Nevriye Yılmaz (; born 16 June 1980) is a Turkish retired basketball player. Yılmaz, who grew up in Bulgaria in a

Turkish Turkish may refer to: *a Turkic language spoken by the Turks * of or about Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities and mi ...

family, moved to İstanbul,

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

with her parents when she was nine years old. In 1997, she won the World High School Basketball Championship with Boğaziçi Lisesi.

Career in Europe

She began her basketball career with I.U.S.B.K. (1997–99) and then she played Galatasaray (1999-01) where she won her first Turkish Championship in

. She moved first to the Greek team Apollon Ptolemaida (2001–02) then later to the

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...

n team

Academic Plovdiv BC Academic Plovdiv ( bg, БК Академик Пловдив) is a professional basketball club based in Plovdiv, Bulgaria. The team plays its home games at the Arena SILA. History In the 2021–22 season, Academic will play in the FIBA Europ ...

(2002). Yılmaz moved then to

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

to play for Termini Imerese (2002–03), La Spezia Basket (2003–04) and Pool Comense Como (2004–05).

WNBA

Yılmaz is the first Turkish woman to play in the

Women's National Basketball Association The Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) is an American professional basketball league. It is composed of twelve teams, all based in the United States. The league was founded on April 22, 1996, as the women's counterpart to the Natio ...

(WNBA). In 1999, she participated in the Charlotte Sting's training camp, but was released before the season started. In 2000, she attended the training camp for the now-defunct

Miami Sol The Miami Sol were a professional women's basketball team that was based in Miami and entered the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) in 2000. They played their games at American Airlines Arena as the sister team to the Miami Heat of the ...

, but was also released prior to the start of the regular season. Then in 2003, Yılmaz signed a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

contract with the

Phoenix Mercury The Phoenix Mercury are an American professional basketball team based in Phoenix, Arizona, playing in the Western Conference (WNBA), Western Conference in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). The team was founded before the league ...

and played five games for them. The following year, 2004, she played seven games for the

San Antonio Silver Stars The San Antonio Stars were a professional basketball team based in San Antonio, playing in the Western Conference in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). The team was founded in Salt Lake City, Utah, as the Utah Starzz before the ...

Fenerbahçe

In 2005, she returned home to play in Fenerbahçe Istanbul. She won 2005 Europe Cup Ribaund Quenn and 2007 EuroLeague Women All-Star player honor.

Galatasaray

On 6 July 2012, she signed a two-year contract with Galatasaray Women’s Basketball Team. Yılmaz officially announced her retirement from active sport on 24 October 2016. She won Euroleague cup 2014 with Galatasaray.

National team

She participated at the

2005 Mediterranean Games The XVth Mediterranean Games Almería 2005 (XV Juegos del Mediterráneo 2005 in Spanish), commonly known as the 2005 Mediterranean Games, were the 15th Mediterranean Games. The Games were held in Almería, Spain over 10 days, from 24 June to 3 Ju ...

Almería Almería (, , ) is a city and municipality of Spain, located in Andalusia. It is the capital of the province of the same name. It lies on southeastern Iberia on the Mediterranean Sea. Caliph Abd al-Rahman III founded the city in 955. The city gr ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

and won a

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have bee ...

with Turkey national women's basketball team. With more than 180 games (188 games until 7 December 2007) played Yılmaz the most capped national player or Turkey. She was a student in the ''Sports Academy'' at the

Istanbul University , image = Istanbul_University_logo.svg , image_size = 200px , latin_name = Universitas Istanbulensis , motto = tr, Tarihten Geleceğe Bilim Köprüsü , mottoeng = Science Bridge from Past to the Future , established = 1453 1846 1933 ...

. She participated London Olympic games 2012 and Rio Olympic games 2016.

Honors

* Turkish Championship ** Galatasaray Istanbul: 2000, 2014, 2015 ** Fenerbahçe Istanbul: 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 *Turkish Cup ** Fenerbahçe Istanbul: 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 *Turkish Presidents Cup ** Fenerbahçe Istanbul: 2007, 2010 * EuroLeague Women ** Galatasaray S.K. (women's basketball): 2014 *Eurobasket ** National team: 2011 (silver) **All tournament team,

Eurobasket Women 2011 The 2011 European Women Basketball Championship, commonly called EuroBasket Women 2011, was the 33rd regional championship held by FIBA Europe. The competition was held in Poland from 2011. This was the 4th time that the EuroBasket Women was ho ...

References

External links

WNBA Player ProfilePlayer profile at fenerbahce.org
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yilmaz, Nevriye 1980 births Living people Basketball players at the 2012 Summer Olympics Basketball players at the 2016 Summer Olympics Bulgarian emigrants to Turkey Bulgarian Turks in Turkey Centers (basketball) Fenerbahçe women's basketball players Galatasaray S.K. (women's basketball) players Olympic basketball players of Turkey Phoenix Mercury players San Antonio Stars players Sportspeople from Plovdiv Turkish expatriate basketball people in Greece Turkish expatriate basketball people in Italy Turkish expatriate basketball people in the United States Turkish women's basketball players