Sarunas Jasikevicius criticized the EuroLeague organization, saying it was “very sad” that many Fenerbahce fans who bought tickets were unable to enter the arena, calling the situation “extremely bad for the EuroLeague” and expressing sympathy for the affected supporters.
Credit: EuroLeague TV
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After telling EuroLeague TV post-game that “Fener was not Fener,” coach Sarunas Jasikevicius also criticized the organizational side of the 2026 EuroLeague Final Four in Athens following Friday’s 79-61 semifinal loss to Olympiacos Piraeus.
Jasikevicius expressed disbelief over the issues Fenerbahce fans faced when trying to enter the Telekom Center Athens.
“The fans are not going to win the game. You know, the only thing sad that I’m hearing is that a lot of Fenerbahce fans who bought the tickets were not able to enter,” Saras said. “So this is an extremely sad story for the EuroLeague, for the organization.
“If people pay this amount of money, they make an effort, and they cannot get into the arena, that’s very sad, and I feel bad for the Fener fans,” he added. “Because this is what we were talking about before the game, that many of them were outside waiting for some kind of email or something.
“By the way, I was in the restaurant with many of my friends last night at 11 o’clock, and we had no tickets. So the people started asking, ‘Saras, are we going to have tickets?’ This is not a good situation for the EuroLeague for sure, and it’s sad.”
Fenerbahce fans reportedly faced major ticketing problems. Greek media claimed that some fans received tickets for Sunday’s final (May 24) instead of Friday’s semifinal (May 22), while others received no tickets at all.
Fenerbahce Basketball Operations Head Cem Ciritci has also strongly criticized the organization of the EuroLeague Final Four in Athens.
“Unfortunately, the most disgraceful Final Four organization I’ve seen in recent years. We arrived on Wednesday. We’ve been talking to the officials about tickets for days, but we’re getting no response,” he told S Sport.
“There are even Olympiacos fans in our family section. There are thousands of our fans outside. They’ve lost control. They can’t take a single step forward. Little by little, we’re getting our fans inside.”
Credit Image AP – Scanpix
Jasikevicius on the semifinal loss
Speaking about the game itself, Saras admitted Fenerbahce were far from their best.
“Unfortunately, since we’ve been with a full roster, probably our worst game of the season. It’s very painful to see a struggle like this,” Jasikevicius said. “From what I understood a little bit on the numbers now, after the game, the numbers at the beginning of the quarters are something that is brutal.
“It’s, you know, you have the ability to come out a little bit more aggressive and a little bit to sort of throw the first punch. We understood how important it was to throw the first punch last year in the Final Four. Well, obviously, we got knocked out at the beginning of all three quarters.
“As I said, every time we seemed to try to grab on to the game, it was not possible. We immediately gave the initiative back. As soon as we showed some kind of life, they took it away, or in some situations, we gave it away. Yeah, so not a good evening for us, and unfortunately, at the biggest stage.
“Offensively, we were very bad. The beginning was all three-point shots, everybody trying the rims, like I say, instead of being a little bit more patient, more aggressive. And you know, Olympiacos played well, but we were very bad. Doesn’t mean that we need to take away the credit from Olympiacos, they were just a much better team today.”
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