Four teams to represent Turkey’s basketball scene in Turkish Airlines Euroleague


Along with Fenerbahçe Ülker and Anadolu Efes, newly crowned champions Pınar Karşıyaka and wildcard-granted Darüşşafaka Doğuş have qualified to compete in the Turkish Airlines Euroleague next year.For the first time in Turkish basketball history, Turkey will be represented in the Euroleague by four teams. Turkey and Spain will be represented with the most teams in the championship, both having four spots.Pınar Karşıyaka and Darüşşafaka Doğuş will join the competition for the first time in their history.Between and 2010-2013, Pınar Karşıyaka competed in the EuroChallenge, the third tier of European basketball. The team reached the quarter-finals in the 2010-2011 season, then again reaching the top 16 in the 2011-2012 season, before losing the title to Russia's Krasnye Krylia in the 2012-2013 season. Since then, Pınar Karşıyaka have competed in EuroCup and made the quarter-finals in the 2014-2015 season. The team had earlier competed in the Korac and Saporta cups.Founded in 1966, Pınar Karşıyaka also has a very successful record on the domestic stage. Since the 1999-2000 season, the team was among the top eight Turkish clubs 12 times, reaching the semi-finals three times. Pınar Karşıyaka, known for its huge support and one of the few Turkish clubs with a fan base of basketball literacy, also won the Turkish Cup in the 2013-2014 season and the Presidential Cup in 2014.Darüşşafaka Doğuş, one of Turkey's oldest basketball clubs founded in 1951, was one of the first Turkish clubs to compete on the European stage. After financial problems in the early 2000s, Doğuş Holding, one of Turkey largest conglomerates, started supporting the team in 2013. After being promoted to the top tier of Turkish basketball in the 2013-2014 season, Darüşşafaka finished third in the regular season.A total of 20 teams will compete in the Euroleague in 2015-2016, of which 11 teams will compete with A type licenses, nine teams will compete with B type licenses and four teams will compete with licenses known as "wildcard."Galatasaray Liv Hospital, Beşiktaş Integral Forex, Banvit and Trabzonspor Medical Park will compete in the second-tier level competition EuroCup next year.