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Ιστορία του Final Four

Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul has become the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague champion for the second time in club history after defeating AS Monaco 70-81 in the 2025 Championship Game at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi. 

Fenerbahce crowned champion with 70-81 win over Monaco

Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul has become the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague champion for the second time in club history after defeating AS Monaco 70-81 in the 2025 Championship Game at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi. 

Monaco led the majority of a hard-fought first half, but Fener finished strong to take a 33-35 interval lead. It stayed close in the third quarter, but the Turkish team dominated the final period to take title glory. 

Nigel Hayes-Davis led the way with 23 points and 9 rebounds, with Marko Guduric scoring 19, while Devon Hall and Wade Baldwin netted 13 apiece. Alpha Diallo paced Monaco with 19 points, Mike James scored 17, Matthew Strazel had 13 and Daniel Theis contributed 12.

Game Videos

Guduric scored the opening basket with a driving layup, but Monaco responded with triples from Diallo and Strazel, along with 5 points from James. Diallo netted again to complete an 8-0 run, giving Monaco a 13-4 lead. Hayes-Davis scored 4 straight to reduce the gap, before James and Hall traded triples to make it 16-11. Theis and Baldwin exchanged inside scores, before Tarik Biberovic and Jaron Blossomgame netted from mid-range to make it 20-18 after ten minutes.

In a low-scoring start to the second quarter, Baldwin’s triple briefly gave Fener the lead, but Theis immediately hit back from deep. Diallo scored twice as Monaco extended the lead to 29-21 with a 9-0 run, which was snapped by Guduric’s layup. The red-hot Diallo and Nicolo Melli traded three-pointers, and Hayes-Davis made it closer with a smooth layup. Khem Birch’s tip-in and Hall’s fierce slam kept Fener moving, and Hall beat the halftime buzzer with a wild acrobatic put-back for a 33-35 lead.

Game News

Guduric drilled a three-pointer to open the second half, before Daniel Theis reignited Monaco with a layup-and-one. Hall and James traded driving layups to make it 38-40, and Hayes-Davis netted from mid-range to keep Fener ahead despite Strazel’s three-point play. Baldwin scored twice for a 43-48 lead, but Monaco went back ahead through triples from Blossomgame and Diallo. Guduric hit straight back with his own three-ball, and Hayes-Davis was also on target from deep for a 51-54 lead through three quarters.

The early minutes of the fourth were a defensive struggle, before Baldwin’s triple made it 51-59. Errick McCollum’s three-point play completed a 0-11 run, giving Fener the game’s first double-digit lead. Theis’s reverse layup boosted Monaco, but Guduric’s long two made it 55-65. Diallo’s dunk was bettered by Hall’s step-back three, before James’s jumper and Strazel’s free throws followed by a triple pulled it back to 64-69 with two minutes left. But Fener’s defense then took over again, and Guduric’s triple sealed the deal.

The Turkish team claimed the EuroLeague title for the second time after a dominant fourth quarter

Fenerbahce crowned 2025 champion with 70-81 win over Monaco

AS Monaco v Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul (2025-05-25T17:00:00.000Z)

Now in his eighth season with Fenerbahce Beko, Marko Guduric was finally able to lift his first EuroLeague championship.

Marko Guduric gets his hands on the EuroLeague trophy at last

When [Marko Guduric](https://www.euroleaguebasketball.net/en/euroleague/players/marko-guduric/004004/) signed for [Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul](https://www.euroleaguebasketball.net/en/euroleague/teams/fenerbahce-beko-istanbul/ulk/) in the summer of 2017, he must have thought that a Turkish Airlines EuroLeague championship would be imminent.

Fenerbahce, then coached by Zeljko Obradovic, had just become the first Turkish team to secure European basketball’s crown and Guduric, aged 22 entering the season, had big ambitions.

In the Serbian guard’s first campaign at the club, Fenerbahce returned to the 2018 EuroLeague Championship Game, but it was the Luka Doncic-led Real Madrid which ended up lifting the title.

Guduric went scoreless in 11 minutes in the semifinal against Zalgiris Kaunas, then posted a goose egg in over 9 minutes in the title decider against Madrid. For him personally, it was a first Final Four to forget.

