That the wait was long for French basketball enthusiasts. Twenty-six years they were waiting to see a club from the championship of France play the Final Four of the Euroleague, an event bringing together, for a weekend, the four semi-finalist teams of the most prestigious European basketball cup.

AS Monaco faces, Friday, May 19 in Kaunas, Lithuania, the Greek club Olympiacos for a place in the final, played Sunday, against the winner of the 100% Spanish duel between Real Madrid and FC Barcelona. A return to the highest European level for French basketball.

"It's really great to see Monaco at the Final Four. For us, it's a sign that doesn't deceive about the quality of our basketball. Their presence in the last four of the Euroleague is also a reward for the work we have done in structuring the clubs in recent years," said Alain Béral, president of the National Basketball League (LNB) since 2011.

Before Monaco, we have to go back to 1997 with ASVEL (Association sportive de Villeurbanne Éveil lyonnais) to find a trace of a French club at this stage of the competition. A time when reaching the Final Four of the Euroleague had almost become a habit for the representatives of the France championship: CSP Limoges participated three times in the 90s (1990, 1993, 1995), even becoming, on April 15, 1993, the first French club in any sport to be crowned European champion.

No French club in Euroleague between 2016 and 2019

But with the Bosman judgment – which enshrines the free movement of European athletes – in 1996, the best French players gradually left France for the best European championships, then to the United States and the NBA. The years 2000 and 2010 then show a curious paradox for French basketball: its players have never been so numerous to join the world elite, its national team has never won so many medals in international competitions (9 medals between 2000 and 2022, including the title of European champion in 2013), but its clubs become the laughing stock of Europe.

During this period, the best French teams (Limoges, ASVEL, Pau-Orthez) experienced financial difficulties. The hierarchy of the France championship is constantly shaken, so much so that eleven different clubs participate between 2007 and 2014 in the Euroleague, a competition where winning a match is now almost a feat.

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"A victory in the Euroleague for a French club is always a great moment," said Philippe Hervé, the coach of Limoges, on the evening of a success in 2015 against Milan.

The CSP will not pass that season the first phase of the competition, whose format has evolved several times. But whatever the formula, the French record remains relentless: between 2000 (ASVEL) and 2022 (Monaco), no French representative participated in the playoffs, the final phase of the competition.

Worse, no French club is even invited between 2016 and 2019 when the Euroleague, organized by a private company since 2000, tightened to become a half-closed league with permanent members (Real Madrid, FC Barcelona, Fenerbahçe, Olympiacos, Panathinaikos ...).

"To introduce French basketball to a new audience"

"To exist in the Euroleague, it's simple, you need a substantial budget that can allow you to sign big names and double all the positions. A team like Monaco is almost two major fives," said Alain Béral, referring to the term used to designate the five players starting the match.

The biggest budget of the France championship with 20 million euros, Monaco was able to pay in the summer of 2021 a star of the Euroleague, the American Mike James, and to steal at ASVEL last summer a Frenchman returned from the NBA in 2021, Elie Okobo.

In France, such resources are an exception: if ASVEL approaches it with a budget of 15 million, the average budget is rather around 7 million euros. But Monaco is still far from the biggest teams in the Euroleague. Real and Barça have a budget of 40 million euros.

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Regardless, the "Roca Team" – nickname of the Monaco team – proved this season that it can beat the biggest in Europe, allowing French basketball to end years of scarcity.

"Between Monaco going to the Final Four and the phenomenon Victor Wembanyama, future first pick of the NBA draft, we really lived an exceptional year, confirms the boss of the LNB. Whether in theaters or on television, it allowed us to introduce French basketball to a new audience who were seduced by the show on offer."

Thirty years after the Limoges coronation, Monaco has the opportunity this weekend to make this 2022/2023 season even more historic. But, whatever happens, the Monegasques have already achieved a feat: French basketball lovers have started dreaming again.

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