ATHENS (Greece) - They have fought all season long for this moment, and here they are: one among AEK Betsson BC, Unicaja, La Laguna Tenerife, and Galatasaray will come out on top in Athens on May 11, winning the trophy in the Basketball Champions League Final Four, powered by SUNEL.
Before the checkered flag, there are two Semi-Finals that can't be missed: take a look at 22 must-know facts, including previous records, statlines in the biggest event of the season, domestic league results, and more about the clashes scheduled on May 9.
La Laguna Tenerife vs. Galatasaray - April 9 at 17:00 CET
Tenerife and Galatasaray have faced each other twice previously in the BCL; it was in the Regular Season in 2020-21, with the Spanish side winning both games by 13+ points margins.
Tenerife will play their 6th BCL Semi-Finals, at least twice as many as any other team in the competition; they have won four of their previous five Semi-Finals, only failing at that stage in 2023 against Hapoel Bank Yahav Jerusalem (68-69).
Tenerife have won their last 14 games in the BCL, a run only bested in the competition history by Unicaja's 18 straight wins between January 2024 and February 2025. They were trailing at halftime in five of their last seven wins, however.
Galatasaray will play their first BCL Semi-Final, the third Turkish team that managed to reach that stage after Bandirma in 2017 and Karsiyaka in 2021; both won their Semi-Final games those years.
Galatasaray have won their last four games in the BCL, but are yet to win five in a row in the competition; they have scored 90+ points in five of their last seven BCL games.
Tenerife have allowed the fewest points per game in the BCL this season (71.4ppg) - this is the fifth time in nine league campaigns that Tenerife have allowed the fewest points per game in a single BCL season.
Galatasaray have allowed their opponents to score 42.9 percent of their attempted field goals, the best defensive ratio of any team in the BCL this season - they also boast the highest average of defensive rebounds, grabbing 28.1 per game.
Txus Vidorreta will coach his 11th game in the BCL Final Four, while no other coach has taken part in more than six such fixtures before this year - Vidorreta has won seven of his previous 10 games; Yakup Sekizkok will coach his first BCL Final Four game in what's his second season in the league.
Marcelinho Huertas (Tenerife) has scored more points (101) and dished out more assists (50) than any other player in the BCL Final Four history. He averaged 21.3 points, 6.3 assists, and 6.0 rebounds in his previous three Semi-Final games.
Will Cummings has averaged 23.4 points, 4.0 rebounds, 3.0 assists, and 2.0 steals in his five BCL games played as a starter this season, with Galatasaray winning four of those games.
Galatasaray have suffered a rough stretch recently in the domestic league, entering the BCL Final Four, powered by SUNEL, with three consecutive defeats - the last one by 19 points (94-75) against this season's BCL representative Manisa Basket Divissa. On the other hand, Tenerife beat Girona on the road with 14 points each by Bruno Fitipaldo, Giorgi Shermadini, Marcelinho Huertas, and Thomas Scrubb.
AEK Betsson BC vs. Unicaja - April 9 at 20:00 CET
This will be the third meeting between AEK and Unicaja in the BCL, with the Spanish side winning the two previous encounters by double digit margins in 2023; Unicaja will be the 17th team to face AEK 3+ times in the BCL, but no team has ever won their first three games against the Greek side.
AEK and Unicaja will both play their third BCL Semi-Final, with the Greeks winning their two previous games in the Semi-Finals (2018 & 2020), both played in Athens, whilst the Spanish side lost at home in 2023 and won against UCAM Murcia last year.
AEK have won their last nine BCL games played in Greece, allowing 80+ points only once in that span; AEK have won all their eight games at home this season, but have never won more in a single campaign (also W8 in 2016-17 & 2019-20).
Unicaja have won 23 of their last 24 games in the BCL, but their lone defeat in that period happened on the road (84-86 at Galatasaray); Unicaja's four games in the BCL Final Four have all ended with margins of six or fewer points, with the Spanish outfit losing two games as the host and winning their two games last season in Belgrade.
AEK are one of only three teams to have made at least 80 percent of their free-throws attempted in the BCL this season (80.2%); this is their best accuracy from the line in any of their nine seasons in the competition.
Unicaja have scored 94.4 points per game in the BCL this season, more than any other team in 2024-25 and the most by any team in a single league campaign. Before this season, the most points per game scored by a team in one BCL season were 88.5 by ERA Nymburk in 2021.
Dragan Sakota will coach his third game in a BCL Final Four and will try to become the third coach to be unbeaten at the end of his first three such games, joining Txus Vidorreta and Joan Penarroya; he has won two of his three BCL games against Spanish teams, including in the 2018 Semi-Finals against UCAM Murcia and Ibon Navarro (77-75).
This will be Ibon Navarro's seventh game in a BCL Final Four, the second most of any coach in league history, only behind Txus Vidorreta - it will be the second time that he faces AEK and Dragan Sakota in the BCL Semi-Finals, after losing against them with UCAM Murcia in 2017-18 (75-77).
Hunter Hale has scored 20+ points in two of his last three BCL games, as often as in his previous 12 games with AEK in the competition; he has made 4+ three-pointers in each of his last three BCL appearances after failing to do so in his previous 11 games.
Kendrick Perry is the only player to have scored 10+ points for Unicaja in each of their previous two Semi-Finals in the BCL (12 in 2023, 12 in 2024); in fact, he has averaged 15.8 points in his four Final Four games in the BCL, making 18 of his 19 free-throws attempted in the process.
Unicaja were successful in domestic league action, heading to the BCL Final Four, powered by SUNEL: they won 98-80 against MoraBanc Andorra, Ibon Navarro's last-coached team before moving to Malaga. AEK, instead, lost 87-85 against Olympiacos, one of Greece's most prominent basketball clubs, despite Hunter Hale dropping 34 points.