Women's basketball is the team sport of basketball played by women. It began being played in 1892, one year after men's basketball, at Smith College in Massachusetts. It spread across the United States, in large part via women's college competitions, and has since spread globally. As of 2020, basketball is one of the most popular and fastest growing sports in the world.
Djurgårdens Idrottsförening, commonly known simply as Djurgårdens IF, Djurgården, and Djurgår'n, Dif or DIF – is a Swedish sports association with several sections, located in Stockholm.
Sport is considered a national pastime in Sweden, and about half of the population actively takes part in sports activities. The most important all-embracing organisations for sports in Sweden are the Swedish Sports Confederation, and the Swedish Olympic Committee. In total over 2 million people are members of a sports club.
Djurgårdens IF Ishockeyförening – commonly known as Djurgårdens IF, Djurgården Hockey, Djurgården – is a professional ice hockey team based in Stockholm, Sweden, affiliated with the Djurgårdens IF umbrella organization. Djurgården is currently playing in the Swedish second tier ice hockey league, the HockeyAllsvenskan. Djurgården is the most successful Swedish hockey team of all time, as 16-time Swedish champions, 12-time runners-up, and leaders of the marathon table for the top flight of Swedish hockey. The ice hockey section was first established in 1922 and has since been playing in the Swedish league system, with the exception of four years in the 1930s when the hockey section was temporarily dissolved.
Association football is the most popular sport in Sweden, with over 240,000 licensed players with another 240,000 youth players. There are around 3,200 active clubs fielding over 8,500 teams, which are playing on the 7,900 pitches available in the country. Football was first played in Sweden in the 1870s, the first championship was decided in 1896 and the Swedish Football Association was founded in 1904. Despite being a relatively small country population-wise, both the men's and women's national teams and the club teams have gained rather large success from time to time.
Among all sportin Turkey, the most popular one is football. Turkey's top teams include Fenerbahçe, Galatasaray and Beşiktaş. In 2000, Galatasaray won the UEFA Cup and UEFA Super Cup. Two years later, the Turkish national team finished third in the 2002 FIFA World Cup Finals in Japan and South Korea, while in 2008, the national team reached the semi-finals of the UEFA Euro 2008 competition. The Atatürk Olympic Stadium in Istanbul hosted the 2005 UEFA Champions League Final, while the Şükrü Saracoğlu Stadium in Istanbul hosted the 2009 UEFA Cup Final.
Mirsad Türkcan is a Turkish former professional basketball player of Bosniak origin. Standing at a height of 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m), he played at the power forward position. A three-time All-EuroLeague Team member, he is also the fifth best rebounder in the EuroLeague, since the year 2000, with 1,287 total rebounds.
The Basketball Super League, also known as the Türkiye Sigorta Basketbol Süper Ligi for sponsorship reasons, is the top men's professional basketball division of the Turkish basketball league system. It replaced the former Turkish Basketball Championship (1946–1966) to become the Turkish Basketball League (TBL) until 2015 when it adopted its current name while the TBL name became exclusive to the second-tier and third-tier divisions.
Women's professional sports are a relatively new phenomenon, having largely emerged within the latter part of the 20th century. Unlike amateur women athletes, professional women athletes are able to acquire an income which allows them to earn a living without requiring another source of income. In international terms, most top female athletes are not paid and work full-time or part-time jobs in addition to their training, practice, and competition schedules. Professional organizations for women in sport are most common in developed countries where there are investors available to buy teams and businesses which can afford to sponsor them in exchange for publicity and the opportunity to promote a variety of their products. Very few governments support professional sports, male or female. Today there are a number of professional women's sport leagues in the United States and Canada.
A.E.K, known as A.E.K, is a major Greek multi-sport club based in Nea Filadelfeia, Athens. The club is more commonly known in European competitions as A.E.K Athens.
Sport in Montenegro revolves mostly around team sports, such as football, basketball, handball, and volleyball. Other sports involved are boxing, tennis, swimming, judo, karate, athletics, table tennis, and chess.
Sport in Serbia plays an important role, and the country has a strong sporting history. The most popular sports in Serbia are football, basketball, tennis, volleyball, water polo and handball.
Sport in Croatia has significant role in Croatian culture, and many local sports clubs as well as the Croatian national squads enjoy strong followings in the country. The most enduring sport by far in Croatia is football, and is played on amateur and professional levels amongst all age groups across the entire country. Several other major team sports are handball, basketball and water polo, with clubs in all parts of Croatia. Ice hockey is another popular team sport, namely in the Croatian interior. The most popular individual sports in Croatia are tennis, alpine skiing, and swimming, and to some extent table tennis and chess. Various amateur sport games are popular in Croatia, notably picigin.
Södertälje Basketbollklubb, shortly SBBK, is a Swedish professional basketball club based in Södertälje. The city is located in Eastern Södermanland, 34 km south of Stockholm. Its men's team plays in the Swedish Basketball League (SBL) and has won the national championship 12 times, which makes it the most successful team in Swedish basketball. The team's home arena is the Täljehallen, which has a capacity of 2,000 people. From 1995 until 2020, the men's team was named Södertälje Kings.
Antwerp Giants, named Telenet Giants Antwerp for sponsorship reasons, is a Belgian professional basketball club based in Antwerp. Their home arena is Lotto Arena. The club plays in the BNXT League, the highest tier of Belgian basketball. The club was created from the merger of Sobabee and Racing Mechelen. Then named Racing Basket Antwerpen, it was renamed Antwerp Giants in 2005.
Basketballin Greece erupted with the win of the Greece men's national basketball team at the 1987 EuroBasket in Athens, which caused a general basketball euphoria in the country. Since then, the Greece men's national teams have achieved consistent international success, leading Greece to join Russia, Serbia, Croatia, Italy, Spain, France, and Lithuania in the circle of European basketball powers. In addition to the Greece national team's triumph in 1987, they won the gold medal at the 2005 EuroBasket, silver medals at the 1989 EuroBasket, and the 2006 FIBA World Cup, and the bronze medal at the 2009 EuroBasket.
Långholmen FC is a Swedish football club based in Långholmen, Stockholm.
Alviks Basketklubb or simply Alvik was a Swedish basketball club based in Alvik, a residential district in western Stockholm Municipality.
Apollon Kalamarias B.C. is the basketball section of Apollon Kalamarias, the Greek multisport club based in Kalamaria, Thessaloniki. The women's team stands out from the club because has won two championships and one cup.
Helsingborg Basketbollklubb is a basketball club based in Helsingborg, Sweden. The association is a continuation of Helsingborgs Basket, which went bankrupt in 2009. In the 2021–22 season, the men's team will play in Superettan and the women's team in the Swedish Basketball League.
