Nando De Colo Announces Final Season in EuroLeague
Nando De Colo has finally put a date on the end of one of European basketball’s great careers. The Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul guard, a metronome of efficiency and elegance for more than a decade, has confirmed that the 2025-26 campaign will be his last.
No conditions. No “if we win” clauses. Just a clear line in the sand.
“I didn't say I would retire if we won the EuroLeague. But to be transparent, this will be my last season,” he told BeBasket, lifting the curtain on a decision that has been quietly shaping his thoughts for months. “Since the beginning of the season, I've had it in the back of my mind that this was going to be my last season.”
For a player who has always seemed in control of the tempo, even his own farewell is arriving on his terms.
A Second Act in Istanbul
De Colo returned to Fenerbahce in early January for a second stint, slipping back into yellow and navy as if he had never left. From 2019 to 2022, he had been the club’s offensive brain, the calm in the chaos of EuroLeague defenses. His mid-season comeback this year felt less like nostalgia and more like unfinished business.
Between those two Fenerbahce chapters, he spent two seasons with ASVEL. Even there, in a team still building its EuroLeague identity, he remained the same player: ruthless at the line, precise in decision-making, a quiet leader who rarely wasted a possession.
At 38, he is not chasing relevance. He still commands it.
A Record Book Written in Ink
The numbers tell their own story, and in De Colo’s case they read like a EuroLeague almanac.
He is the all-time leader in free-throw accuracy at a staggering 93.5%. He tops the charts in career PIR with 5,835 and in free throws made with 1,272. Only one player has scored more than his 5,157 EuroLeague points.
Thirteen seasons. Four clubs. A body of work that has reshaped what it means to be a modern European guard.
The peak came at CSKA Moscow, where De Colo turned dominance into routine. Across five seasons, CSKA reached the Final Four every year. He collected All-EuroLeague honors in each of those campaigns, with three First Team selections that underlined his status as the standard-bearer at his position.
The 2015-16 season remains his masterpiece. EuroLeague MVP. Alphonso Ford Top Scorer Trophy. Final Four MVP. A championship clinched with him at the center of everything, orchestrating, scoring, closing.
He added a second EuroLeague crown with CSKA in 2019, confirming what everyone already knew: this was not a one-season wonder, but a sustained era of excellence.
Before that, he had already lifted the EuroCup with Valencia in 2010, an early sign that he would live comfortably on the biggest stages.
The French Constant
De Colo’s influence has never been confined to club basketball. For France, he became a pillar.
EuroBasket gold in 2013. Two Olympic silver medals. Six medals in total at major international tournaments. Across cycles, coaches, and generations of teammates, he remained a constant presence, the steadying hand in high-pressure moments, the guard trusted to make the right read when possessions weighed the most.
His game was never built on noise. No theatrics, no excess. Just angles, timing, and an almost automatic release from the stripe.
The Final Stretch
So now the countdown is real. One more full season after this, then the curtain falls.
By the time the 2025-26 season ends, De Colo will leave behind a career that doesn’t just sit in the record books but shapes them. A two-time EuroLeague champion, a former EuroLeague MVP, a reference point for every young European guard learning how to control a game without forcing it.
He has been thinking about this ending “for a while.” Opponents will be thinking about it now too. Because as long as he’s on the floor, one truth remains: if the ball is in Nando De Colo’s hands, the outcome still feels like his decision.
