Real Madrid is Crowned the Winner of the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Final Four
The winners of the Most Valuable Player, Flight Time, Lucky Seat and Jump&Dunk competitions earned hundreds of thousands of miles from the passenger loyalty program of Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles.
On Sunday, May 21st, Olympiacos Piraeus and Real Madrid battled it out to win Europe’s highest-level basketball competition, the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Final Four, with Real Madrid taking home the coveted championship title in Lithuna, Kaunas, Zalgirio Arena.
Real Madrid (Spain) took the Euroleague trophy to its museum by defeating its rival Olympiakos (Greece) with a score of 79-78 in the championship match. The opening games of the Final Four took place on Friday night, with Olympiacos Piraeus (Greece) playing with AS Monaco (France), followed by with FC Barcelona (Spain) playing with Real Madrid (Spain). Losing teams AS Monaco and FC Barcelona then faced each other, which resulted in AS Monaco coming in third place with a score of 78 to 66.
In addition, the final match MVP, Walter Tavares of Real Madrid was awarded 1 million Miles&Smiles Travel Miles from Turkish Airlines by Turkish Airlines (SVP) Senior Vice President Communications Rafet Fatih Ozgur.
Turkish Airlines Chairman of the Board and the Executive Committee, Prof. Dr. Ahmet Bolat stated: “Once again, it has been a pleasure to witness the greatest teams of the European basketball compete and among those, Real Madrid proved itself worthy to be the Champion at this year’s Turkish Airlines Euroleague Final Four in Kaunas. Celebrating our 13th year of title sponsorship to Europe’s top-tier basketball tournament, Turkish Airlines firmly believes in the unifying power of sports and the passion of basketball that transcends countries and continents. With firm belief in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague’s growing global reach, similar to our ever-expanding route network, we will continue to strongly support the continent’s most competitive basketball organization.’’
Euroleague Basketball President Dejan Bodiroga said: ‘’It is a great satisfaction to have witnessed such an outstanding Final Four. I would like to congratulate AS Monaco, FC Barcelona, Olympiacos Piraeus for offering us a top-level spectacle and Real Madrid, for becoming the 2023 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Champion. During these days we have experienced a true basketball party in the streets of Kaunas, with thousands of fans enjoying a weekend full of activities in harmony and cheering for their teams in a packed Zalgirio Arena. I would like to highlight the collaboration of all our partners and show my deepest gratitude to our naming partner, Turkish Airlines, as their support and confidence is fundamental to deliver the best basketball experience.”
Rudy Fernandez who played for Real Madrid won the ‘’Flight Time Champion’’ title with 1.05 seconds of stay air timing and won Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles 105,000 Miles.
The “Lucky Seat” competition has taken place after the first period in the semi-final game. The lucky fan rewarded with 100,000 Miles. Three fans who stayed in the air for the longest time and jumped furthest in the JUMP&DUNK competition held in the fanzone area for three days were awarded 50,000 Miles from Miles&Smiles.
About Turkish Airlines:
Established in 1933 with a fleet of five aircraft, Star Alliance member Turkish Airlines has a fleet of 415 (passenger and cargo) aircraft flying to 344 worldwide destinations as 291 international and 53 domestics in 129 countries. More information about Turkish Airlines can be found on its official website www.turkishairlines.com or its social media accounts on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, and Instagram.
About Euroleague Basketball
Euroleague Basketball (EB) is a global leader in the sports and entertainment business, devoted to running the top European competitions of professional basketball clubs under a unique and innovative organizational model. Owned and administered by some of the most successful and historic clubs in the world, EB manages the continent’s two premier men’s basketball competitions, the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague and the 7DAYS EuroCup, as well as the sport’s premier under-18 showcase, the EB Adidas Next Generation Tournament.
The EB competitions bring the elite of European basketball to all five continents and to the entire sports community through the OTT platform EuroLeague TV. EB also organizes a series of community and educational activities, led by the One Team program, in alignment with the United Nations Agenda 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. On the academic side, the EB Sports Business MBA trains future professionals in sports management.
About Star Alliance:
The Star Alliance network was established in 1997 as the first truly global airline alliance, based on a customer value proposition of global reach, worldwide recognition and seamless service. Since inception, it has offered the largest and most comprehensive airline network, with a focus on improving customer experience across the Alliance journey.
The member airlines are: Aegean Airlines, Air Canada, Air China, Air India, Air New Zealand, ANA, Asiana Airlines, Austrian, Avianca, Brussels Airlines, Copa Airlines, Croatia Airlines, EGYPTAIR, Ethiopian Airlines, EVA Air, LOT Polish Airlines, Lufthansa, Scandinavian Airlines, Shenzhen Airlines, Singapore Airlines, South African Airways, SWISS, TAP Air Portugal, THAI, Turkish Airlines, and United. Overall, the Star Alliance network currently offers more than 10,000 daily flights to almost 1,200 airports in 184 countries. Further connecting flights are offered by Star Alliance Connecting Partners Juneyao Airlines and THAI Smile Airways.
