The Olympiacos is the reigning Europe Champion for 2026.
A dream run, with a complete basketball on defense and offense by the players of Jiorgos Bartzokas, was completed in the best and most special way in the Euroleague. With a victory, 92-85, over Real Madrid in the final, at the Telekom Center Athens and the red and white jersey… the 4th star is already being sewn on.
The congratulations were an overnight affair across the country. In Chania, Patras, Nafplio and Argos, Olympiacos fans took to the streets and celebrated the European success of Giorgos Bartzokas’ team, creating a jubilant atmosphere in every corner of Greece.
Olympiacos also “broke” the curse that wanted it to never win the title, the first team in the regular season. With a total of 31 wins – 12 losses, the Piraeus team confirmed the predictions and climbed the highest step again after 13 years. Rome 1997, Istanbul 2012, London 2013 and Athens 2026… history was made. As was the fact that Olympiacos was down 3-2 in finals to Real Madrid of 11 titles!
With a partial score of 31-20 in the 4th quarter, Evan Fournier being named MVP with 20 points (3/7 3-pointers), Alek Peters stable with 16 points and 7 rebounds, Vezenkov contributing 12 points and 4 rebounds and Tomas Walkap scoring 10 points, Olympiacos, after disappointments in 4 consecutive Final Fours (Belgrade 2022, Kaunas 2023, Berlin 2024 and Abu Dhabi 2025), in their 5th straight…. he made it.
Real, even without their big men Eddie Tavares, Usman Garouba and Alex Len, managed to take a +12 lead in the 1st quarter, and stayed in the game until the end, thanks to 13/35 3-point shooting and an incredible Trey Liles (24 points, with 5/6 3-pointers and 8 rebounds). Mario Hezonja gave Real 19 points, but missed critical threes down the stretch, as did Facundo Cabazzo who had 0/4 threes and Gabriel Deke (4 points on 0/4 threes).
But Olympiacos’ 42 rebounds (26 by the “queen” made the difference), even if Tyler Dorsey wasn’t having a good day, and Vezenkov wasn’t the scorer Olympiacos is used to.
Giorgos Bartzokas became the 2nd Greek coach with 2 Euroleague titles (2013, 2026), along with Dimitris Itoudis (2016, 2019).
Kostas Papanikolaou became the only player to win three Euroleague titles with Olympiacos (2012, 2013 and 2026). Vassilis Spanoulis has three Euroleague titles, but his first one was with Panathinaikos in 2009 and the other two (2012, 2013) with Olympiacos. Only one Greek player has two titles with Olympiacos, Giorgos Printezis, since Thodoris Papaloukas won two titles, but with CSKA Moscow (2006 and 2008).
Weizenkov became the second player in history to win a Euroleague title, while also becoming the Euroleague MVP of the season and Final Four in the Euroleague, as well as the top scorer of a season in the Euroleague. The only person to have achieved this to date (24/5/2026) was Nando De Colo with CSKA Moscow in the 2015-16 season. Nando de Colo in this Final Four (Athens 2026) played for Fenerbahce, who were eliminated, although title holders (2025 Abu Dhabi) by Olympiacos in the semifinals. This was Nando de Colo’s last Euroleague game, as he announced he was “hanging up his shoes.”
Olympiacos captain, Kostas Papanikolaou, is first in Euroleague history in games in which he started as a starter. In the final against Real Madrid, in this year’s Final Four, he started for the 360th time as a starter! He is followed by Nick Calathes with 323 games as a starter.
Papanikolaou and Alek Peterswere until tonight both the only two Olympiacos players who had won the Euroleague title. Papanikolaou now has 3 titles with Olympiacos (2012, 2013 and 2026), Vassilis Spanoulis also has 3 titles. Peters had won the trophy in 2019 with CSKA Moscow and coached by Dimitris Itoudis.
Tyson Ward became the 25th player to win a Euroleague title and a Eurocup title. He had won the Eurocup with Paris in 2024. Among those 25 players are Nando De Colo, Rudy Fernandez, Ricky Rubio, Tyrese Rice and Milos Teodosic.
Bartzokas: We deserved it with the way we played all year
Jorgos Bartzokas said after winning the top spot: “Of course we deserved it. It was a tough game against a huge club. I think we deserved it with the way we played all year. Congratulations to the owners, the fans, the players, everybody.
At halftime we said we had to stop Liles. They made some very difficult shots, but in the end we were able to get the win. The Real players deserve all the congratulations just for playing in such an atmosphere in such a way and being so competitive.”
The Angelopoulos
are excited
The owners of Olympiacos BC, Panagiotis and Giorgos Angelopoulos, speaking to the NOVA camera, said: “We are really happy, we are living unbelievable moments, we didn’t imagine that we would be living, this is the greatest moment in the history of Olympiacos, anything we say is an understatement. It’s candy to be vindicated, when we are always final four, it was a miracle in the first years with the budget we had, we are, winners, you’ve seen it, to go F4 with scary wins, in Madrid, Barcelona. I said in 2017 when we lost in Istanbul, it should happen once in Greece and let it be in OAKA, it happened and we are European champions. Congratulations, thrilling moments, something unique with the fans, something incredible. I don’t like to talk about players, the team is first and foremost, but the case of Fournier is the answer. It’s a journey in sport, a long journey, Fournier was in Paris in 2010, in Belgrade when we lost and were disappointed, it dawned on him that he had to play for Olympiacos at some point and today he arrived here. It’s not that you lose and you have to give up, this is our path, we didn’t get justice, the team and the fans and the organization.”
At the end they dedicated it to the memory of their father: “Today is 5 years since we lost our father, we dedicate this to his memory, we loved him dearly and had a great relationship. A momentous day, 5 years since he passed away, this day will go down in history for many reasons.”
Papanicolaou: We dedicate it to our Kanella and to the Olympiacos fans
With his emotion evident after Olympiacos won the EuroLeague, the captain of the “reds” Kostas Papanikolaou spoke to the Athens-Macedonian News Agency (APE-MPE) and dedicated the trophy to Kanella Chryssonidou, an executive of Olympiacos BC, who is fighting her own battle with a serious health problem, while he did not fail to mention the fans of the team who, as he said, have stood by the team all these years.
At the same time, he stood by the enduring support of the Olympiacos fans, stressing that the team wanted to repay their loyalty and patience all these years. “And of course to our fans. All these years I’ve said that I wanted to give something back to the fans and at this moment I feel I did,” he stressed.
