Teammates, opponents remembered Vassilis Spanoulis on Olympiacos BC's "The Night of the Legend"

Under the aptly-named motto "The Night of the Legend", Olympiacos Piraeus retired the #7 jersey of legend Vassilis Spanoulis on Sunday to cap a weekend-long celebration for the long-time Reds icon.

Hundreds of Greek and European basketball personalities joined together to recognize the remarkable career in which Spanoulis led Olympiacos to back-to-back Turkish Airlines EuroLeague titles in 2011 and 2012 and was voted the Final Four MVP three times, having also won the title with Panathinaikos Athens in 2009.

Vassilis Spanoulis jersey-retirement interview

The festivities started on Saturday with a gala dinner at the magnificent Matsuhisa restaurant in Vouliagmeni, Athens. Most of his former star teammates with Olympiacos and the Greek national team were there, among them his longtime friend Nikos Zisis, current Olympiacos captain Kostas Papanikolaou, fellow Reds icon Georgios Printezis, Kyle Hines, Ioannis Bourousis, Dimitris Diamantidis, Kostas Tsartsaris and Nikola Vujcic, as well as some of his head coaches, like Panagiotis Giannakis, Ioannis Sfairopoulos and Georgios Bartzokas, the club's current coach.

Also invited to the gala dinner were many international club representatives and Euroleague Basketball president Dejan Bodiroga. Sasha Vezenkov, the 2022-23 EuroLeague MVP, made a surprise appearance, too. Spanoulis gave a brief, heartfelt speech, fireworks filled the night sky, and the basketball party went up for many hours .

On Sunday, a sellout crowd of more than 11,000 fans at Peace and Friendship Stadium had the opportunity to honor Spanoulis as his number was the first to be retired by Olympiacos.

Papanikolaou, Printezis and Olympiacos presidents Panagiotis and Georgios Angelopoulos introduced the event, and a huge ovation filled the arena when Spanoulis entered the court. Spanoulis was joined by his wife Olympia and their six children to push a button that unveiled his jersey in the arena rafters.

Even more VIPs attended Sunday's jersey-retirement, which came before Olympiacos played a friendly game against EA7 Emporio Armani Milan. Euroleague Basketball CEO Paulius Motiejunas was on hand along with more Greek legends like Sofoklis Schortsanitis, Lazaros Papadopoulos and Argyris Kambouris, who led a group of Olympiacos veterans that gave Spanoulis a framed, vintage #7 jersey that was the same number that Kambouris used to wear. Hines and Milan general manager Christos Stavropoulos, who had been with Olympiacos for 19 years and presided over the team's historic back-to-back EuroLeague crowns, also honored Spanoulis with a personalized plaque.

It was a night of emotions that no Olympiacos fans will never forget!