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Two of Türkiye's most prominent women's basketball clubs, Fenerbahce Opet and Galatasaray Cagdas Faktoring, are set to compete in the FIBA Women's EuroLeague Final Six, which gets underway on Wednesday in Zaragoza, Spain.
The tournament, held at the Pabellon Principe Felipe arena from April 15 to 19, determines the top women's club in European basketball. Both Turkish sides secured their semifinal spots by advancing through the play-in round.
Turkish clubs' path and matchups
Fenerbahce Opet will face the winner of the quarterfinal between Spain's Spar Girona and Italy's Umana Reyer.
Galatasaray Cagdas Faktoring meets the winner of the clash between Basket Landes of France and Casademont Zaragoza of Spain.
The quarterfinal matches take place Wednesday, with Spar Girona facing Umana Reyer at 6:30 p.m. TSI (3:30 p.m. GMT+3) and Basket Landes taking on Casademont Zaragoza at 9:30 p.m. TSI (6:30 p.m. GMT+3).
Semifinals are scheduled for Friday, April 17.
The third-place match and the final are both set for Sunday at 6 p.m. TSI (3 p.m. GMT+3) and 9 p.m. TSI (6 p.m. GMT+3) respectively.
Fenerbahce enters the Final Six as a back-to-back champion. The Istanbul club won its first EuroLeague title in the 2022-23 season and retained the trophy the following year, making it the 12th time the club has reached the EuroLeague final.
Before those two consecutive titles, Fenerbahce finished as runner-up four times—in 2013, 2014, 2017, and 2022.
Galatasaray last reached the EuroLeague final in the 2013-14 season, when it defeated Fenerbahce to claim the championship, becoming the first Turkish club to win the title. The Istanbul side also finished third in the 1998-99 season.
Now in its second-ever final-stage appearance, Galatasaray is seeking a second European title.
Tournament history and records
The competition dates to the 1958-59 season, when it was launched as the Champion Clubs Cup. The name changed to FIBA EuroLeague in 1996.
Bulgarian club Slavia Sofia claimed the inaugural title in 1959, defeating Soviet-era Dynamo Moscow in a two-legged final.
The record for most championships belongs to Latvian club Daugava Riga, which won 18 titles—12 of them consecutively—while competing under the Soviet flag.
Russia's UMMC Ekaterinburg holds second place in the all-time standings with six titles. The 2019-20 season was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This year's edition marks the tournament's 67th renewal.
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