Anadolu Efes S.K.

Anadolu Efes Spor Kulübü, commonly referred to as Anadolu Efes or simply Efes, is a professional basketball team based in Istanbul, Turkey. Founded in 1976, the club was formerly known as Efes Pilsen until 2011. Efes is the 2021–22 Euroleague champion and on the first place of European Club Ranking after the Final Four 2020–21. Efes is also the most successful club in the history of the Turkish Super League (BSL), having won the league's championship 16 times. Efes has won a total of 41 domestic trophies, more than any other Turkish basketball club.

The home arena of Anadolu Efes S.K. is the Sinan Erdem Dome in Istanbul, which has a seating capacity of 16,000 for basketball games. The club has its own practice facility in the district of Bahçelievler, which was built in 1982. The team competes in the Turkish Super League and the EuroLeague. The team is owned by the Efes Beverage Group.

Anadolu Efes has developed a fierce rivalry with Fenerbahçe in recent years. The two clubs often meet in playoff series and cup finals.

History
The club was established in 1976 as Efes Pilsen S.K., by taking over the Turkish second-division club Kadıköyspor, which had failed due to financial problems. Its initial sponsor was its former longtime namesake, Efes Pilsen, a subsidiary of the Anadolu Group. It won the 1978 Turkish second division national championship undefeated, earning promotion to the Turkish first division, where it has continuously competed ever since. In its first top-flight season (1978–79), Efes Pilsen S.K. won the Turkish national league title, immediately establishing itself as one of the country's top clubs.

After finishing 2nd in the 1992–93 FIBA European Cup, Efes Pilsen S.K. won the 1995–96 FIBA Korać Cup, which marked the first-ever European-wide title won by a Turkish club in any team sport. Efes Pilsen S.K. (later renamed Anadolu Efes S.K.) has also become a fixture in the European-wide top-tier level EuroLeague, making it to the competition's EuroLeague Final Four in 2000, and also to the FIBA SuproLeague's 2001 Final Four, and finishing 3rd on both occasions.

In 2011, the club changed its name to Anadolu Efes S.K., after the TAPDK (Tobacco and Alcohol Market Regulatory Authority) in Turkey prohibited the advertisement of tobacco and alcohol products in sports organizations.

In the 2017–18 season, Efes finished in the 16th and last place in the EuroLeague.

In the 2018–19 season, Efes had success in the EuroLeague as it managed to clinch the fourth-seed in the regular season. In the play-offs, the team beat FC Barcelona to advance to its first EuroLeague Final Four in 19 years. In the semi-final, Efes beat Fenerbahçe 92–73 to reach its first EuroLeague Final in history. In the championship game, Efes was defeated by CSKA Moscow, eventually finishing as the runner-up. In the same season, Efes won its first BSL championship since 2009. In Game 7 of the Finals against Fenerbahçe, Efes won 89–74 after Shane Larkin scored 38 points. Larkin was later named BSL Finals MVP.

In the 2020-2021 and 2021-2022 seasons Anadolu Efes won back-to-back EuroLeague Championships.

Home arenas

 * Abdi İpekçi Arena: 1986–2010, 2012–2017
 * Sinan Erdem Dome: 2010–2012, 2017–present

For many years, Efes has used the Abdi İpekçi Arena, with a seating capacity of 12,270, to host its home games. Currently, Efes uses the 16,000 seat Sinan Erdem Dome for its home games.

Domestic competitions

 * Turkish Super League
 * Winners (16) (record) : 1978–79, 1982–83, 1983–84, 1991–92, 1992–93, 1993–94, 1995–96, 1996–97, 2001–02, 2002–03, 2003–04, 2004–05, 2008–09, 2018–19, 2020–21, 2022–23
 * Runners-up (13): 1985–86, 1997–98, 1998–99, 1999–00, 2000–01, 2005–06, 2006–07, 2009–10, 2011–12, 2014–15, 2015–16, 2021–22, 2023–24


