A.O. Near East B.C. is one of the oldest professional

basketball 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 in diameter) through the defender's h ...

clubs in

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders ...

. The basketball club was founded in 1927. The team is located in Kaisariani, which is a suburb of the city of

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

. Near East's home arena, Near East Indoor Arena, is located only about 2 miles from the downtown center of Athens. It takes its name from the

Near East Foundation The Near East Foundation (NEF), founded in 1915 as the American Committee on Armenian Atrocities, later the American Committee for Relief in the Near East (ACRNE), and after that Near East Relief, is a Syracuse, New York-based American internatio ...

History

Early history

Near East B.C. was one of the teams that participated in the first Pan- Hellenic Basketball tournament, which took place in

Thessaloniki Thessaloniki (; el, Θεσσαλονίκη, , also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece, with over one million inhabitants in its metropolitan area, and the capital of the geographic region of ...

. In 1936, Near East B.C. won its first official Greek League championship, by defeating the

University of Athens The National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA; el, Εθνικό και Καποδιστριακό Πανεπιστήμιο Αθηνών, ''Ethnikó ke Kapodistriakó Panepistímio Athinón''), usually referred to simply as the Univers ...

basketball team in

. To this day, this is still the only Greek national championship the club has won. In 1937, Near East B.C. finished second in the Greek League championship, as the University of Athens basketball club defeated them in the championship's final.

Recent history

In more recent times, the Near East basketball team struggled to hold on to its position in the top-tier-level league in Greece, the first division

Greek Basket League The Greek Basket League (GBL), often also referred to as the Greek A1 Basketball League, or Greek Basketball Championship (originally called Panhellenic Basketball Championship), and also known as the Stoiximan Basket League for sponsorship reaso ...

. In 1998, the team won the top Greek pro league's second division championship, the Greek A2 League. The team participated in the European-wide 3rd-tier level

FIBA Korać Cup The FIBA Korać Cup was an annual basketball club competition held by FIBA between the 1971–72 and 2001–02 seasons. It was the third-tier level club competition in European basketball, after the FIBA European Champions' Cup (later renamed th ...

, in the years 1999–00 and 2000–01. In 2001–02, the team competed in the Greek first division, for the last time in recent years.

Near East B.C. in international competitions

Arena

Near East plays its home domestic league games at the 1,300 seat Near East Indoor Arena.

Titles and honors

Domestic: * Greek League Champion: **1936 * Greek 2nd Division Champion: **1998

Notable players

Greece: * Antonis Asimakopoulos * Marios Batis *

Dimitris Fosses Dimitris Fosses (Greek: Δημήτρης Φωσσές; born November 14, 1952 in Greece) is a Greek retired professional basketball player and coach. At 6'6 " (2.00 m) in height, he played at the power forward and center positions. Profession ...

* Kostas Kaimakoglou * Georgios Karagkoutis *

Nikos Papanikolopoulos Nikolaos "Nikos" Papanikolopoulos (Greek: Νικόλαος "Νίκος" Παπανικολόπουλος; born April 21, 1979) is a retired Greek professional basketball player and current basketball coach. During his playing career, at a height ...

* Kostas Politis *

Christos Tapoutos Christos Tapoutos ( el, Χρήστος Ταπούτος; born September 21, 1982) is a Greek former professional basketball player. At a height of 2.06 m (6'9") tall, he played at both the small forward and power forward positions, with power forw ...

Kostas Tsartsaris Konstantinos "Kostas" Tsartsaris ( el, Κωνσταντίνος "Κώστας" Τσαρτσαρής; born October 17, 1979 in Veria, Greece), is a retired Greek professional basketball player and coach, who spent most of his playing career with t ...

* Nikos Vetoulas *

Vangelis Vourtzoumis Evangelos "Vangelis" Vourtzoumis (alternate spelling: Vaggelis) ( el, Βαγγέλης Βουρτζούμης) (born October 30, 1969) is a retired Greek professional basketball player. Professional career Vourtzoumis won three European titles o ...

* Vassilis Xanthopoulos * - Anatoly Zourpenko USA: * Anthony Bowie *

Lynn Greer Lynn may refer to: People and fictional characters * Lynn (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Lynn (surname) * The Lynns, a 1990s American country music duo consisting of twin sisters Peggy and Patsy Lynn * Lynn ( ...

Shawn Respert Shawn Christopher Respert (born February 6, 1972) is an American professional basketball coach and former player. He attended Bishop Borgess High School, and he came to prominence while playing college basketball at Michigan State. He played pr ...

* Randy White *

David Vaughn III David Vaughn III (born March 23, 1973) is an American retired professional basketball player. Born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Vaughn attended Whites Creek High School in Tennessee, and was a ''USA Today'' All-USA First-Team selection. He was later draf ...

Rest of Americas: * Andrés Guibert *

Ian Lockhart Ian DeWitt Lockhart (born June 25, 1967 in Nassau, Bahamas) is a Bahamian former professional basketball player. Listed at 6 ft 8 in (203 cm) and 240 lb (109 kg) he played as a small forward. College career Lockhart played college ...

Europe: * -

Franko Nakić Franko Nakić ( el, Φράνκο Νάκιτς; born June 9, 1972) is a Croatian-Greek retired professional basketball player. Under his Greek nationality, he is known by the name of Franko Nakits. Early life Nakić was born in Šibenik, to his fa ...

Oceania: *

Shane Heal Shane Douglas Heal (born 6 September 1970) is an Australian basketball coach and former player. Playing career International Heal's international career highlights include representing the Australian Boomers at the 1992, 1996, 2000 and 20 ...

Head coaches

* Takis Koroneos

External links

Eurobasket.com Team Page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Near East B.C. Basketball teams established in 1927 Basketball teams in Greece