This weekend sees four of Europe’s top basketball teams duking it out to be named Euroleague Champions in the Final Four (not to be confused with the NCAA’s Final Four – the cause of March Madness each year).
Paris is the host for this year’s Final Four competition.
Friday will see the semi-final games taking place: Regal FC Barcelona will face CSKA Moscow in the first semi-final, while Partizan Belgrade will take on Olympiacos Piraeus in the other semi-final.
The winners of these games will face each other for the Champions Trophy this Sunday, 9 May 2010.
In last year’s final, Panathinaikos Athens beat CSKA Moscow in the 2009 final to take the Champions trophy and earn the honour of being the best European basketball team in 2009.
Panathinaikos, 2009 Euroleague Champions
This year, Panathinaikos won’t be able to defend their title as they were beaten by Olympiacos in the Greek league, not even advancing to the Final Four. Having beaten the reigning champions, Olympiacos will no doubt be looking to claim the title for their own this year.
Get ready for a huge basketball weekend in Paris.
You can read more about the competition on the Final Four website., and a good write-up on the semi-final matchups on FIBA’s website here.
Update 1: Regal FC Barcelona became the first finalist, beating CSKA Moscow 64-54
Update 2: Olympiacos beat Partizan, 83-80, and will play against Barcelona in the Final