One year later, Fenerbahce made it to its fifth straight Final Four, but Guduric and his teammates could not get past Anadolu Efes Istanbul in the semifinals. He did enjoy a far bigger role this time around, though, playing 29 minutes against Efes and pairing 8 points with 6 assists, then 28 minutes in the third-place game as he finished with 11 points against Madrid.

That third-place game proved to be his final appearance for Fenerbahce – or so it seemed – as Guduric went stateside by signing a multi-year contract with the Memphis Grizzlies of the NBA in the summer of 2019. But a year and a half later, he was back in the EuroLeague and suiting up for Fenerbahce.

The passionate Fenerbahce fans had to wait five years between Final Four appearances as the team returned to European basketball’s showpiece event in 2024, yet it was a similar story to 2019 as it struggled to get over the hump. This season, that changed.

Fenerbahce swept its playoff series against Paris Basketball with Guduric averaging 13.5 points in Games 2 and 3, then he had a discreet performance in the semifinal triumph over reigning champion Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens, but there was a story behind that.

“Three or four days before the Final Four, I had this hip injury,” Guduric told Eurohoops post-Final Four. “There was a lot of medication.”

In the championship game, Guduric had his crowning moment. Now in his seventh season with Fenerbahce, the Serbia international put his physical pain to one side and played a near-perfect game against AS Monaco.

In almost 29 minutes on the floor – double what he could manage in the semifinals – he recorded 19 points, 6 rebounds, 2 steals and zero turnovers. His sidestep three-pointer with 1:05 to go will be remembered for years to come, too, as it restored Fenerbahce’s double-digit advantage and effectively put the win on ice.

“This is the one. This is the one I’ve been waiting my whole career \[for\], working for,” Guduric told EuroLeague TV’s Martin Henlan after the final buzzer. “It’s hard to really say something right now. Just proud, happy.”

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But in typical Guduric fashion, he didn’t want to receive any personal praise. For him, the team always comes first.

“It’s all about the team. It’s all about the team,” he reiterated. “All these guys, we are really a team and I emphasize that word all the time. This is a team win.

“I’m very happy, very proud. All glory to God.”

It might’ve taken a little longer than Guduric might have planned, but he is a EuroLeague champion... at last.

The 30-year-old became a EuroLeague champion for the first time in Abu Dhabi

As Fenerbahce Beko and AS Monaco Basket battled in the EuroLeague Championship Game, Nigel Hayes-Davis and Daniel Theis were both mic'd up for the occasion.

Championship Game, Mic'd Up: Nigel Hayes-Davis, Daniel Theis

After a lot of near misses throughout his career, Khem Birch was able to lift a major trophy last Sunday after hoisting aloft the EuroLeague title.

Khem Birch finally a champion: ‘A long time coming’

Last Sunday night, [Khem Birch](https://www.euroleaguebasketball.net/en/euroleague/players/khem-birch/007182/) was finally able to celebrate with his team at the end of a basketball championship run, as the 34-year-old [Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul](https://www.euroleaguebasketball.net/en/euroleague/teams/fenerbahce-beko-istanbul/ulk/) center was crowned a Turkish Airlines EuroLeague champion in Abu Dhabi.

“It was a long time coming,” Birch told Euroleague.net's Igor Petrinovic after the game.

“Every championship since high school, I lost. The EuroLeague in 2017. \[I lost\] even in the NBA Playoffs. So, God rewarded me.”

It sure was a long wait.

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A native of Canada, Birch played for Notre Dame Prep in Massachusetts during his senior year in high school, losing a USA National Prep Championship final against St. Thomas More back in 2011.

In 2013, in his college days, Birch lost in the final of the Mountain West tournament while playing for UNLV against University of New Mexico, then tasted defeat in the first game of the NCAA Tournament against the University of California.

In his lone previous season in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague, Birch helped Olympiacos Piraeus to reach the 2017 championship game, only to lose against Fenerbahce.

Birch also never got past the first round of the NBA Playoffs, getting eliminated with the Orlando Magic in 2019 and 2020, and in 2022 with the Toronto Raptors.

To set the record straight, this recent EuroLeague title was not the first trophy for Birch in his professional career, as he won the Turkish Cup with Fenerbahce earlier this season.

