The VTB United League has implemented a large-scale historical project: “Towards the 100th anniversary of the national basketball championships.”
During the SuperCup 2024, a book based on the project’s materials was presented. This unique publication was released in 2 volumes: the first covers the men’s championships, and the second covers the women’s championships. Today, during a press conference at the TASS press center, the second volume was presented.
A tremendous amount of work was done in archives, libraries, and with veterans in order to tell and show the history of Russian basketball in photographs.
Sergey Ivanov, VTB United League Honorary President:
– We took on the financial burden of editing the materials and compiling them. First, we published the history of the Soviet Union men’s championships, then the women’s. We sent the book to all the champions of the Soviet Union, including representatives of clubs from countries that are no longer part of the Russian Federation. We recently completed the history of our women’s championships in the USSR. This is our history, and the VTB League has taken on the responsibility of publishing these books.
Ilona Korstin, VTB United League General Director:
– The book about women’s basketball is very important to me personally, as the stars of Soviet sport were a real benchmark for my generation: their achievements were a source of pride and set an example to follow.
I was fortunate enough to know many of the legends of those years personally. Wherever Soviet clubs and the national team played, they achieved maximum results. In the early 2000s, our women’s national team looked up to that generation and was motivated to win every game. As a result, our national team remained on the podium of women’s international championships for 9 years.
The VTB United League has done a great job in preparing a book and a series of online publications about women’s basketball in the Soviet era, about which there was very little information in open sources.