 * Turkish Cup
 * Winners (12) (record) : 1993–94, 1995–96, 1996–97, 1997–98, 2000–01, 2001–02, 2005–06, 2006–07, 2008–09, 2014–15, 2018, 2022
 * Runners-up (5): 2003–04, 2013–14, 2017, 2019, 2024


 * Turkish Presidential Cup
 * Winners (13) (record) : 1986, 1992, 1993, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2006, 2009, 2010, 2015, 2018, 2019, 2022
 * Runners-up (11): 1994, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2012, 2016

European competitions

 * EuroLeague
 * Winners (2): 2020–21, 2021–22
 * Runners-up (1): 2018–19
 * 3rd place (2): 1999–00, 2000–01
 * Final Four (5): 2000, 2001, 2019, 2021, 2022


 * FIBA Saporta Cup (defunct)
 * Runners-up (1): 1992–93


 * FIBA Korać Cup (defunct)
 * Winners (1): 1995–96

Other competitions

 * FIBA International Christmas Tournament (defunct)
 * 3rd place (1): 1996


 * Sondrio, Italy Invitational Game
 * Winners (1): 2008


 * Bandirma Invitational Game
 * Winners (1): 2008


 * Sarajevo Invitational Game
 * Winners (1): 2010


 * Istanbul, Turkey Invitational Game
 * Winners (1): 2014


 * Crete Heraklion Basketball Tournament
 * Winners (1): 2016


 * TUBAD Basketball Tournament
 * Winners (1): 2018


 * Zadar Basketball Tournament
 * Winners: 2019


 * Gloria Cup
 * Winners (2): 2020, 2021

Notable players

 * 🇹🇷 Cedi Osman
 * 🇹🇷 Furkan Korkmaz
 * 🇹🇷 Volkan Aydın
 * 🇹🇷 Tamer Oyguç
 * 🇹🇷 Murat Evliyaoğlu
 * 🇹🇷 Hüseyin Beşok
 * 🇹🇷 Ufuk Sarıca
 * 🇹🇷 Mehmet Okur
 * 🇹🇷 Hidayet Türkoğlu
 * 🇹🇷 İbrahim Kutluay
 * 🇹🇷 Serkan Erdoğan
 * 🇹🇷 Alper Yılmaz
 * 🇹🇷 Erdal Bibo
 * 🇹🇷 Ömer Onan
 * 🇹🇷 Mustafa Abi
 * 🇹🇷 Kaya Peker
 * 🇹🇷 Ender Arslan
 * 🇹🇷 Ersan İlyasova
 * 🇹🇷 Sinan Güler
 * 🇹🇷 Kerem Tunçeri
 * 🇹🇷 Semih Erden
 * 🇹🇷 Kerem Gönlüm
 * 🇹🇷 Cenk Akyol
 * 🇹🇷 Birkan Batuk
 * 🇹🇷 Onuralp Bitim
 * 🇹🇷 Mirsad Türkcan
 * 🇦🇱🇹🇷 Ermal Kuqo
 * 🇦🇲🇺🇸 Bryant Dunston
 * 🇦🇺 Brock Motum
 * Damir Mulaomerović
 * Dario Šarić
 * Marko Popović
 * Nikola Prkačin
 * Nikola Vujčić
 * Mario Kasun
 * Zoran Planinić
 * Stanko Barać
 * 🇫🇷 Thomas Heurtel
 * 🇬🇦 Stéphane Lasme
 * Michalis Kakiouzis
 * Stratos Perperoglou
 * Kaspars Kambala
 * 🇱🇹 Saulius Štombergas
 * 🇲🇰 Petar Naumoski
 * 🇲🇪 Predrag Drobnjak
 * 🇲🇪 Vlado Šćepanović
 * 🇲🇪 Goran Nikolić
 * 🇲🇪 Slavko Vraneš
 * 🇲🇪 Milko Bjelica
 * -🇺🇸 Daniel Santiago
 * 🇷🇺 Vasili Karasev
 * 🇷🇸 Vasilije Micić
 * 🇷🇸 Igor Rakočević
 * 🇷🇸 Zoran Savić
 * 🇷🇸 Duško Savanović
 * 🇷🇸 Vladimir Štimac
 * 🇷🇸 Dušan Kecman
 * Jurica Golemac
 * Boštjan Nachbar
 * Zoran Dragić
 * Edo Murić
 * Alen Omić
 * 🇷🇸 Sasha Vujačić
 * Esteban Batista
 * 🇺🇸 Conrad McRae
 * 🇺🇸 Larry Richard
 * 🇺🇸 Marcus Brown
 * 🇺🇸 Trajan Langdon
 * 🇺🇸 Willie Solomon
 * 🇺🇸 Drew Nicholas
 * 🇺🇸 Scott Roth
 * 🇺🇸 Anthony Mason
 * 🇺🇸🇧🇦 Henry Domercant
 * 🇺🇸 Marcus Haislip
 * 🇺🇸 Chris Corchiani
 * 🇺🇸 Brian Howard
 * 🇺🇸 Andrew Wisniewski
 * 🇺🇸 Derrick Alston
 * 🇺🇸 Rickie Winslow
 * 🇺🇸 Kenny Green
 * 🇺🇸 Jon Diebler
 * 🇺🇸 Bryce Cotton
 * 🇺🇸 Toney Douglas
 * 🇺🇸 Derrick Brown
 * 🇺🇸 Ricky Ledo
 * 🇺🇸 Tyler Honeycutt
 * 🇺🇸 Josh Adams
 * 🇺🇸 Errick McCollum
 * 🇺🇸 Mark Pope
 * 🇺🇸 Scoonie Penn
 * 🇺🇸 Deshaun Thomas
 * 🇺🇸 Bootsy Thornton
 * 🇺🇸 Antonio Granger
 * 🇺🇸 Jayson Granger
 * 🇺🇸 Sonny Weems
 * 🇺🇸 Kenny Gregory
 * 🇺🇸 Charles Smith
 * 🇺🇸 Justin Doellman
 * 🇺🇸🇹🇷 Preston Shumpert
 * 🇺🇸🇹🇷 Erwin Dudley
 * 🇺🇸🇮🇱 Jordan Farmar
 * 🇺🇸🇮🇱 Alex Tyus
 * 🇺🇸 Jamon Gordon
 * 🇺🇸 Matt Janning