However, winning the EuroLeague pales in comparison with everything else. To do that, [Fenerbahce beat AS Monaco in Sunday’s championship game](https://www.euroleaguebasketball.net/en/euroleague/news/fenerbahce-crowned-2025-champion-with-70-81-win-over-monaco/).

“It was for sure a great battle, and we found the way to rally. And for sure it was our defense,” he said.

Birch praised the team spirit Coach Jasikevicius has instilled and the teammates’ trust in each other, both of which were key in achieving EuroLeague glory.

“We've got a lot of depth, a lot of unselfishness. We followed Coach's plan and we won.”

However, for Birch, there was no escaping a bit of drama. The big man woke up with back pain on the morning of the game and wasn’t entirely sure he’d be able to play.

“I remember when I had a playoff series in the NBA against the Sixers \[in 2022\], when I was with the Raptors, I had a torn meniscus and my back problem. So I know, this was nothing.”

To further prove that this back problem was “nothing” and he was not nervous if he would be able to go, Birch spent 20:16 minutes on the floor against Monaco, posting 6 rebounds, including 3 on the offensive end.

“Hey, I also received a Flight Time award, which means I was in the air the longest. I am too old to be nervous.”

So, finally on the winning team, Khem Birch feels like he might only be getting started.

“I think that after this, I will have the most confidence coming into these types of games.”

The Fenerbahce big man lifted the EuroLeague title after coming up short over and over again

Top 10 photos of the EuroLeague Championship Game

Tens of thousands of fans took it to the streets of the largest Turkish city for a massive parade to greet the new Turkish Airlines EuroLeague champions, Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul on Tuesday afternoon.

Fenerbahce enjoys massive championship parade

Tens of thousands of fans took it to the streets of Turkiye's largest city for a massive parade to greet the new Turkish Airlines EuroLeague champions, [Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul](https://www.euroleaguebasketball.net/en/euroleague/teams/fenerbahce-beko-istanbul/ulk/), on Tuesday afternoon.

Having captured the club’s second-ever EuroLeague crown, coach Saras Jasikevicius's team rode an open-top bus through a long Bagdat Street, the main avenue in Bostanci neighborhood. The bus moved slowly through the street packed with the fans wearing yellow-and-navy colors and proudly waving the flags of their favorite, and once again championship-winning, team.

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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="zxx" dir="ltr"><a href="https://t.co/UpaKbhDmlJ">https://t.co/UpaKbhDmlJ</a> <a href="https://t.co/vFKI2DQVez">pic.twitter.com/vFKI2DQVez</a></p>&mdash; Turkish Airlines EuroLeague (@EuroLeague) <a href="https://twitter.com/EuroLeague/status/1927443039548522874?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 27, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Coach Jasikevicius and his players and staff looked on in awe of the amazing scenes, enjoying every second of the parade, showing off the coveted trophy they captured with [an 81-70 win over AS Monaco in Sunday’s EuroLeague Championship Game](https://www.euroleaguebasketball.net/en/euroleague/news/fenerbahce-crowned-2025-champion-with-70-81-win-over-monaco/) in Abu Dhabi.

Fenerbahce became the eighth team in the modern EuroLeague to win the trophy twice, having also climbed the throne in 2017.

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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="lt" dir="ltr">Sarunas Jasikevicius. <a href="https://t.co/w89HnEZGBl">pic.twitter.com/w89HnEZGBl</a></p>&mdash; Fenerbahçe Beko (@FBBasketbol) <a href="https://twitter.com/FBBasketbol/status/1927463694750843207?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 27, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

"We are the EuroLeague champions, we have won the biggest trophy in Europe," Final Four MVP[ Nigel Hayes-Davis](https://www.euroleaguebasketball.net/euroleague/players/nigel-hayes-davis/008962/) said to the masses in Turkish. "But this is not just the victory of a trophy, it is a victory of attitude, of belief, of character. This success did not come only from a coach's tactics or the talent of the players. This level is not reached only through sporting success. This success is the work of a team that believes in us, a community that never gives up, and you, our great fans, who are always by our side."

