Uncategorized January 6, 2026

EuroLeague November and December Round Up: A Crowded Race After 14 Rounds

Setting the Scene

The 2025 to 2026 EuroLeague season is starting to take clearer shape as December progresses. After 14 rounds, there is no runaway leader. Instead, the top tier is tightly packed, and several giants are still searching for the authority they once held.

Hapoel IBI Tel Aviv currently lead the standings at 10 to 4. AS Monaco, Crvena Zvezda, Valencia Basket, Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens and FC Barcelona sit just behind at 9 to 5. Olympiacos follow at 8 to 5, in a chasing group that includes the defending champions Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul.

The competition sits within a changed landscape this season. The league has expanded to 20 teams and introduced a play-in for the clubs finishing seventh to tenth, with only the top six securing a direct route to the playoffs. Dubai Basketball have entered as a debutant club from outside Europe, opening a new market and introducing different travel demands.

The season will funnel towards a Final Four that returns to Europe next spring. After the 2025 showpiece in Abu Dhabi, where Fenerbahce beat Monaco 81 to 70 at Etihad Arena, the 2026 event will take place at the renamed Telekom Centre Athens on 22 and 24 May.

Fenerbahce’s Perfect November Restores Champion’s Edge

October raised doubts about Fenerbahce’s title defence. November answered them. Following a 3 to 5 start, Saras Jasikevicius and his squad responded with a flawless 5 to 0 month. Their gritty 66 to 64 home win over Virtus Bologna on 25 November completed the run.

That victory moved the champions to 8 to 5 and marked their fifth consecutive win. Guard Wade Baldwin captured the mood afterwards when he said that finishing November without a defeat had created an important lift and a sense of upward momentum.

Performances were not always smooth. Jasikevicius admitted that the game with Virtus had been more severe and far less fluid than anticipated, with both teams struggling to find rhythm. Yet Fenerbahce have climbed back into the upper half of the standings. Their defensive clarity is returning, and Baldwin’s two-way presence provides a reliable reference point late in games.

Dubai Basketball’s Arrival: Statement Wins in a Debut Season

The most striking expansion storyline continues to gather pace. Dubai Basketball entered the EuroLeague as the first club from outside Europe and their early weeks indicate they are far more than an ambitious project. Their most significant night came in mid-November when they beat Zalgiris Kaunas 95 to 89 at Coca Cola Arena in Round 11, completing a perfect home double week.

The evening started poorly. Zalgiris burst out with 34 first quarter points and established a double-digit advantage before Dubai worked their way back. Jurica Golemac described the shift afterwards, saying the team had started too softly but raised their defensive intensity several levels and won through collective effort.

Mfiondu Kabengele led with 21 points, supported by Aleksa Avramovic’s 16 and Filip Petrusev’s 14. For Zalgiris, Azuolas Tubelis scored 22 while Sylvain Francisco contributed 15 points and nine assists.

That win, along with earlier home results in the same week, pushed Dubai directly into the play-in conversation. For a first-year club still forming connections on court, it stands as an important milestone.

Coaching Carousel: Messina Out, Poeta In, Kokoskov Departs Efes

Late November brought major change in Milan. On 24 November, EA7 Emporio Armani Milan confirmed that Ettore Messina had stepped down as head coach by mutual agreement with President Leo Dell’Orco. Messina remains in an executive role.

His departure marks the end of a defining era. Since joining in 2019 he has secured two Italian league titles, three Italian Cups and three Supercoppa trophies, and he guided Milan to the 2021 Final Four, their first appearance at that level in almost 30 years. In explaining his decision, Messina wrote that he had become a source of division and distraction and believed stepping aside would support a healthier environment for the team.

His long serving assistant Peppe Poeta has been promoted to his first EuroLeague head coaching position. Dell’Orco thanked Messina publicly for their achievements together and voiced confidence that Poeta would lead with commitment and energy.

In Turkey a similar shift took place. Anadolu Efes parted ways with Igor Kokoskov on 27 November following a 36-point defeat to AS Monaco, recorded as the third worst losing margin in the club’s EuroLeague history. Efes thanked Kokoskov for his work and appointed assistant Radovan Trifunovic as interim coach while the search for a permanent replacement begins.

In contrast to this turbulence, Maccabi Rapyd Tel Aviv confirmed at the end of November that Oded Kattash would continue as head coach through to the end of the season.

November Drama on Court: Round 11 and Round 13

November’s rounds emphasised the openness of this season. Round 11 was one of the most dramatic of the campaign. Spanish outlet AS highlighted key results, including Panathinaikos beating Real Madrid 87 to 77, Barcelona defeating Virtus Bologna 88 to 81, Paris Basketball edging Valencia 90 to 86, and Fenerbahce overcoming Hapoel 74 to 68. Dubai’s win over Zalgiris and Anadolu Efes’s victory against Bayern Munich also stood out.

Round 13 later in the month saw Fenerbahce complete their perfect November, while individual displays dominated the statistical narrative. EuroLeague named Kendrick Nunn of Panathinaikos and Shavon Shields of Milan as co-MVPs for the round. EuroLeague also noted that Paris guard Nadir Hifi remains the leading scorer at 20.7 points per game and that Olympiacos centre Nikola Milutinov leads the league with 8.2 rebounds per game.

EuroLeague’s season data shows that Sylvain Francisco tops the assists chart at 7.3 per game for Zalgiris, while Milutinov also leads the performance index rating at 21.3. The early MVP ladder published by Eurohoops currently places Francisco, Milutinov and Monaco’s Sasha Vezenkov in the leading group, signalling a close statistical contest that mirrors the team standings.

December Wobble for Bayern and Other Traditional Powers

Not every established contender is finding solid ground. Bayern Munich’s difficulties across November and early December have been notable. A heavy 90 to 64 loss at Valencia two weeks ago marked their fourth consecutive EuroLeague defeat and left them at 5 to 8 in sixteenth place.

Their struggles continued into December. Away at Partizan Belgrade, Bayern surrendered a 43 to 36 half time lead and lost 92 to 85. This came despite 25 points from Spencer Dinwiddie and a remarkable 10-point, 18-rebound, seven-assist performance from Johannes Voigtmann.

Real Madrid have also encountered more inconsistency than expected. Their Round 11 loss to Panathinaikos and other setbacks have placed them outside the very top bracket, although the season remains tight enough for rapid recovery if they find rhythm across December.

Baskonia have moved towards the lower third of the table and have been described as embattled in recent EuroLeague reporting, including reference to a match in which TJ Leaf lifted Maccabi over the Basque side. Combined with Milan and Efes undergoing coaching changes, the pattern points to several traditional powers adjusting to a more unpredictable competitive field.

A Rule Tweak Backdrop and the Road to Athens

This season unfolds alongside rule changes introduced by Euroleague Basketball to improve game flow, strengthen player safety and enhance officiating consistency. Adjustments include refinements to transition take fouls and unsportsmanlike behaviour.

Attention is gradually moving toward Athens, where the 2026 Final Four will be held at the Telekom Centre. Semi-finals will take place on 22 May and the championship final on 24 May. With both Panathinaikos and Olympiacos performing strongly, the prospect of a home contender reaching the event is very real.

For now, the early winter weeks have only sharpened the sense of competition. Hapoel Tel Aviv’s momentum, Fenerbahce’s revival, Dubai’s impressive debut, the coaching shifts in Milan and Istanbul and Bayern’s difficulties have added tension rather than clarity. The EuroLeague heads into winter with a rare balance of ambition, emotion and genuine opportunity.

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