Ülker Gençlik ve Spor Kulübü, commonly known as Ülkerspor, is a defunct basketball club based in İstanbul, Turkey. In 2006, the Ülker corporation which owned the club decided to abolish the team converting it into the humble Alpella, and to sponsor other basketball clubs.
[edit] History
Ülkerspor had been founded in 1975, but its basketball department was created in 1993 by buying a Turkish League spot from Nasaşspor. It won Turkish League titles in 1995, 1998, 2001 and 2006 with greats including Harun Erdenay, İbrahim Kutluay, Michael Anderson, Orhun Ene, Kevin Rankin and more recently, Mirsad Türkcan and Serkan Erdoğan. Ülkerspor made the Top 16 for five consecutive seasons between 2002 and 2006, beating all the best European teams in the process and showing it was an important team in the competition. Ülkerspor had its best finish when surviving a tough Top 16 group to make the 2005 Euroleague Quarterfinal Playoffs, where it lost against CSKA Moscow. Ülkerspor also won five Turkish President's Cup and three Turkish Cup titles between 2001 and 2005. Things got serious again in the 2005-06 season, as Ülkerspor conquered its fourth Turkish League title.
[edit] Notable Players
[edit] Achievements
[edit] Turkish Championship
- Winners (4): 1995, 1998, 2001, 2006 [1]
[edit] Turkish Cup
- Winners (3): 2003, 2004, 2005 [2]
[edit] President’s Cup
- Winners (6): 1995, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005 [3]
[edit] References
