50 Greatest EuroLeague Contributors (2008)

The 50 Greatest EuroLeague Contributors (2008) of FIBA European Champions Cup and EuroLeague history were awarded and chosen on February 3, 2008, in Madrid, Spain. The occasion was the fiftieth anniversary since the founding of the inaugural season of the FIBA European Champions Cup, which is officially recognized as the predecessor of today's modern EuroLeague competition, which is the premier level men's basketball league in Europe.

The list was made up of 35 players, 10 coaches, and 5 referees that were deemed to have contributed the most to the growth of the EuroLeague. It also included other nominees for each category. All together, 105 players, 20 coaches, and 12 referees in total were nominated.

Contributors

Players

The following is the list of 35 awarded players.^[1]^[2]

Country	Player	Years^[a]
Serbia (6)	Radivoj Korać	1954–1969
	Dražen Dalipagić	1971–1991
	Vlade Divac	1983–2005
	Aleksandar "Saša" Đorđević	1983–2005
	Predrag Danilović	1988–2000
	Dejan Bodiroga	1989–2007
Spain (5)	Emiliano Rodríguez	1958–1973
	Clifford Luyk	1962–1978
	Wayne Brabender	1967–1985
	Juan Antonio Corbalán	1971–1991
	Juan Antonio San Epifanio "Epi"	1977–1995
Italy (5)	Aldo Ossola	1962–1980
	Dino Meneghin	1966–1994
	Pierluigi Marzorati	1969–1991, 2006
	Mike D'Antoni	1973–1990
	Antonello Riva	1977–2002, 2014
Croatia (4)	Krešimir Ćosić	1964–1983
	Dražen Petrović	1979–1993
	Dino Rađa	1985–2003
	Toni Kukoč	1985–2006
Greece (4)	Panagiotis Giannakis	1972–1996
	Nikos Galis	1979–1994
	Fragiskos Alvertis	1990–2009
	Theo Papaloukas	1995–2013
United States (4)	Walter Szczerbiak Sr.	1971–1984
	Bob Morse	1972–1986
	Bob McAdoo	1972–1992
	Anthony Parker	1997–2012
Lithuania (2)	Arvydas Sabonis	1981–2004
Lithuania (2)	Šarūnas Jasikevičius	1998–2014
Russia	Sergei Belov	1964–1980
Bosnia and Herzegovina	Mirza Delibašić	1968–1983
Israel	Miki Berkovich	1971–1995
Mexico	Manuel Raga	1963–1979
Argentina	Manu Ginóbili	1995–2018

Coaches

The following is the list of 10 awarded coaches.^[1]^[2]

Country	Coach	Years^[b]
Serbia (4)	Aleksandar Nikolić	1951–1985
	Dušan Ivković	1968–2016
	Božidar Maljković	1971–2013
	Željko Obradović	1991–present
Spain (2)	Pedro Ferrándiz	1955–1975
Spain (2)	Manuel "Lolo" Sáinz	1969–2001
Russia	Alexander Gomelsky	1949–1991
United States	Dan Peterson	1962–1988, 2011
Israel	Pini Gershon	1974–2015
Italy	Ettore Messina	1976–present

Referees

The following is the list of 5 awarded referees.^[1]^[2]

Country	Referee
Bulgaria	Artenik Arabadjian
France	Yvan Mainini
Greece	Costas Rigas
Russia	Mikhail Davidov
Slovakia	Lubomir Kotleba

Other nominees that were not selected

70 Player nominees

Years in parentheses indicate years played as a senior men's club basketball player in all leagues, not just the EuroLeague.

^[3]