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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Parade ready ! 💛💙💛<a href="https://twitter.com/FBBasketbol?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@FBBasketbol</a> <a href="https://t.co/8gMiYPCog7">pic.twitter.com/8gMiYPCog7</a></p>&mdash; Bonzie Colson (@Bcolson_35) <a href="https://twitter.com/Bcolson_35/status/1927379633353228726?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 27, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="tr" dir="ltr">Bizimkiler! 💛💙🏆<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/YellowLegacy?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#YellowLegacy</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/EuroLeague?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#EuroLeague</a> <a href="https://t.co/5hz8t6OFDd">pic.twitter.com/5hz8t6OFDd</a></p>&mdash; Fenerbahçe Beko (@FBBasketbol) <a href="https://twitter.com/FBBasketbol/status/1927468975404769525?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 27, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="tr" dir="ltr">Sevdik Seni Her Şeyden Çok! 💛💙<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/YellowLegacy?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#YellowLegacy</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/EuroLeague?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#EuroLeague</a> <a href="https://t.co/bsnS6W2f8D">pic.twitter.com/bsnS6W2f8D</a></p>&mdash; Fenerbahçe Beko (@FBBasketbol) <a href="https://twitter.com/FBBasketbol/status/1927396028241625220?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 27, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="cy" dir="ltr">BALDWIN IV!<a href="https://twitter.com/The_Fourth_Wade?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@The_Fourth_Wade</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/YellowLegacy?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#YellowLegacy</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/EuroLeague?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#EuroLeague</a> <a href="https://t.co/gvZG5v0WlW">pic.twitter.com/gvZG5v0WlW</a></p>&mdash; Fenerbahçe Beko (@FBBasketbol) <a href="https://twitter.com/FBBasketbol/status/1927407916392296624?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 27, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="es" dir="ltr">Nicolo! 💪<a href="https://twitter.com/NikMelli?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@NikMelli</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/YellowLegacy?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#YellowLegacy</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/EuroLeague?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#EuroLeague</a> <a href="https://t.co/JMFf2ImJ9M">pic.twitter.com/JMFf2ImJ9M</a></p>&mdash; Fenerbahçe Beko (@FBBasketbol) <a href="https://twitter.com/FBBasketbol/status/1927422232181055600?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 27, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="tr" dir="ltr">İstersen donatalım dört bir yanı bayraklarla! 🔥 <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/YellowLegacy?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#YellowLegacy</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/EuroLeague?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#EuroLeague</a> <a href="https://t.co/wYV3LndZiK">pic.twitter.com/wYV3LndZiK</a></p>&mdash; Fenerbahçe SK (@Fenerbahce) <a href="https://twitter.com/Fenerbahce/status/1927419761782108524?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 27, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>


The new EuroLeague champion celebrated its trophy with its fans

Here are some facts about two-time Turkish Airlines EuroLeague champions Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul!

Facts of the Champions: Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul

...Fenerbahce won its second EuroLeague championship! It previously lifted the trophy in 2017.

...Fenerbahce is the eighth team in modern EuroLeague history to lift multiple titles.

...Sarunas Jasikevicius became 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. Saras is the first to do it in the modern EuroLeague.

...Melih Mahmutoglu is the only player to win two EuroLeague titles with Fenerbahce: 2017 and 2025! 

...Sertac Sanli is the only player to win the EuroLeague title with both Turkish powerhouses! He lifted the trophy with Anadolu Efes Istanbul in 2021 and did it again with Fenerbahce on Sunday.

...Scottie Wilbekin and Errick McCollum joined a list of EuroCup MVPs that also won the EuroLeague: Nick Calathes, Tyrese Rice, Alexey Shved and Jerian Grant are also part of his very exclusive club. 

...Wilbekin and McCollum joined a select group of players that won the EuroLeague and EuroCup titles. Only 24 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 and Marko Guduric both lost a Euroleague final with Fenerbahce in 2018… and were back in a championship game seven years later to win their first EuroLeague crown!

...Khem Birch and DyShawn Pierre join Anthony Bennett in a list of Canadian players that won the EuroLeague title! All of them won with Fenerbahce! 

...Jilson Bango is 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 has just 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 – until Sunday! 


