Thirteen years is a long time to wait. Olympiacos finally claimed the 2026 EuroLeague title on Sunday night in Athens, beating Real Madrid 92-85 in a championship game that went down to the wire.
It’s the club’s fourth title in the competition. The previous three came in 1997, 2012, and 2013. A lot of basketball happened in between, including a runner-up finish against Real Madrid in 2023 and two more third-place exits in 2024 and 2025. The wait is over.
How the 2026 EuroLeague Title Was Won
Real Madrid drew first blood. Trey Lyles scored 21 of his game-total 24 points in the first quarter alone: midrange fadeaways, a three-pointer, constant pressure at the rim. Madrid won the opening period 26-19, and for a spell it looked like they were going to run away with it.
They didn’t.
Olympiacos fought back in the second quarter through the paint. Milutinov’s putback, Vezenkov’s three-point play, Walkup’s long-range strike, and a key 7-0 run right before halftime flipped the score to 46-44. Madrid’s frontcourt was short-handed all weekend after Ousmane Garuba went down with an Achilles injury in the semifinal, and the Reds went after that mismatch from the opening tip.
The third quarter belonged to Real. They went on a 21-15 run and reclaimed the lead heading into the fourth. That’s when Fournier took over.
He drained a triple to open the fourth quarter; Corey Joseph hit another right after, and suddenly Olympiacos led 67-65. The lead changed hands ten times in the final period. Hezonja tied it at 80-80 with two minutes left, the crowd went quiet for about four seconds, and then Tyrique Jones threw down a slam to make it 82-80.
Alec Peters iced it from the free-throw line. Final score: 92-85. The rebounding numbers tell the story of why — Olympiacos outrebounded Real Madrid 42-26, including 12 offensive boards. You can’t give a team 12 extra possessions in a championship game and expect to win.
Fournier’s Weekend
Was there any doubt about the MVP? In the semifinal win over Fenerbahce, Fournier finished with a game-high +15 in plus-minus, hitting the clutch shots that kept the lead intact. That form carried into Sunday without a dip.
He led all scorers with 20 points, grabbed 5 rebounds, and dished 4 assists in 27 minutes; the PIR of 21 was the highest of any player in the final. The award was his, and it wasn’t close.
“Winning in OAKA… What else could you ask for?”
Evan Fournier, post-game, on winning the title in AthensFournier is only the second player in the club’s history to win Final Four MVP this century, after Vassilis Spanoulis claimed it back-to-back in 2012 and 2013. He also announced before the Final Four that this season would be his last as a professional. Going out as a champion and MVP; not many get to write that ending.
The Season That Built This
Reaching the final was no surprise. Olympiacos finished first in the regular season at 26-12, and they got there by being the deepest team in the competition top-to-bottom.
Sasha Vezenkov won his second EuroLeague Season MVP award, leading the competition in scoring at 19.4 points per game and posting a performance index rating of 22.7 (both league-best). Nikola Milutinov put up 8 rebounds and 8 points in the final alone, bringing a physical presence that nobody in the competition could match at center. Both made the All-EuroLeague First Team. One club, two spots on the best five in Europe.
Worth pointing out: neither Vezenkov, Milutinov, nor Kostas Papanikolaou had ever won a EuroLeague title before Sunday. Vezenkov had played 302 EuroLeague games without a ring; Milutinov, 293. Veterans, multiple Final Fours between them, nothing to show for it. That changed in Athens.
The playoff run matched the regular season. Olympiacos swept Monaco 3-0 (the first club to clinch a spot this postseason) before beating Fenerbahce in the semifinal without much drama. Real Madrid were tougher, but even they couldn’t handle a full 40 minutes of what the Reds brought.
The Bigger Picture
Athens hosting the Final Four mattered. The 2026 event returned to the Greek capital for the first time since 2007, and the atmosphere inside the arena reflected it. Giannis Antetokounmpo was in the crowd and said afterward that Athens should host the Final Four every year. Hard to argue with that after Sunday night.
The 2025-26 EuroLeague regular season drew 3.25 million fans into arenas (the highest attendance figure in league history), and the Final Four in Athens was the peak of the whole thing.
For Real Madrid, this stings. They were chasing a record-extending 12th EuroLeague title and played the final without their starting center. Lyles was exceptional at 24 points and 8 rebounds; Hezonja gave everything with 19 points and 4 steals. But the rebounding gap was too big to bridge. Olympiacos had 12 second-chance opportunities that Real couldn’t afford to give away.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What was the final score of the 2026 EuroLeague championship game?
- Olympiacos beat Real Madrid 92-85 at Telekom Center Athens on May 24, 2026.
- Who won the 2026 EuroLeague Final Four MVP?
- Evan Fournier. He scored 20 points in the final with a PIR of 21, and added 10 points and a +15 plus-minus in the semifinal win over Fenerbahce.
- How many EuroLeague titles does Olympiacos have?
- Four: won in 1997, 2012, 2013, and 2026.
- Is Evan Fournier retiring?
- Yes. Fournier announced before the Final Four that the 2025-26 season would be his last as a professional player.
- Who were the top scorers in the 2026 EuroLeague Final?
- For Olympiacos: Fournier with 20, Peters with 16, Vezenkov with 12, and Walkup with 10. For Real Madrid: Lyles led with 24 and Hezonja added 19.
Sunday night in Athens won’t be forgotten quickly. Thirteen years of near-misses and runner-up heartbreaks all ended on an Alec Peters free throw in front of 19,000 fans wearing red.
Olympiacos are European champions again. For Vezenkov, Milutinov, and Papanikolaou, 300-plus games of patience finally paid off. And for Fournier, riding off into the sunset as a champion and an MVP: that’s about as good as it gets.
