Basketball Club "BC" Almaty () is a

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a landlocked country primarily in Central Asia, with a European Kazakhstan, small portion in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the Kazakhstan–Russia border, north and west, China to th ...

i professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

club based in the city of

Almaty Almaty, formerly Alma-Ata, is the List of most populous cities in Kazakhstan, largest city in Kazakhstan, with a population exceeding two million residents within its metropolitan area. Located in the foothills of the Trans-Ili Alatau mountains ...

in southern Kazakhstan. Founded in 2006, it has played under the name Almaty Legion () since 2014. The club has competed in the

Kazakhstan Basketball Championship The Kazakhstan Basketball Championship () is the highest professional basketball league in Kazakhstan, organised by the National Basketball Federation Kazakhstan. Kazakhstan is a member of FIBA Asia, as the country lies partly in Asia, and Kazak ...

- losing twice in the championship final – and the

Kazakhstan Basketball Cup The Kazakhstan Basketball Cup () is the national men's professional basketball cup competition in the country of Kazakhstan. It is organised annually over a few days in a single location by the National Basketball Federation Kazakhstan. Its offic ...

, which they won in 2015. For the 2014–15 season, the team also competed in the

Russian Basketball Super League The Russian Basketball Super League 1, or Super Liga 1, (), formerly known as the Russian Basketball Super League A or the Russian Basketball Super Liga A, is a men's professional basketball league that was the pre-eminent league of Russian profe ...

, the professional second division league in

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

History

BC Almaty was founded in December 2006 by the municipality of

, it was managed by the Department of Physical Culture and Sports of that city. In July 2014, the club became a

limited liability partnership A limited liability partnership (LLP) is a partnership in which some or all partners (depending on the jurisdiction) have limited liabilities. It therefore can exhibit aspects of both partnerships and corporations. In an LLP, each partner is n ...

, with the municipality selling the totality (100%) of its shares in the club as part of a privatization campaign. In their first season in the

in 2007–08, they reached the championship finals, losing to the Astana Tigers. After the Tigers turned down an invitation to play in the

2008 FIBA Asia Champions Cup The FIBA Asia Champions Cup 2008 was the 19th staging of the FIBA Asia Champions Cup, the basketball club tournament of FIBA Asia. The tournament was held in Kuwait City, Kuwait between May 8, 2008 and May 19. The tournament was scheduled to end o ...

, Almaty replaced them. In their first international foray they reached the quarterfinal stage, losing to eventual champions

Saba Battery Saba Battery Club (also Saba Battery Physical and Cultural Gym) is an Iranian sports club based in Tehran, Iran. The club was founded in 2002 . Teams * Saba Battery Football Club, competing in the Iran Pro League The Persian Gulf Pro League (, ...

. In the 2014 off-season, BC Almaty went through a re-branding, changing its name to Almaty Legion (), though it retained the former designation as its legal name, also changing its logo. SKA Almaty, who had played in the Soviet league in the 1980s, was merged into BC Almaty to serve as the reserve squad in the second division Higher league under the name Almaty Legion KazNU (). Almaty Legion were accepted into the

, the second division of distant neighbours Russia, to play the 2014–15 season there. They finished dead last of the 16 team league with 2 wins out of 30, though they later beat MBA Moscow in the 15th place playoffs to move up a position. In February 2015, Legion won their first trophy, the

, beating Tobol Kostanay 90-86 in the final to win the tournament organised in Almaty. They also reached the final of the

2014–15 Kazakhstan Basketball Championship The 2014–15 Kazakhstan Basketball Championship () was the 23rd season of the Kazakhstan Basketball Championship, the highest professional basketball league in Kazakhstan. Its official designation in full was: XXIIth basketball Championship of the ...

but were crushed 82-56 by perennial champions

BC Astana Astana Basketball Club (), commonly referred to as BC Astana, is a Kazakh professional basketball club that is based in Astana, Kazakhstan. Founded in 2011, it has competed in the Kazakhstan Basketball Championship and the VTB United League sinc ...

Titles

: winners (

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

)

Current squad

Notable players

:To appear in this section a player must have either: - Set a club record or won an individual award as a professional player.
- Played at least one official international match for his senior national team or one

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

game at any time.

References

External links

FIBA game center profile
Retrieved 23 June 2015
AsiaBasket.com profile
Retrieved 23 June 2015
Russian Basketball Federation profile
Retrieved 23 June 2015 {{in lang, ru Basketball teams established in 2006 Basketball teams in Kazakhstan Sport in Almaty