Here are some facts about two-time Turkish Airlines EuroLeague champions Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul!

Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul clamped down on AS Monaco to take the club’s second championship with a defense-dominated 70-81 victory in Abu Dhabi on Sunday night.

Defense delivered another title to Fenerbahce

There’s an old saying you might just have heard once or twice over the years: "Offense wins games, but defense wins championships."

And that old truism was demonstrated once again as [Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul](https://www.euroleaguebasketball.net/en/euroleague/teams/fenerbahce-beko-istanbul/ulk/) clamped down on [AS Monaco](https://www.euroleaguebasketball.net/en/euroleague/teams/as-monaco/mco/) to take the club’s second championship with [a defense-dominated 70-81 victory](https://www.euroleaguebasketball.net/en/euroleague/news/fenerbahce-crowned-2025-champion-with-70-81-win-over-monaco/) in Abu Dhabi on Sunday night.

After limiting [Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens](https://www.euroleaguebasketball.net/en/euroleague/teams/panathinaikos-aktor-athens/pan/?season=2024-25)’s explosive offense to 76 points in [Friday’s semifinal](https://www.euroleaguebasketball.net/en/euroleague/news/fenerbahce-downs-panathinaikos-82-76-advances-to-championship-game/), the Turkish team reached an ever higher defensive level in the title decider.

The numbers speak for themselves: Monaco could only make 16 of its 42 two-point attempts (38.1%), recorded more turnovers (14) than assists (13), and mustered a team PIR of just 61.

Fenerbahce’s defense was particularly fierce during the most important moments of the game. Monaco scored just one field goal in the last 4 minutes of the second quarter, as the Turkish team grabbed the momentum to take a lead it would hold for the vast majority of the second half.

And later, when the fourth quarter started with Fener leading by just 3, the Roca Team was held to just one field goal and 4 total points in the first 5:47 of the crucial final period, allowing Saras Jasikevicius’s men to establish a double-digit margin that would ultimately prove decisive.

[Wade Baldwin](https://www.euroleaguebasketball.net/en/euroleague/players/wade-baldwin-iv/009863/) – one of six Fener players to snare a steal on the night – believed that crucial run in the opening stages of the fourth quarter resulted from his team’s mental focus. “Monaco is going to play the way Monaco plays, they’re going to rough you up,” he said.

“We just stayed composed, we made good plays, got big rebounds and everybody stepped up defensively. That’s not an easy team to guard, but we did our job.”

Baldwin’s job was perhaps the most difficult of them all as he matched up against Monaco superstar [Mike James](https://www.euroleaguebasketball.net/en/euroleague/players/mike-james/005985/), but he helped restrict the league’s all-time leading scorer to just 6 of 19 field goal attempts and only 2 assists.

Baldwin had words of immense respect for his adversary, saying: “The first name I heard \[when I came to Europe\] was Mike James. He’s considered one of the best American guards to play in EuroLeague. And to play against him in the final, to compete against him, to guard him, and to beat him…you can’t want anything more than that.”

Another crucial player for Fenerbahce’s defensive efforts was [Nicolo Melli](https://www.euroleaguebasketball.net/en/euroleague/players/nicolo-melli/002849/), whose modest numbers (5 points, 3 rebounds and 1 steal) don’t even come close to telling the story of his disruptive impact on Monaco’s offensive efforts.

And he said that he believes the team’s spirit made the difference: “We definitely won it with defense, but we also won it with character. We were down by \[9\] in the first half.

“These games are all about emotions, thoughts, feeling, momentum. But we were able to stay together and finished the half up, and after that I think we kept the control of the game in the second half.”

It’s a long-awaited first EuroLeague title for Melli, whose first spell with Fenerbahce started just after the team’s 2017 triumph.

And the 34-year-old was emotional as he reflected on the achievement, telling the EuroLeague YouTube channel’s postgame show: “Without being dramatic, I know what I’ve been through sport-wise, and being able to come back to Fener – where I always felt beloved – and being able to win the championship in the first year is just amazing.

“As players, we sacrifice a lot – time with the family, summers. You sacrifice for something, and today this something came.”

A sweet something that Fener and its fans will remember forever.

