The game that Aris will play tomorrow against Joventut Badalona, for Game 1 of the Eurocup “Top 16”, will be their 35th against a Spanish club. In the 34 previous encounters, the “yellows” have had 12 victories and 22 defeats and they have faced nine Spanish teams in total: FC Barcelona (3 wins - 9 losses), Zaragoza (3 wins - 1 loss), Estudiantes (2 wins - 2 losses), Unicaja Malaga (2 wins - 2 losses), Cajamadrid Alcala (1 win - 1 loss), Manresa (1 win - 1 loss), Valencia (0 wins - 2 losses), Tau Vitoria (0 wins - 2 losses) and also Joventut Badalona, to which they had suffered two defeats in the Champions’ Cup group phase, in 1991-92.
The first match was held on 28/11/1991 at the newly built “Palau Olimpic” of Badalona and the local team got the victory by 91-69. The Catalans won by an even bigger margin (92-118) in Thessaloniki, on 30/01/1992. After all, the “yellows” were through serious administrative and financial problems that season, while Joventut reached the final of the most prestigious European competition.
Nevertheless, Aris has won “La Penya” in a friendly game, which was held on 20/08/1996 at Alexandrio Melathro, in front of 6,000 fans. The score was 78-70 in favor of the Greek team, which would eventually win the Korac Cup in the end of that season.
Another thing worth mentioning is that Aris has won three times on Spanish soil. The first one, which has definitely been the most memorable too, happened in “Palau Blaugrana”, where they beat FC Barcelona by 88-89 in the group phase of the 1987-88 Champions’ Cup. In season 1992-93, the “yellows” won in “Pabellon Principe Felipe”, in Zaragoza (84-86) in the first semifinal of the Cup Winners’ Cup, just three weeks before winning the trophy in Turin. The third victory happened during the 2005-06 season, for the ULEB Cup group stage: Aris won Estudiantes by 76-89 in “Telefonica Arena”, Madrid.
On the other side, DKV Joventut has got 12 victories and 13 defeats in a total of matches against Greek clubs. Among all those encounters, the most important one was the 1993-94 Champions’ Cup final, in Tel Aviv, where the Spanish team beat Olympiacos 59-57.
PREVIOUS GAMES OF ARIS AGAINST SPANISH CLUBS
SEASON OPPONENT COMPETITION HOME RESULT AWAY RESULT
1984-85 Cajamadrid Alcala Korac Cup 106-100 81-85
1987-88 FC Barcelona Champions’ Cup 93-107 89-88
1988-89 FC Barcelona Champions’ Cup 90-84* 81-97*
1989-90 FC Barcelona Champions’ Cup 94-100** 56-90**
1990-91 FC Barcelona Champions’ Cup 93-110 64-92
1991-92 Estudiantes Champions’ Cup 88-99 58-88
1991-92 Joventut Badalona Champions’ Cup 92-118 69-91
1992-93 Zaragoza Cup Winners’ Cup 82-66 86-84
1995-96 Zaragoza Korac Cup 81-70 84-89
1997-98 Manresa Korac Cup 96-74 67-84
1998-99 Valencia Saporta Cup 50-58 64-70
2005-06 Estudiantes ULEB Cup 73-69 89-76
2006-07 FC Barcelona Euroleague 75-82 83-86
2006-07 Unicaja Malaga Euroleague 83-65 74-76
2007-08 Unicaja Malaga Euroleague 87-83 53-72
2007-08 Tau Vitoria Euroleague 69-87 74-90
*Also: Aris – FC Barcelona 88-71, at the 3rd place game of the 1988-89 Final Four, in Munich
**Also: FC Barcelona - Aris 104-83, at the semifinal of the 1989-90 Final Four, in Zaragoza
PREVIOUS GAMES OF DKV JOVENTUT AGAINST GREEK CLUBS
SEASON OPPONENT COMPETITION HOME RESULT AWAY RESULT
1969-70 Α.Ε.Κ. Cup Winners’ Cup 87-68 46-74
1978-79 Olympiacos Champions’ Cup 91-77 95-84
1979-80 Olympiacos Korac Cup 76-65 69-86
1988-89 Olympiacos Korac Cup 101-73 86-89
1990-91 Iraklis Korac Cup 84-52 91-70
1991-92 Aris Champions’ Cup 91-69 118-92
1992-93 P.A.O.K. Champions’ Cup 84-71 81-83
1993-94 Panathinaikos Champions’ Cup 81-86 61-85
1993-94 Olympiacos Champions’ Cup 59-57*
1994-95 Olympiacos Champions’ Cup 75-76 53-84
2004-05 Makedonikos Kozanis ULEB Cup 77-84 89-93
2006-07 Panathinaikos Euroleague 79-82 73-83
2006-07 Olympiacos Euroleague 58-56 65-81
*Final game of the 1993-94 Champions’ Cup Final Four, in Tel Aviv
