Triple Crown (basketball)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The triple crown ( German  " Dreifachkrone " ) in basketball is an unofficial designation that is used in European club basketball and describes winning the title of the highest-ranking European club competition in connection with winning a national double from the championship and the nationally most important cup competition in the same season . In contrast to other triples , the addition Crown expresses the “ultimate culmination” of a season in which a European team can no longer win more important and significant competitions.

Men's

In the past, the men's triple crown was tied to the FIBA European Champions Cup (later FIBA Europaliga or FIBA Suproleague ). Therefore, until the participants in this competition opened in 1991 for several teams from one country, winning the Triple Crown was linked to defending their title in the European Cup or national championship. As a result, ten triple crowns have been won in 34 competitions between 1958 and 1991 and, depending on the count, eleven or twelve crowns have been won in 23 competitions between 1992 and 2014. After the FIBA ​​competition was discontinued in 2001, the connection was transferred to the ULEB Euroleague competition that had been founded a year earlier . In the transition phase of the 2000/01 season there were therefore appropriately two winners of a triple crown: Maccabi Tel Aviv and Virtus Bologna . Tel Aviv, in 2013 their 50th national Israeli championships won, which were obtained with a few exceptions in conjunction with the national cup competition as a double, with six Triple Crowns also the most frequent winner of this award and in addition KK Split from the former Yugoslavia and the only club to have won and defended the Triple Crown in consecutive seasons. In addition to Maccabi and KK Split, Pallacanestro Varese from Italy , Real Madrid from Spain and Panathinaikos Athens from Greece are the only clubs that have won the Triple Crown more than once. The Triple Crown went to the winner of the Yugoslav YUBA League three times in a row between 1990 and 1992 , with KK Partizan Belgrade being the first team to win the Triple Crown without defending its title in a previous year's competition and KK Split as defending champion of the YUBA League due to the Yugoslav Wars the YUBA League was eliminated. Between 2003 and 2007, the ULEB Euroleague title winner was also a triple crown winner five times in a row.

With the Intercontinental Cup , which was only held sporadically and has been revived since 2013, there was temporarily a fourth competition. Only the clubs Pallacanestro Varese 1973, Olimpia Milano 1987 and Real Madrid 2015 were able to win this competition in the same year as Triple Crown winners. The unique position of the Triple Crown is in certain danger, as different national champions from smaller European countries cannot participate in the ULEB Euroleague, but can instead win a triple in other European competitions under the auspices of FIBA Europe . In addition, there are various international regional competitions in Eastern Europe with the ABA League , Baltic Basketball League and the VTB United League , so that individual teams can compete in four major competitions within one year and win more than three titles. Conversely, this also means for these teams that you can claim a Triple Crown without having won the title in all competitions.

Tabular chronicle

season society EuropeEurope National championship National Cup Crowns
1964/65 Spain 1945Spain real Madrid FIBA Española League Copa del Generalísimo 1
1969/70 ItalyItaly Ignis Varese FIBA Series A1 Coppa Italia 1
1972/73 ItalyItaly Ignis Varese * FIBA Series A1 Coppa Italia 2
1973/74 Spain 1945Spain real Madrid FIBA Española League Copa del Generalísimo 2
1976/77 IsraelIsrael Maccabi Elite Tel Aviv FIBA Ligat ha'Al Israeli State Cup 1
1980/81 IsraelIsrael Maccabi Elite Tel Aviv FIBA Ligat ha'Al Israeli State Cup 2
1984/85 Yugoslavia Socialist Federal RepublicYugoslavia Cibona FIBA YUBA League Yugoslav Cup 1
1986/87 ItalyItaly Tracer Milan * FIBA Series A1 Coppa Italia 1
1989/90 Yugoslavia Socialist Federal RepublicYugoslavia Jugoplastics FIBA YUBA League Yugoslav Cup 1
1990/91 Yugoslavia Socialist Federal RepublicYugoslavia Pop 84 FIBA YUBA League Yugoslav Cup 2
1991/92 Yugoslavia Federal Republic 1992Yugoslavia Partizan FIBA YUBA League Yugoslav Cup 1
1996/97 GreeceGreece Olympiacos FIBA Epangelamtiko Protathlima A1 Greek cup 1
2000/01 IsraelIsrael Maccabi Elite Tel Aviv FIBA Ligat ha'Al Israeli State Cup 3
2000/01 ItalyItaly Children of Bologna ULEB Series A1 Coppa Italia 1
2002/03 SpainSpain FC Barcelona ULEB League ACB Copa del Rey 1
2003/04 IsraelIsrael Maccabi Elite Tel Aviv ULEB Ligat ha'Al Israeli State Cup 4th
2004/05 IsraelIsrael Maccabi Elite Tel Aviv ULEB Ligat ha'Al Israeli State Cup 5
2005/06 RussiaRussia PBK CSKA Moscow ULEB Superleague Russian Cup 1
2006/07 GreeceGreece Panathinaikos ULEB A1 Ethniki Greek cup 1
2008/09 GreeceGreece Panathinaikos ULEB A1 Ethniki Greek cup 2
2013/14 IsraelIsrael Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv ULEB Ligat ha'Al Israeli State Cup 6th
2014/15 SpainSpain Real Madrid * ULEB League ACB Copa del Rey 3

* In the same year title win in the Intercontinental Cup .
1 When Žalgiris won the European Cup in 1999, there was no national cup competition in Lithuania. Instead, they won the Northern European Basketball League , a forerunner of the Baltic Basketball League and VTB United League . Žalgiris is therefore not always counted among the Triple Crown winners.

Trivia

  • The Lithuanian Šarūnas Jasikevičius is the only player to have won the Triple Crown four times. He won it three times in a row with FC Barcelona in 2003 and with Maccabi Tel Aviv in 2004 and 2005 and once with Panathinaikos in 2009.
  • The Serb Željko Obradović is the only coach to have won the Crown three times: in 1992 with KK Partizan and in 2007 and 2009 with Panathinaikos.

See also