The 2018 EuroLeague Final Four was the concluding EuroLeague Final Four tournament of the 2017–18 EuroLeague season, the 61st season of

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

's premier club

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

tournament, and the 18th season since it was organised by

Euroleague Basketball Euroleague Basketball, run by Euroleague Commercial Assets (ECA), is a private company that runs and operates men's professional basketball club competitions in Europe, the first-tier level EuroLeague, and the second-tier level EuroCup. It has ...

. It was the 31st Final Four of the modern EuroLeague Final Four era ( 1988–present), and the 33rd time overall that the competition had concluded with a

final four In sports, the final four is the last four teams remaining in a playoffs, playoff tournament. Usually the final four compete in the two games of a single-elimination tournament's semi-final (penultimate) round. Of these teams, the two who win in ...

format. The Final Four was played at the Štark Arena in

Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...

, Serbia, on 18 and 20 May 2018.

Venue

On 26 October 2016

announced that the Final Four would be held in the Štark Arena in

. It is designed as a universal hall for sports, cultural events and other programs. It was the first time the EuroLeague Final Four was hosted in Belgrade, or in the country of Serbia. The Arena's total floor area is 48,000 square metres. For sports, it has a regular

seating capacity Seating capacity is the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, in terms of both the physical space available and limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile that ...

for fans of 18,386, and also has 70 luxury boxes, which include a total of 860 seats. The arena's cost was estimated at

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists of a stylized letter E (or epsilon), crossed by t ...

70 million. Štark Arena is a member of the European Arenas Association (EAA).

Background

CSKA Moscow

CSKA Moscow finished the regular season as the number one seed, after having a 24–6 record. In the quarter-finals, the team played another Russian side in

Khimki Khimki (, ) is a city in Moscow Oblast, Russia. It is located approximately northwest from central Moscow, and is part of the Moscow metropolitan area. History Origins and formation Khimki was initially a railway station that had existed sin ...

. CSKA won the series 3–1 over Khimki, after a controversial 88–89 win in Game 4.The controversial finale of Khimki – CSKA
/ref> In the United League season, CSKA was in second place while battling for the first seed.

Fenerbahçe Doğuş

Fenerbahçe finished second in the regular season and defeated Kirolbet Baskonia in the quarter-finals. Fenerbahçe reached the Final Four for a fourth straight year. Head coach

Željko Obradović Željko Obradović ( sr-cyrl, Желимир "Жељко" Обрадовић, ; born 9 March 1960) is a Serbian professional basketball Coach (basketball), coach and former professional player who is the head coach for KK Partizan, Partizan of the ...

had the opportunity to win his tenth EuroLeague title, a record for most titles by a coach.

Real Madrid

Madrid battled injuries during the regular season, as Sergio Llull,

Ognjen Kuzmić Ognjen Kuzmić ( sr-Cyrl, Огњен Кузмић, ; born May 16, 1990) is a Serbian professional basketball player for KK FMP of the Adriatic League. He has also represented the senior Serbian national team in international competition. Standi ...

and Rudy Fernández missed most of the games. As a five-seed, the team beat Panathinaikos in a controversial quarterfinal series, 1–3. The star player for Madrid during the season was Luka Dončić, who led the league in Performance Index Rating (PIR), and was later a top-three pick in the

2018 NBA draft The 2018 NBA Draft was held on June 21, 2018, at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. National Basketball Association teams took turns selecting amateur United States college basketball players and other eligible players, including internationa ...

. Dončić's games during the Final Four were televised in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, by

NBA TV NBA TV is an American sports-oriented pay television network owned by the National Basketball Association (NBA) and operated by Warner Bros. Discovery through TNT Sports. Dedicated to basketball, the network features exhibition, regular se ...

. In the

2017–18 ACB season The 2017–18 Liga ACB, ACB season, also known as Liga Endesa for sponsorship reasons, was the 35th season of the Spanish basketball league. It started on 29 September 2017 with the first round of the regular season and ended on 19 June 2018 with ...

, Real Madrid was the number one seed.

Žalgiris

In the regular season, Žalgiris qualified as the sixth seed. Žalgiris won the series over favored

Olympiacos Olympiacós Sýndesmos Filáthlon Peiraiós (, Olympic Association of Fans of Piraeus) is a major multi-sport club based in Piraeus, Greece. Olympiacos is parent to a number of different competitive departments which participate in football, ...

, 3–1. For EuroLeague Legend Šarūnas Jasikevičius, this was his first visit to the Final Four as a head coach and also for the club since 1999. In its domestic LKL season, the club dominated as well, as it was in a secure first seed.

Bracket

Semifinals

Semifinal A

Russian champions

CSKA Moscow CSKA Moscow () is a Russian sports club based in Moscow. It was created in 1911 in the Russian Empire on base of OLLS (Skiing Society, founded 1901). Later, during the Soviet Union, Soviet era, it was the central part of the Armed Forces (sports ...

returned to the Final Four to make it their seventh consecutive semi-final appearance. CSKA guard Sergio Rodríguez would play the semi-final against his former club, which he won the EuroLeague title with in

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

, as well as the

EuroLeague MVP The EuroLeague MVP, or EuroLeague Regular Season MVP, is the EuroLeague awards, award bestowed to the player that is deemed to be the "Most valuable player, Most Valuable Player" during the regular season of the EuroLeague. The EuroLeague ...

award in

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...

would play its fourth Final Four in five years. The match would be a re-match of the 2017 third-place game. During the

regular season In an organized sports league, a typical season is the portion of one year in which regulated games of the sport are in session: for example, in Major League Baseball the season lasts approximately from the last week of March to the last week of S ...

, both teams won their respective games at home, with this game being considered a Real Madrid home game.

Semifinal B

Defending champions Fenerbahçe Doğuş returned to the Final Four to make it their third straight appearance. Led by head coach

, the all-time record holder for most EuroLeague championships won by a head coach, it defeated Kirolbet Baskonia 1–3 in the quarter-finals, to clinch a semi-final spot. Žalgiris Kaunas qualified for its first Final Four in 20 years, as the last time the team participated was in

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

, where it claimed the championship as well. The club beat

3–1 in the play-offs, despite not having home court advantage.

Third place game

Championship game

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:2018 Euroleague Final Four

Final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

EuroLeague Finals International sports competitions in Belgrade International basketball competitions hosted by Serbia 2018 in Serbian sport 2010s in Belgrade EuroLeague Final Four Basketball competitions in Belgrade