While football (soccer) is unequivocally the most popular sport in Europe, basketball is one of the continent’s fastest growing sports and much of the credit for that goes to the formation of the EuroLeague. An event that runs each year from October to May, the tournament sees some of Europe’s elite basketball clubs face off to take home the coveted trophy.
Originally founded in 1958 as the FIBA European Champions Cup, the tournament attracted the attention of some of the continent’s top sports clubs, as legendary football teams such as Real Madrid, Barcelona and CSKA Moscow opted to compete. Initially contested by 23 teams, it employed a rather untested tournament format that failed to rope in large crowds. Even though the event would evolve with time, its growth on the popularity scale was largely underwhelming, which resulted in it being rebranded in 2000.
An organizational change in 2000 led to the rechristening of the tournament into the EuroLeague – a move that would drastically change the fortune of not just the event, but of basketball as well. The new and improved tournament featured a more evolved and structured format that saw the teams face off in a football-style league plus knockout competition. As the EuroLeague got more exciting, the number of empty seats in arenas decreased as fans flocked to support their teams. The introduction of star power, through teams acquiring talented players from across the world, saw the popularity of the tournament skyrocket. Fans now follow their team around the continent as they take on some of Europe’s biggest powerhouses.
As the popularity of the EuroLeague continued to grow, it surpassed several milestones that were once deemed unattainable. By the 2017-18 season, it boasted the highest average attendance received by professional indoor sports tournaments in Europe. It is also the second most followed basketball league in the world, behind only the USA’s National Basketball League (NBA). Although there is much more left for it to achieve, it is now safe to say that the EuroLeague stands amongst the continent’s elite sporting events.
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