The Turkish team played with great discipline and physicality to subdue Monaco

Saras Jasikevicius has become the fourth person to lift the EuroLeague as a head coach and player.

Coach Jasikevicius enters EuroLeague history books, leads Fenerbahce to glory

Not many Turkish Airlines EuroLeague legends can boast having won the trophy both as a coach and player. In fact, only three had done it before Sunday’s Championship Game between [Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul](https://www.euroleaguebasketball.net/en/euroleague/teams/fenerbahce-beko-istanbul/ulk/) and [AS Monaco](https://www.euroleaguebasketball.net/en/euroleague/teams/as-monaco/mco/). That exclusive group which consisted of Armenak Alachachian, Lolo Sainz and Svetislav Pesic now has a new member in Fenerbahce boss [Saras Jasikevicius](https://www.euroleaguebasketball.net/en/euroleague/players/saras-jasikevicius/adg/). 

Having won four EuroLeague championships with three teams as a player, Jasikevicius made history after Fenerbahce’s playoff sweep over Paris Basketball by becoming the first coach to reach five consecutive Final Fours.

Participation with Zalgiris Kaunas (2018) was followed by three straight Final Fours with FC Barcelona (2021, 2022, 2023) and two in row with Fenerbahce (2024, 2025). The Turkish side bounced back from last year’s semifinal defeat at the hands of Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens by beating the Greens this season to reach the Championship Game. This time, Jasikevicius wouldn’t let the opportunity slip through his hands.

“It feels amazing. I’ve been chasing this trophy for a while now,” he told EuroLeague TV after the game. “I had a lot of heartbreaks. Stuck with it and these guys got the job done.”

<center>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">That winning smile 😃<br><br>🤳Saras Selfie <a href="https://t.co/rhygk7NUWd">pic.twitter.com/rhygk7NUWd</a></p>&mdash; Turkish Airlines EuroLeague (@EuroLeague) <a href="https://twitter.com/EuroLeague/status/1926748771334950956?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 25, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

His task this term has been anything but easy. [Scottie Wilbekin’](https://www.euroleaguebasketball.net/en/euroleague/players/scottie-wilbekin/006661/)s season-ending injury two minutes into the season was followed by several setbacks that forced him to adapt and react. His team grew through adversity and finished the regular season in style. Fenerbahce hit the ground running in the new calendar year, winning 18 of its 22 games to earn Saras the 2024-25 Aleksander Gomelskiy Coach of the Year for the first time in his career.

“It was difficult at times,” Jasikevicius added. “We found a way to stick together. We went through the bad times and survived in some parts of the season. And I believe that from January on we played good basketball.”

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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">KINGS OF EUROPE 🟡🔵<a href="https://twitter.com/FBBasketbol?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@FBBasketbol</a> <a href="https://t.co/aAylK2hs4p">pic.twitter.com/aAylK2hs4p</a></p>&mdash; Turkish Airlines EuroLeague (@EuroLeague) <a href="https://twitter.com/EuroLeague/status/1926739224851529762?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 25, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

That good basketball paid off as Fenerbahce secured its second-ever EuroLeague trophy. And Saras can now cherish the moment by celebrating his fifth championship.

“I got a big monkey off my shoulders,” he told the post-game press conference. “After being so close for so many years, consistently being here and not being able to get over the hump. 

"I can’t win championships as a player anymore. As Billy \[Spanoulis\] said, I wish I’d have the f\*\*\*ing ball in my hands this weekend, but we are on the sidelines. \[The feeling of winning it as a player and coach\] is the same. It’s the greatest feeling in the world to be a champion.”

He became the fourth person in EuroLeague history to lift the championship both as a player and coach

Coach Jasikevicius enters the EuroLeague history books

Wade Baldwin basks in EuroLeague glory

It took [Wade Baldwin](https://www.euroleaguebasketball.net/en/euroleague/players/wade-baldwin-iv/009863/) five clubs and six EuroLeague seasons just to get to the Final Four. And he did everything he could to make sure he cashed in this season with Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul.

Baldwin made it clear that he joined Fenerbahce with the goal of winning it all. And after he accomplished that goal on Sunday night at the 2025 Final Four at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, he was – however briefly – prepared to bask in the glory.

