April 7 1977 – 19 Nisan 5737
Maccabi Tel Aviv won the European Basketball cup for the first time. The finals were held in Communist Yugoslavia, and the Israeli athletes’ plane was the first official flight from Israel to Belgrade. The high point was the semi-final, held in Belgium, in which Maccabi beat CSKA Moscow in a game dynamized by the clash between the two sides of the Cold War. Even non-sports fans were glued to the live broadcast of the match, which was held in Belgium due to Soviet policy forbidding its athletes to either host or be hosted by an Israeli team. Team captain Tal Brody immortalized the game with the statement, “We’re on the map! And staying on the map – and not just in sport, in everything.”