Club Deportivo CREF is a women's

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 ...

team based in

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

that currently plays in the Spanish

Liga Femenina de Baloncesto The Liga Femenina de Baloncesto, also known as Liga Femenina Endesa for sponsorship reasons, is the highest level of sports league, league competition for women's basketball in Spain. It is the women's equivalent of the men's Liga ACB and is run by ...

History

1960–1980: CREFF

Colegios Reunidos de Educación Física Femenina de Madrid was founded in 1960 by the

Sección Femenina The Sección Femenina ("Female Section"; SF) was the women's branch of the Falange political movement in Spain. Founded in 12 July 1934 as part of the Sindicato Español Universitario (SEU) of the Falange Española de las JONS (FE de las JONS), ...

of the

Movimiento Nacional The Movimiento Nacional () was a governing institution of Spain established by General Francisco Franco during the Spanish Civil War in 1937. During Francoist Spain#Francoism, Francoist rule in Spain, it purported to be the only channel of parti ...

, during the

Francoism Francoist Spain (), also known as the Francoist dictatorship (), or Nationalist Spain () was the period of Spanish history between 1936 and 1975, when Francisco Franco ruled Spain after the Spanish Civil War with the title . After his death i ...

. Its women's basketball team dominated the early stages of the Spanish League, winning seven titles between 1964 and 1971, and representing Spain in the

FIBA European Cup The FIBA Saporta Cup, founded as ''FIBA European Cup Winners Cup'', was the name of the second-tier level European-wide professional club basketball competition, where the domestic National Cup winners, from all over Europe, played against eac ...

with few success. Back then the team was considered the Real Madrid of women's basketball, and it shared arena with Real Madrid's male basketball team.

Raimundo Saporta Raimundo Saporta Namías (16 December 1926 – 2 February 1997) was a Spanish professional club basketball administrator. After his death, FIBA and Real Madrid renamed both the continental second-tier level FIBA European Cup Winners' Cup and the ...

tried to convince Santiago Bernabéu to turn CREFF into the women's basketball section of Real Madrid, but failed in his attempt. After the Movimiento Nacional was disbanded in 1977 the team couldn't find a sponsor and disappeared three years later.

1990–present: re-foundation

In 1990 it was refounded as Deportivo CREF, also known as CREF ¡Hola! by sponsorship reasons. The club had also a men's basketball section that played in

Liga EBA The Tercera FEB, formerly known as Liga EBA (''Liga Española de Baloncesto Aficionado''), is a Spanish basketball championship that is the fourth tier level in the Spanish basketball league system, after the Liga ACB, Primera FEB and Segunda FEB ...

, but its senior team was disbanded in 2007. On 26 April 2015, the club achieved the promotion to the top tier after beating Fundal Alcobendas by 77–68 in the final game of the promotion playoffs. CREF remained two seasons in the top league before being relegated to

Liga Femenina 2 Liga Femenina 2 is the second division of the women's league of basketball in Spain. It was founded in 2001. Competition format Teams in this league are divided into two groups by geographical criteria. The top four teams of each one, qualify to ...

. However, due to the lack of support and sponsorships, the club decided to dissolve the senior team and to continue playing only in youth competitions.

Season by season

Titles

* LFB (7) ** 1964, 1965, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971 *

Copa de la Reina Copa or COPA may refer to: COPA COPA may refer to: * Child Online Protection Act, a former U.S. law to protect minors from certain material on the internet * Canadian Owners and Pilots Association * Cirrus Owners and Pilots Association * Parlia ...

(4) ** 1962, 1963, 1972, 1974

Current roster

Notable players

* Elīna Dikaioulaku

References

External links

*
Profile at FEB.es
{{Liga Femenina de Baloncesto teamlist Sports clubs and teams in Madrid Basketball teams established in 1960 Women's basketball teams in Spain Basketball teams in the Community of Madrid