"We're all legends in the, in the Euroleague Basketball books," Baldwin said in the locker room amid the post-game celebrations. "We're 2025 champions, this Fenerbahce team. It's our second star. All of us gave tremendous effort. It's just a great feeling to be in the history books for this league."

A true student of the game, Baldwin came painstakingly close to Final Fours on several occasions, losing a fifth and deciding game in the playoffs with FC Bayern Munich in 2021 and with Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv in both 2023 and 2024. Because of those losses, Baldwin appreciates what it means to be a winner. Perhaps even more so this season after he missed time with injuries.  

"It's relentless," Baldwin said of the road to the crown. "You want to play your best basketball towards the end of season to raise titles. I wanna put my best foot forward in any minutes that I play and just play my game. All of us established roles on how we could be effective for this team, and everybody did a hell of a job doing it."

Baldwin said that defeating Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens in the semifinals and AS Monaco in the Championship Game required "mental toughness, extra effort, and following the game plan."

He summed it up as "just Fenerbahce basketball. And we've been trying to practice all year to perform like this in two of the biggest games of our season."

 Baldwin will celebrate heartily now – maybe even for a few days – as all EuroLeague champions do. But perhaps unlike most, he already has his eyes on the next prize.

"Now we're at the top of the food chain. So, we gotta enjoy this moment. The business of basketball will be the business of basketball, but we're gonna try to do it again next year."

The Fenerbahce guard has won his first continental crown 

In his first season as a coach in the EuroLeague, Vassilis Spanoulis did almost everything, but his AS Monaco team came up short against Fenerbahçe Beko in the Championship Game.

Monaco has laid the foundation for future success under Coach Spanoulis

In his first season as a coach in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague, Vassilis Spanoulis did almost everything.

After clinching home-court advantage in the EuroLeague Playoffs, he led his team to Final Four qualification by eliminating FC Barcelona in a five-game series. In the semifinal against his former team, Spanoulis put together a master plan to disrupt Olympiacos Piraeus’s ball circulation, forced them to a season-low in assists and eliminated the regular-season leader from the competition.

Having remained unbeaten in the EuroLeague Semifinals as both a player and coach, Spanoulis came close to becoming the first-ever coach to have won the championship in his first season since Zeljko Obradovic did so with Partizan Belgrade in 1992.

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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="fr" dir="ltr">Merci aux <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/RocaFans?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#RocaFans</a> ❤️👏<br><br>Vous avez été incroyables tout au long de la saison et à ce Final Four 🙏🇲🇨<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/DagheMunegu?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#DagheMunegu</a> <a href="https://t.co/VnjR2TP4ti">pic.twitter.com/VnjR2TP4ti</a></p>&mdash; AS Monaco Basket 🇲🇨 (@ASMonaco_Basket) <a href="https://twitter.com/ASMonaco_Basket/status/1926726840183394535?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 25, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

But it wasn’t meant to be despite [AS Monaco](https://www.euroleaguebasketball.net/en/euroleague/teams/as-monaco/mco/)’s efforts in [the Championship Game against Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul](https://www.euroleaguebasketball.net/en/euroleague/news/fenerbahce-crowned-2025-champion-with-70-81-win-over-monaco/). Spanoulis’s side looked solid on defense but missed a spark on the other end in their bid to go all the way in their second-ever Final Four participation.

“Monaco could have won. They are a great team,” Fenerbahce head coach Saras Jasikevicius admitted after the game. “Their physicality is incredible, their guys left their hearts out there. Hats off to them.”

Having missed out on the trophy, Monaco is aware that there are a lot of positives to take from this season. As Spanoulis stressed in the post-game press conference, his team exceeded expectations this season, but they are yet to reach their full potential.

“We fought hard,” Spanoulis said. “For Monaco we broke the ceiling and \[overcame\] the expectations they had from us. We were just a bit away from the trophy. But this is life. You have to fight hard all your life to win trophies. Sometimes you win your first time, sometimes after two, five or ten times.”

