includes names such as Rudy Fernandez, Ricky Rubio, Mathias Lessort, Nick Calathes, Nando De Colo and Milos Teodosic.
Nicolo Melli is back at the Championship Game for the first time since 2018, scoring 28 points in a losing effort against Real Madrid. Khem Birch last made it to the Championship Game with Olympiacos in 2017. Both big men are looking for their first EuroLeague title.
Jilson Bango can become the first Angolan-born player to win the EuroLeague. Only two Angolan players have taken part in the EuroLeague, both this season: Bango and Real Madrid’s Bruno Fernando.
Arturs Zagars can become the first Latvian player to win the EuroLeague this century. As many as 28 Latvian-born players have played the EuroLeague since the competition started in 2000 but none of them lifted the trophy.
Dyshawn Pierre and Khem Birch can become the second and third Canadian players to win the EuroLeague. The only Canadian player to win the EuroLeague is Anthony Bennett, who was on Fenerbahce’s roster as it downed Birch’s Olympiacos in the 2017 EuroLeague Championship Game.
Nigel Hayes-Davis set the EuroLeague’s single-game scoring record last season. He scored 50 points in a 103-68 home win against ALBA Berlin in Round 32 of the 2023-24 campaign.
Nigel Hayes-Davis and Coach Jasikevicius have been together on three different teams: Zalgiris, Barcelona and Fenerbahce.
Sertac Sanli has qualified for each of the last six Final Fours. He went to the Final Four with Anadolu Efes Istanbul in 2019 and 2021, FC Barcelona in 2022 and 2023, and is now back with Fenerbahce for the second straight year. Sanli won the EuroLeague with Efes in 2021.
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