Farhiya Abdi (born May 31, 1992) is a Somali-Swedish professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player.Farhiya Abdi first Somali to be drafted into the WNBA
/ref> She has also played overseas since 2016.

Career

Abdi was born in 1992 in Sweden. Her parents are Somali migrants. Abdi initially played for Frisco Brno in the

Czech Republic basketball league The Czech Republic National Basketball League (NBL) ( cs, Národní Basketbalová Liga) is the top-tier level professional basketball league in the Czech Republic. It is run by the Asociace Ligových Klubů. The league operates under a promotion ...

. In 2012, she joined the

Los Angeles Sparks The Los Angeles Sparks (LA Sparks) are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Sparks compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The team was foun ...

after being drafted with the first pick of the second round of the 2012 WNBA draft. She was the first Somali to play in the WNBA. Abdi played three seasons in the WNBA, all with the Sparks. She played in one playoff game in her career as part of the 2014 playoffs. She also competed in EuroLeague Women for Perfumerias Avenida Salamanca in 2017-18 and in EuroCup Women for Maccabi Bnot Ashdod in 2016-17 and for Galatasaray in 2018-19.

References

1992 births Living people Ethnic Somali people Forwards (basketball) Los Angeles Sparks players Los Angeles Sparks draft picks Swedish people of Somali descent Swedish women's basketball players Swedish expatriate basketball people in the United States Galatasaray S.K. (women's basketball) players {{Sweden-basketball-bio-stub