Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately 9.4 inches (24 cm) in diameter) through the defender’s hoop (a basket 18 inches (46 cm) in diameter mounted 10 feet (3.048 m) high to a backboard at each end of the court) while preventing the opposing team from shooting through their own hoop. A field goal is worth two points, unless made from behind the three-point line, when it is worth three. After a foul, timed play stops and the player fouled or designated to shoot a technical foul is given one or more one-point free throws. The team with the most points at the end of the game wins, but if regulation play expires with the score tied, an additional period of play (overtime) is mandated.
Players advance the ball by bouncing it while walking or running (dribbling) or by passing it to a teammate, both of which require considerable skill. On offense, players may use a variety of shots—the lay-up, the jump shot, or a dunk; on defense, they may steal the ball from a dribbler, intercept passes, or block shots; either offense or defense may collect a rebound, that is, a missed shot that bounces from rim or backboard. It is a violation to lift or drag one’s pivot foot without dribbling the ball, to carry it, or to hold the ball with both hands then resume dribbling.
The five players on each side fall into five playing positions the tallest player is usually the center, the tallest and strongest is the power forward, a slightly shorter but more agile player is the small forward, and the shortest players or the best ball handlers are the shooting guard and the point guard, who implements the coach’s game plan by managing the execution of offensive and defensive plays (player positioning). Informally, players may play three-on-three, two-on-two, and one-on-one.
Invented in 1891 by Canadian-American gym teacher James Naismith in Springfield, Massachusetts, United States, basketball has evolved to become one of the world’s most popular and widely viewed sports. The National Basketball Association (NBA) is the most significant professional basketball league in the world in terms of popularity, salaries, talent, and level of competition. Outside North America, the top clubs from national leagues qualify to continental championships such as the EuroLeague and the Basketball Champions League Americas. The FIBA Basketball World Cup and Men’s Olympic Basketball Tournament are the major international events of the sport and attract top national teams from around the world. Each continent hosts regional competitions for national teams, like EuroBasket and FIBA AmeriCup.
The FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup and Women’s Olympic Basketball Tournament feature top national teams from continental championships. The main North American league is the WNBA (NCAA Women’s Division I Basketball Championship is also popular), whereas strongest European clubs participate in the EuroLeague Women.
First established by FIBA in September 1958, the inaugural European women’s club competition consisted of 10 teams and came about following the success of an equivalent tournament for men’s clubs earlier in the same year. The men’s tournament consisted of 46 games, with over 100,000 spectators turning out to watch.
At the initial tournament Slavia Sofia of Bulgaria were crowned champions, beating Soviet Dynamo Moscow 64–40 at home and then 44–34 on the Muscovites court. The two-game home-and-away format for the final remained until 1976, before changing to a single-game format the following year.
During its formative years, the tournament was dominated by Daugava Riga from Latvia (then Soviet Union) who appeared in 16 finals between 1960 and 1977, winning all 16 of them. The Latvian club maintains two records that are difficult to see being bettered, with 18 overall titles, as well as the record for winning 12 consecutive championships.
In the nineties, the competition underwent two key changes. The first was the introduction of the Final Four in 1992; and the second was the rebranding of the competition in 1996, when it went from being known as European Cup for Women’s Champion Clubs to what it is known as today: EuroLeague Women.
The Final Four format was given its farewell in Ekaterinburg in 2011, when Halcón Avenida defeated Spartak Moscow Region 68–59; before the 2011/2012 season heralded in a new direction for EuroLeague Women with the Final Four replaced by a Final Eight tournament.
Istanbul were granted the honour of hosting the first Final Eight tournament where Spanish club Ros Casares Valencia prevailed victorious, defeating Rivas Ecópolis 65–52 in the final. In its second year, the EuroLeague Women Final Eight moved to Ekaterinburg, where tournament hosts UMMC Ekaterinburg prevailed 82–56 over Fenerbahçe in the final.
