The 2025 Euroleague basketball Final Four will be held in Abu Dhabi, according to several specialized media reports this Tuesday and confirmed by the EFE agency. The decision was made at the shareholders meeting held today in which, according to the media Eurohoopsonly Real Madrid and Olympiacos opposed the vote. The capital of the United Arab Emirates has prevailed over the other two candidates, Belgrade and Barcelona, who were also bidding to host the tournament that decides the Euroleague basketball champion.
The votes of 11 of the 13 shareholders – Anadolu Efes, Baskonia, CSKA Moscow, Armani Milan, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Fenerbahce, ASVEL Villeurbanne, Maccabi Tel Aviv, Panathinaikos and Zalgiris – decided what will be a historic edition. The Final Four, which was played in 1994 and 2004 in Tel Aviv, the only two occasions outside European territory but in a city with a Euroleague team, Maccabi, thus arrives for the first time in a country far from its borders.
The Etihad Arena will probably be the venue for the 2025 Final Four, according to reports Basketnews.The pavilion, inaugurated in 2021, has capacity for 18,000 spectators and last season hosted NBA preseason matches between the Boston Celtics and Denver Nuggets, as well as two friendlies of the United States team against Australia and Serbia, before the Paris Olympic Games. The two semifinals will be played on May 23 and the final will be on the 25th of the same month next year. The Euroleague will hold the last day of the regular phase on April 10 and 11, 2025. After that, the play-inand play-offsfrom April 22 to May 7, before the top four teams head to Abu Dhabi.
If the Final Four held next year is a success, Abu Dhabi could host the same competition in 2026 and 2027, according to the AS newspaper. The Arab Emirates’ interest in European basketball has, this year, another actor in Dubai, where its team, Dubai BC, is playing in the Adriatic League – made up of teams from the former Yugoslavia – where it is fourth after ten games. The objective of this team in the coming years is to enter European competitions, first via Eurocup and then enter the Euroleague.