The four best European basketball teams have competed this weekend in the Final Four, the final stage of the Turkish Airlines Euroleague 2017, held in Istanbul. Turkey’s Fenerbahçe won the coveted Cup against Olympiacos Pireus (Greece) with a result of 80:64 before the excited fans at the Sinan Erdem Dome.
All of the teams already disputed the 2015 Final Four of two years ago in Madrid, even with the same semi-finals matchups.
Thousands of basketball fans followed the 2017 Final Four live at the Sinan Erdem Dome in Istanbul. The final match between Fenerbahçe and Olympiacos attracted more than 10 thousand Fenerbahçe fans and about 2,500 Olympiacos fans.
Basketball fans could also watched the Final Four matches live on planes and cruise ships. This year’s Final Four also break a record in total number of broadcasts. The final games, which were broadcasted live in 214 countries, acted as a massive promotion for Istanbul and Turkey.
CSKA Moscow and Real Madrid played to be the third on Sunday 18:00 (local time) which ended 94:70 with CSKA Moscow’s victory. With CSKA Moscow finishing third, the final game of Turkish Airlines EuroLeague started at 21:00 (local time) after which Fenerbahçe emerged as the Champion. The game started well for Fenerbahçe with the score being 26 against 18 in the first period, however the second period Olympiacos almost caught up, reducing Fenerbahçe’s lead to 5 points. Right before the third period, Hidayet Türkoğlu, President of the Turkish Basketball Federation handed over a symbolic basketball to the local basketball authorities of Belgrade, Serbia which will host the finals in 2018. During the rest of the match, Fenerbahçe dominated the game and became the best team of 2017 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague with a score of 80:64.
The Turkish crowd strongly supported their team at every minute and proved to be excellent hosts –must be noted that this was the first time a Turkish team played the Final Four in its own country-.
This incredible show has offered to all sports lovers, both in Istanbul and around the world, a truly unique experience, in line with various enjoyable activities performed by the expert teams both from Turkish Airlines and EuroLeague Basketball. It has also been the perfect occasion to launch once again the solidarity initiatives carried out by OneTeam, Euroleague’s corporate social responsibility program, created with the airline’s support in 2012.
The Euroleague Basketball was created in the 2000/2001 season. In 2010 Turkish Airlines, flying to more countries and international destinations in the world, became the official sponsor of the most important basketball competition in Europe, as well as its final round. For this season, the flag company has celebrated the Final Four in Istanbul, which has made this collaboration even more special. More than 18.000spectators have enjoyed the best European basketball to encourage CSKA Moscow, Olympiacos Pireus, Real Madrid and Fenerbahçe. The Turkish Airlines sponsorship to the EuroLeague Basketball will extend for three more years.
Turkish Airlines, priced with the Skytrax World Airline Award for Europe’s Best Airline for the consecutive sixth time last year, has endorsed sports on an international level for many years. In addition to sponsoring the EuroLeague Basketball and its acclaimed final round, and UEFA Euro 2016, the company had remained linked to the sports sphere and its important values of effort and improvement, through different collaborative actions with F.C. Barcelona or Manchester United and with athletes like Messi or Kobe Bryant. Beyond basketball and football, the company also supports other disciplines such as the European Professional Club Rugby Championship since November 2015, the Turkish Airlines Open Golf – included in the European Tour Final Series since 2013 – or the Chio Aachen in Germany, the most prestigious horse competition in the world.