Country	Player	Years Played (in all club leagues)
United States	Miles Aiken	(1965–1970)
United States	Bill Bradley	(1965–1977)
United States	Charlie Yelverton	(1971–1987)
United States	Aulcie Perry	(1974–1985)
United States	Larry Wright	(1976–1988)
United States	Bruce Flowers	(1979–1987)
United States	Clarence Kea	(1980–1994)
United States	Kevin Magee	(1982–1994)
United States	Audie Norris	(1982–1994)
United States	Corny Thompson	(1982–1996)
United States	Dominique Wilkins	(1982–1999)
United States	Michael Young	(1984–1996)
United States	Joe Arlauckas	(1987–2000)
United States	David Rivers	(1988–2001)
United States	Tyus Edney	(1995–2010)
United States	Marcus Brown	(1996–2011)
Serbia	Zoran "Moka" Slavnić	(1963–1983)
Serbia	Žarko Varajić	(1969–1984)
Serbia	Dragan Kićanović	(1971–1984)
Serbia	Žarko Paspalj	(1984–1998)
Serbia	Zoran Savić	(1989–2002)
Serbia	Željko Rebrača	(1990–2007)
Croatia	Josip Đerđa	(1958–1976)
Croatia	Mihovil Nakić-Vojnović	(1973–1989)
Croatia	Aleksandar "Aco" Petrović	(1977–1991)
Croatia	Stojan "Stojko" Vranković	(1982–2001)
Croatia	Velimir Perasović	(1985–2003)
Croatia	Nikola Vujčić	(1995—2013)
Spain	Rafael Rullán	(1969–1988)
Spain	Ignacio "Nacho" Solozábal	(1975–1992)
Spain	Fernando Martín	(1979–1989)
Spain	Jordi Villacampa	(1980–1997)
Spain	Johnny Rogers	(1986–2004)
Spain	Juan Carlos Navarro	(1997–2018)
Italy	Carlo Recalcati	(1962–1981)
Italy	Roberto Brunamonti	(1975–1996)
Italy	Walter Magnifico	(1979–2004)
Italy	Riccardo Pittis	(1984–2004)
Russia	Yuri Korneev	(1954–1966)
Russia	Gennadi Volnov	(1957–1972)
Russia	Vladimir Andreev	(1963–1975)
Russia	Anatoly Myshkin	(1970–1986)
Russia	Vladimir Tkachenko	(1973–1990)
Lithuania	Valdemaras Chomičius	(1978–2000)
Lithuania	Rimas Kurtinaitis	(1982–2006)
Lithuania	Artūras Karnišovas	(1989–2002)
Lithuania	Saulius Štombergas	(1991–2007)
Israel	Tal Brody	(1966–1980)
Israel	Motti Aroesti	(1971–1991)
Israel	Doron Jamchi	(1978–2000)
Israel	Derrick Sharp	(1993–2011)
France	Richard Dacoury	(1976–1998)
France	Stéphane Ostrowski	(1979–2005)
France	Antoine Rigaudeau	(1987–2005)
Slovenia	Ivo Daneu	(1956–1970)
Slovenia	Jurij "Jure" Zdovc	(1987–2003)
Slovenia	Matjaž Smodiš	(1994–2013)
Latvia	Maigonis Valdmanis	(1949–1963)
Latvia	Valdis Muižnieks	(1951–1969)
Latvia	Jānis Krūmiņš	(1954–1969)
Greece	Panagiotis Fasoulas	(1981–1999)
Greece	Dimitris Diamantidis	(1999–2016)
Ukraine	Alexander Volkov	(1983–1996)
Turkey	İbrahim Kutluay	(1991–2009)
Turkey	Mirsad Türkcan	(1994–2012)
Armenia	Armenak Alachachian	(1952–1968)
Czech Republic	Jiří Zídek Sr.	(1962–1983)
Montenegro	Duško Ivanović	(1980–1996)
North Macedonia	Petar Naumoski	(1989–2004)
Argentina	Luis Scola	(1996–2021)

10 Coach nominees

Years in parentheses indicate years spent as a basketball coach, in all competitions, not just the EuroLeague.

^[4]

Country	Coach	Years Coached (in all competitions)
Italy	Cesare Rubini	(1957–1973)
Italy	Alessandro "Sandro" Gamba	(1965–1992)
Italy	Valerio Bianchini	(1974–2008)
Serbia	Ranko Žeravica	(1954–2003)
Serbia	Svetislav Pešić	(1982–Present)
Croatia	Mirko Novosel	(1967–1993)
Croatia	Željko Pavličević	(1975–Present)
Israel	Ralph Klein	(1964–2008)
Spain	Alejandro "Aíto" García Reneses	(1973–Present)
Greece	Giannis Ioannidis	(1977–2003)

7 Referee nominees

Country	Referee
Finland	Carl Jungebrand
Hungary	Ervin Kassai
Lithuania	Romualdas Brazauskas
Poland	Wiesław Zych
Serbia	Obrad Belošević
Spain	Pedro Hernández-Cabrera
United Kingdom	David Turner

Notes

^ Indicate years played as a senior men's club basketball player in all leagues, not just the EuroLeague.
^ Indicate years spent as a basketball coach, in all competitions, not just the EuroLeague.

References

External links

[3] Indicate years played as a senior men's club basketball player in all leagues, not just the EuroLeague.

[4] Indicate years spent as a basketball coach, in all competitions, not just the EuroLeague.

[euroleague1-1] 50 CONTRIBUTORS, HONORED IN MADRID.

[euroleague2-2] 50 GREATEST CONTRIBUTORS LIST.

[5] THE ALL-TIME PLAYER NOMINEES.

[6] THE ALL-TIME COACH NOMINEES.

[1]

[2]

[a]

[b]

[3]

[4]

v t e EuroLeague's 50 Greatest Contributors (2008)
35 players	Fragiskos Alvertis Sergei Belov Miki Berkovich Dejan Bodiroga Wayne Brabender Juan Antonio Corbalán Krešimir Ćosić Mike D'Antoni Dražen Dalipagić Saša Danilović Mirza Delibašić Vlade Divac Saša Đorđević Nikos Galis Manu Ginóbili Šarūnas Jasikevičius Radivoj Korać Toni Kukoč Clifford Luyk Pierlo Marzorati Bob McAdoo Dino Meneghin Bob Morse Aldo Ossola Theo Papaloukas Anthony Parker Dražen Petrović Dino Rađa Manolo Raga Antonello Riva Emiliano Rodríguez Arvydas Sabonis J.A. San Epifanio "Epi" Walter Szczerbiak Sr. Panagiotis Giannakis
10 coaches	Pedro Ferrándiz Pini Gershon Alexander Gomelsky Dušan Ivković Božidar Maljković Ettore Messina Aca Nikolić Željko Obradović Dan Peterson Lolo Sainz
5 referees	Artenik Arabadjian Mikhail Davidov Ľubomír Kotleba Yvan Mainini Costas Rigas