Stadium constructed in 330 BC hosts 42,000 fans for EuroLeague pre-season basketball tournament

The northern star constellations of Cygnus and Delphinus rose over Athens during the evening of Saturday 21 September bearing witness to quite the sporting spectacle unfolding below.

A pre-season basketball tournament, involving four top European teams, took place in the open-air Panathenaic Stadium, an architectural marvel first constructed around the year 330 BC, two centuries after Greek astronomer Claudius Ptolemy first catalogued the aforementioned star constellations.

The event was to promote the upcoming 2024/25 EuroLeague, which begins on 3 October, while also celebrating the 25th year of Europe's premier basketball tournament.

And what a venue in which to celebrate.

The stadium was originally built to host the Panathenaic Games, an athletics festival celebrated every four years. Sound familiar?

Rebuilt entirely of marble, by 144 AD the horseshoe-shaped stadium had a capacity of 50,000 – extremely hard – seats.

Refurbished and enlarged to 80,000 capacity for the first Modern Olympic Games in 1896, the stadium hosted the opening and closing ceremony, and four of the nine contested sports – athletics, gymnastics, weightlifting, and wrestling.

It was also used as an Olympic venue for Athens 2004, for the archery competition, marked the finishing point for the men’s and women’s marathons, and was also the location of the traditional Olympic flame handover ceremony to the host nation.

So the Panathenaic Stadium, also known as Kallimarmaro to locals, has seen a lot, but this night was particularly special.

Out-of-this-world venue plays host to EuroLeague pre-season tournament

"It's so grandiose," said Shane Larkin, while walking through the history-soaked 'tunnel' before the match, that yes, would likely have seen the odd gladiator walk through its hallowed hollow.

The Turkish-American player, who captains one of the four sides in the tournament, Anadolu Efes, of the Turkish Basketball Super League, continued, wide-eyed: "This is iconic man. This is definitely something special.

"To be able to play on a court like this, in a stadium like this, it's an iconic moment for EuroLeague basketball and hopefully we can do more things like this in the future," he said.

Although unable to play due to injury, Larkin was able to absorb the atmosphere courtside alongside the 42,000 fans who had turned out for the incredible night.

"This is unlike anything we've ever seen," enthused Behrad Bakhtiari and Denzel Kazembe of SBB – Simply British Ballers, a fan site hosted by two Londoners aiming to visit every basketball court in the world.

The duo posted content that gave a fan's eye view of the event, including Kazembe gingerly making his way sideways down the steep marble stairs, each approximately 30cm high. "We've been so fortunate. We travel all around the world checking out different basketball courts, but this is unlike anything we've ever seen."

"There have been many basketball games in the history of mankind right, but this: one of a kind," said Bakhtiari.

One of a kind, indeed.

Green laser lights, the host's brand colour, swept ethereally across the solidity of the stone structure, while the added variables of an outdoor match required players to adapt to whirls of wind and the changing colours of day to night in Greece's autumn twilight. All played out under the gaze of the illuminated Acropolis, watching on from its hillside plateau nearby, the famed ancient citadel an icon of Greece's capital.

But some things will forever remain the same.

Football-style chanting from fans echoed around the amphitheatre while four teams – defending EuroLeague champions Panathinaikos, as well as Maccabi, Anadolu Efes, and Partizan – thrashed it out on court in front of a crowd four-times the size of last season's average of 10,383.

Panathinaikos were unable to give home fans a win on this most special of occasions, going down 75-64 to Partizan, but the Greek side will quickly turn their attention to the new league and the defence of their precious EuroLeague title, the first won since the 2010/11 season.

But this night will live long in the memory, even for Mathias Lessort, who weeks previously had helped France's men to an Olympic silver medal at their home Games at Paris 2024.

"When we walked in to see all these people here and the historic stadium, it was something amazing," he said. "Thanks to all the fans that showed up and made this night a big celebration for basketball."

• EuroLeague 2024-25 season game centre