Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Final Four 2017 will take place this weekend in Istanbul.

This season has been particularly demanding for the 24 participating teams, and the championship will culminate with four exciting matches played by highly deserving teams to get the trophy; CSKA Moscow, Real Madrid, Fenerbahçe and Olympiacos Piraeus.
 
The intense final round of this competition returns to Istanbul, the welcoming and attractive metropolis of Turkey, five years after the EuroLeague Final Four 2012. The matches will take place in the famous Sinan Erdem Dome, Turkey's largest indoor arena and one of the biggest in Europe, where the final round of the 2010 World Basketball Championship was also celebrated.
 
M. İlker Aycı, chairman of the Board and the executive committee of Turkish Airlines, said that Final Four taking place in İstanbul for the second time showed the city’s excellent setting for sports events that unite millions all around the world in excitement, passion and joy. “İstanbul once again welcomes basketball fans from all across Europe to witness the excitement as the best teams of the continent face each other to be the champion. As the airline that flies to more countries than any other, it is our core mission to bridge peoples, continents and worlds not only through our wide network but also a diverse range of sponsorship activities that we’ve been engaged in for many years. Our strong backing to the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague underlines the importance we attach to the passion of sports, the values of sportsmanship and friendly competition in fulfilling our mission.”
 
“After five years since the last Final Four in İstanbul, it is a pleasure to be in this great city once again to watch the EuroLeague Champion crowned. Fans from all across Europe will witness the best teams of the continent and we are sure that, just like the previous Final Four in İstanbul, this year’s finals will go down in basketball history.” stated Jordi Bertomeu, Euroleague Basketball president and CEO. “I would like to specially thank Turkish Airlines and Aycı for the warm welcome we have received and all the support they have shown, being integral to bring the Final Four back to Istanbul.”
 
One of the most remarkable features of this Final Four is its similarity to the one that took place in 2015 in Madrid, with the same participating teams and even the same semi-final matchups.
 
The first match will be played on Friday at 17.30 h. (local time) between CSKA Moscow, and the Olympiacos Piraeus.
 
The audience will enjoy the next match as the semi-final matchup between Fenerbahçe, and Real Madrid at 20.30 h. (local time)
 
The losing teams of these matches will compete for the third place in the league table on Sunday at 17.00, although the greatest emotion will be reserved for the match between the two finalists, which will take place at 20.00 h. and will be broadcast in nearly 200 countries around the world.
 
EuroLeague Basketball was created in the 2000/2001 season. In 2010, Turkish Airlines, flying to more countries and international destinations than any other airline in the world, became the official sponsor of the most important basketball competition in Europe, as well as its final round. For this season, the flag company will celebrate the Final Four in Istanbul, in its home, making this collaboration even more special, with a really welcoming audience encouraging all the teams. The global brand has even themed the TC-JRO Airbus A321, livering its exterior with graphic allusions to the EuroLeague, which is flying around the sky over Istanbul.
 
With the aim of further promoting the Istanbul Final Four and spreading the close link of this city and Turkish Airlines with sport and its values of effort and improvement, the flagship carrier has recorded a video that will reach all the planet throught social media. Turkish Airlines has collaborated with the famous YouTubers 'How Ridicilous' -specialized in original trickshots trials in different world stages-, who star in this video in which they practice their favorite activity at such emblematic places of Istanbul Such as Galata Tower, The Maiden's Tower, Rumelian Castle and July 15 Martyrs' Bridge (Boshporous Bridge).
 
Turkish Airlines sponsorship to the EuroLeague Basketball will continue for three more years. - TradeArabia News Service