Season by season

 * Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe.

Matches against NBA teams
In 2006, Efes Pilsen became the first Turkish basketball club to be invited to play with NBA teams. They competed against the Denver Nuggets in Denver, Colorado on October 11, and against the Golden State Warriors in Oakland, California on October 12. In 2007, Efes Pilsen hosted the Minnesota Timberwolves at the Abdi İpekçi Arena.

Head coaches

 * 🇹🇷 Rıza Erverdi (1983–1984)
 * 🇹🇷 Aydan Siyavuş (1984–1986)
 * 🇷🇸 Rusmir Halilovic (1986–1987)
 * 🇹🇷 Aydan Siyavuş (1987–1990)
 * 🇹🇷 Halil Üner (1990–1992)
 * 🇹🇷 Aydın Örs (1992–1999)
 * 🇹🇷 Ergin Ataman (1999–2001)
 * 🇹🇷 Oktay Mahmuti (2001–2007)
 * 🇺🇸🇮🇱 David Blatt (2007–2008)
 * 🇹🇷 Ekrem Memnun (2008)
 * 🇹🇷 Ergin Ataman (2008–2010)
 * Velimir Perasović (2010–2011)
 * 🇹🇷 Ufuk Sarıca (2011–2012)
 * Ilias Zouros (2012)
 * 🇹🇷 Oktay Mahmuti (2012–2013)
 * Vangelis Angelou (2013–2014)
 * 🇷🇸 Dušan Ivković (2014–2016)
 * 🇹🇷 Ahmet Çakı (2016)
 * Velimir Perasović (2016–2017)
 * 🇹🇷 Ergin Ataman (2017–2023)
 * 🇹🇷 Erdem Can (2023–2024)
 * Tomislav Mijatović (2024–present)