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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">🙏🥺 Thank you, that was beautiful<br><br>Congratulations <a href="https://twitter.com/FBBasketbol?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@FBBasketbol</a> for the title, it was a great battle 👏 <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/RocaTeam?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#RocaTeam</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/DagheMunegu?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#DagheMunegu</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/F4GLORY?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#F4GLORY</a> <a href="https://t.co/FTdVqwGRxf">pic.twitter.com/FTdVqwGRxf</a></p>&mdash; AS Monaco Basket 🇲🇨 (@ASMonaco_Basket) <a href="https://twitter.com/ASMonaco_Basket/status/1926721342155509847?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 25, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Spanoulis joined the club in November and in just a few months he managed to transmit his ideals to the players, turning Monaco’s offense from iso-heavy into a ball-circulation machine, with star [Mike James](https://www.euroleaguebasketball.net/euroleague/players/mike-james/005985/) averaging a league fourth-best 5.8 assists per game and the team ending the season with a sixth-best 19.1 dishes.

The Greek coach has laid the foundation to achieve what no one else has managed at Monaco: go all the way to EuroLeague glory. Having led the team to Championship Game participation in his first season coaching in the competition, the future looks bright for Spanoulis’s Monaco.

The Greek coach led his team to its first-ever Championship Game participation

The long-awaited climax of the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague season arrives with the drama and emotion of Sunday’s championship game, preceded by the consolation prize of the third-place game. Here’s your guide to the final action of the 2024-25 season.

Game Center: Monaco, Fenerbahce ready to battle for the EuroLeague title

### [Championship Game: AS Monaco 70-81 Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul](https://www.euroleaguebasketball.net/en/euroleague/game-center/2024-25/as-monaco-fenerbahce-beko-istanbul/E2024/330/)

Fenerbahce has become the EuroLeague champion for the second time in club history after defeating Monaco 70-81 in the 2025 Championship Game at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi. Monaco led the majority of a hard-fought first half, but Fener finished strong to take a 33-35 interval lead. It stayed close in the third quarter, but the Turkish team dominated the final period to take title glory. Nigel Hayes-Davis led the way with 23 points and 9 rebounds, with Marko Guduric scoring 19, while Devon Hall and Wade Baldwin netted 13 apiece. Alpha Diallo paced Monaco with 19 points, Mike James scored 17, Matthew Strazel had 13 and Daniel Theis contributed 12.

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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">For the second time EVER... <a href="https://twitter.com/FBBasketbol?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@FBBasketbol</a> are EuroLeague Champions 🏆<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/F4GLORY?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#F4GLORY</a> <a href="https://t.co/B83xnz1S3t">pic.twitter.com/B83xnz1S3t</a></p>&mdash; Turkish Airlines EuroLeague (@EuroLeague) <a href="https://twitter.com/EuroLeague/status/1926716804539220342?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 25, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

### [Third-Place Game: Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens 97-93 Olympiacos Piraeus](https://www.euroleaguebasketball.net/en/euroleague/game-center/2024-25/olympiacos-piraeus-panathinaikos-aktor-athens/E2024/329/)

Olympiacos Piraeus signed off from the 2025 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Final Four in style by grabbing a 97-93 win over Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens in the Third-Place Game. Alec Peters paced Olympiacos with 32 points, a new club record at the Final Four and tied for the most all-time in a Final Four game in the modern era, while Sasha Vezenkov bounced back with 23 points and Moses Wright, who didn’t feature in the semifinals, netted 19 points. Luca Vildoza and Thomas Walkup both went scoreless, but they finished with 9 and 8 assists, respectively. Panathinaikos was led by Omer Yurtseven’s 23 points, followed by 14 for Cedi Osman and 12 for Mathias Lessort. Lorenzo Brown dished 12 assists.

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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Third place belongs to <a href="https://twitter.com/Olympiacos_BC?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Olympiacos_BC</a>! 🥉👏<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/F4GLORY?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#F4GLORY</a> <a href="https://t.co/nCJ2xxWJbJ">pic.twitter.com/nCJ2xxWJbJ</a></p>&mdash; Turkish Airlines EuroLeague (@EuroLeague) <a href="https://twitter.com/EuroLeague/status/1926666646615191844?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 25, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Championship Game: Fenerbahce is the 2024-25 EuroLeague champion!

Olympiacos Piraeus v Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens (2025-05-25T14:00:00.000Z)

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