Greek athletes shine in regional Balkan sports vote

Three Greek athletes are among the top ten in the 52nd edition of the Bulgarian News Agency (BTA) vote for "Balkan Athlete of the Year" 2025.

The names highlighted on the list are Emmanouil Karalis (athletics), Giannis Antetokounmpo (basketball), and Stefanos Ntouskos (rowing), CE Report quotes ANA-MPA.

The winner and the full results of the vote will be announced at a ceremony in Sofia on February 16, the day in 1898 when BTA published its first news bulletin.

The traditional survey involved the national news agencies of the region – Athens-Macedonian News Agency (Greece), BTA (Bulgaria), AGERPRES (Romania), Anadolu Agency (Turkey), TANYUG (Serbia), MINA (Montenegro), MIA (North Macedonia), HINA (Croatia), FENA (Bosnia and Herzegovina), CNA (Cyprus), ATA (Albania), and KosovaPress (Kosovo).

The top ten in the 2025 vote include: basketball player Alperen Sengün, who played a key role in Turkey’s silver medal at EuroBasket; swimmer David Popovici (Romania), world champion in 100m and 200m freestyle; judoka Distria Krasniqi (Kosovo), European champion and world silver medalist in the 52kg category; pole vaulter Emmanouil Karalis (Greece), European indoor champion and world silver medalist both indoors and outdoors; alpine skier Zrinka Ljutić (Croatia), who won three World Cup races and the small crystal globe in slalom; basketball player Nikola Jokić (Serbia), runner-up in the NBA MVP vote; rower Stefanos Ntouskos (Greece), world champion and European silver medalist; and basketball player Giannis Antetokounmpo (Greece), who led Greece to bronze at EuroBasket 2026 and was named to the tournament’s All-Star Five.

This year’s BTA vote featured a total of 47 athletes.

The top ten of the BTA "Balkan Athlete of the Year" vote for 2025 (in alphabetical order) are:

• Aleksandar Nikolov (Bulgaria) – volleyball

• Alperen Sengün (Turkey) – basketball

• David Popovici (Romania) – swimming

• Distria Krasniqi (Kosovo) – judo

• Emmanouil Karalis (Greece) – athletics

• Giannis Antetokounmpo (Greece) – basketball

• Carlos Nassar (Bulgaria) – weightlifting

• Nikola Jokić (Serbia) – basketball

• Stefanos Ntouskos (Greece) – rowing

• Zrinka Ljutić (Croatia) – alpine skiing

As reported by CE Report, the Greek-Italian partnership backed the largest rail investment since 2004.