Efes Pilsen S.K.

Infobox Basketball club
color1 = white
color2 = navy
name = Efes Pilsen S.K.
nickname =

imagesize = 100px
leagues = Turkish Basketball League,
Euroleague
founded = 1976
history =
arena = Abdi İpekçi Arena (capacity: 11,500)
location = İstanbul
colors = navy blue and white
president = flagicon|Turkey Tuncay Özilhan
coach = flagicon|Turkey Ergin Ataman
championships = Turkish League (12): 1979, 1983, 1984, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1996, 1997, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005
website = http://www.efesbasket.org
h_body = 000099
h_pattern_b = _thinsidesonwhite
h_shorts = ffffff
h_pattern_s =
a_body = 000099
a_pattern_b = _thinwhitesides
a_shorts = 000099
a_pattern_s =

Efes Pilsen Spor Kulübü (English: "Efes Pilsen Sport Club") is a Turkish professional basketball club based in İstanbul and sponsored by the Efes Beverage Group. It is the most successful club in the history of the Turkish Basketball League, having won the league's championship 12 times. Their home arena is the Abdi Ipekci Arena.

Some of the well-known players that have played with the club over the years have included: Hedo Turkoglu, Mehmet Okur, and Anthony Mason.

History

Efes Pilsen basketball team won the first ever European title by a Turkish club in any team sport (Korac Cup of 1996). Efes Pilsen also came 2nd in the European Cup of 1993, and reached the Final Four of Euroleague in 2000, finishing 3rd; and the Final Four of FIBA Suproleague in 2001, finishing 3rd once again. [ [http://en.efesbasket.org/the_clup/icerik.aspx?SectionId=103 Historic achievements of Efes Pilsen Basketball Team] ]

The club was founded in 1976 through a takeover of a second-division club which had failed due to financial problems, Kadıköyspor. It won the 1978 second division championship undefeated, earning promotion to the Turkish first division, where it has played ever since. In its first top-flight season (1978-79), Efes won the league title, immediately establishing itself as one of the country's top clubs.

The club's main claim to fame was winning the Korac Cup in 1996, marking the first-ever European title in a team sport by a Turkish club. More recently, it has become a fixture in the Euroleague, making the competition's Final Four in 2000 and narrowly missing the Final Four in each season from 2002 to 2006.

Current NBA player Hidayet Türkoğlu and former NBA player Mirsad Türkcan are products of Efes' youth program. Former Efes player Mehmet Okur also currently plays in the NBA and former Efes player İbrahim Kutluay briefly played in the NBA as well.

Honors

*Korac Cup Champion (1): 1995-96
*European Cup Runner-Up (1): 1992-93
*Euroleague Third Place (1): 1999-00
*Suproleague Third Place (1): 2000-01
*Euroleague Quarterfinalist (6): 1993-94, 1996-97, 1997-98, 1998-99, 2004-05, 2005-06
*Turkish League Champion (12): 1978-79, 1982-83, 1983-84, 1991-92, 1992-93, 1993-94, 1995-96, 1996-97, 2001-02, 2002-03, 2003-04, 2004-05
*Turkish League Runner-Up (7): 1985-86, 1997-98, 1998-99, 1999-00, 2000-01, 2005-06, 2006-07
*Turkish Cup Champion (8): 1994, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2001, 2002, 2006, 2007
*Turkish Cup Runner-Up (1): 2004
*Turkish President's Cup Champion (7): 1986, 1992, 1993, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2006

:"For the results of Efes Pilsen in the European Cups, see Efes Pilsen SK in the European Club Competitions"

Current squad 2008-09

:"For a listing of past rosters, see Efes Pilsen SK past rosters."

Notable players

;TUR
*Hidayet Türkoğlu
*Mehmet Okur
*Mirsad Türkcan flagicon|BIH
*İbrahim Kutluay
*Hüseyin Beşok
*Ufuk Sarıca
*Serkan Erdoğan
*Tamer Oyguç
*Murat Evliyaoğlu
*Volkan Aydın
*Alper Yılmaz
*Kerem Tunçeri
*Ömer Onan
*Taner Korucu
*Asım Pars flagicon|BIH
*Nedim Dal flagicon|BIH
*Ermal Kurtoğlu flagicon|Albania
*Mustafa Kemal Bitim
*Faruk Rasna
*Tunç Girgin
*Levent Topsakal
*Gökhan Güney
*Oktay Öztürk
*Bora Sancar
*Cenk Renda
*Cüneyt Erden
*Arda Vekiloğlu
*Erdal Bibo

;USA
*Conrad McRae
*Larry Richard
*Marcus Brown
*Trajan Langdon
*Willie Solomon
*Antonio Granger
*Drew Nicholas
*Scott Roth
*Anthony Mason
*Marcus Haislip
*Chris Corchiani
*Brian Howard
*Rod Sellers
*Reggie Cross
*Henry Domercant flagicon|BIH
*Derrick Alston
*Rickie Winslow
*Kenny Green
*Marc Jackson
*Horace Jenkins
*Mark Pope
*Andre Hutson
*Scoonie Penn
*Loren Woods
*Kenny Gregory
*Rashad Wright
*Dewarick Spencer
*Laron Profit
*Joe Ira Clark

;flagicon|Republic of Macedonia Republic of Macedonia
*Petar Naumoski

;LAT
*Kaspars Kambala

;CRO
*Damir Mulaomerović
*Marko Popović
*Nikola Prkačin

;SRB
*Zoran Savić
*Goran Nikolić
*Dušan Kecman
*Aleksandar Rasic

;RUS
*Vasili Karasev

;LTU
*Saulius Stombergas

;MNE
*Predrag Drobnjak
*Vlado Šćepanović

;SLO
*Jurica Golemac

;NZL
*Craig Bradshaw

Against the NBA

In 2006, Efes became the first Turkish basketball club to be invited to play NBA teams. Efes competed against the Denver Nuggets in Denver, Colorado on 11 October, and against the Golden State Warriors in Oakland, California on 13 October. [ [http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=2623475 ESPN - Turkish power Efes Pilsen no match for Warriors - NBA ] ]

References

External links

*Official Efes Pilsen SK site:
** [http://www.efesbasket.org Turkish]
** [http://en.efesbasket.org English]
* [http://www.euroleague.net/competition/teams/showteam?clubcode=IST Euroleague team profile]
* [http://www.tblstat.net/td.asp?t=1 Efes Pilsen at tblstat.net]
* [http://www.eurobasket.com/team.asp?Cntry=TUR&Team=99 Efes Pilsen at eurobasket.com]
* [http://www.efesliler.org Efes Pilsen Fans Sites]