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 court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...
team based in
Madrid
Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), an ...
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 league competition for women's basketball in Spain. It is the women's equivalent of the men's Liga ACB and is run by the Spanish Ba ...
.
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 July 1934 as part of the Sindicato Español Universitario (SEU) of the Falange Española de las JONS (FE de las JONS), an ...
of the
Movimiento Nacional
''Movimiento Nacional'' ( en, National Movement) was a governing institution of Spain established by General Francisco Franco during the Spanish Civil War in 1937. During Francoist rule in Spain, it purported to be the only channel of participa ...
, during the
Francoism
Francoist Spain ( es, España franquista), or the Francoist dictatorship (), was the period of Spanish history between 1939 and 1975, when Francisco Franco ruled Spain after the Spanish Civil War with the title . After his death in 1975, Spa ...
.
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 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 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, 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. 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 (4)
** 1962, 1963, 1972, 1974
Current roster
Notable players
*
Elīna Dikaioulaku
References
External links
*
Profile at FEB.es
{{Liga Femenina de Baloncesto teamlist
Sports teams in Madrid
Basketball teams established in 1960
Women's basketball teams in Spain
Basketball teams in the Community of Madrid