Birsel Vardarlı Demirmen (born Birsel Vardarlı on 12 July 1984) is a Turkish former

basketball player Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

. She is considered to be one of the best Turkish female basketball players. Vardarlı Demirmen played thirteen seasons for Fenerbahçe, where she won twenty two trophies. She was also the captain of the team for seven seasons. After announcing retirement in June 2019, her number 7 was retired by Fenerbahçe in December 2019. She made 243 appearances for the

Turkey women's national basketball team The Turkey women's national basketball team is the women's basketball side that represents Turkey in international tournaments. They have come away from the EuroBasket tournaments with a bronze medal in 2011 and silver medal in 2013. Competit ...

. She won silver medal in

EuroBasket 2011 EuroBasket 2011 was the 37th men's EuroBasket, European Basketball Championship, held by FIBA Europe. The competition was hosted by Lithuania. This was the second time EuroBasket had been held in Lithuania, the country having also hosted t ...

and bronze in

EuroBasket 2013 EuroBasket 2013 was the 38th edition of the EuroBasket championship that was organized by FIBA Europe. It took place from 4 September until 22 September 2013 in Slovenia. The number of participating teams was 24. France defeated Lithuania in th ...

with the team.

Early life

Vardarlı-Demirmen was born in Izmir. She has two siblings. After playing football, she started playing basketball at the age of 11. She moved from Izmir to Istanbul at the age of 16 to play for Migrosspor.

Professional career

Migrosspor

Vardarlı-Demirmen started her professional career in Migrosspor and played there for 6 seasons. In her last season at Migrosspor, she contributed her team to play in the 2006 Turkish Cup final.

Fenerbahçe

She signed with Fenerbahçe in the summer of 2006. After the 2011–12 season,

Nevriye Yılmaz Nevriye Yılmaz (; born 16 June 1980) is a Turkish retired basketball player. Yılmaz, who grew up in Bulgaria in a Turkish family, moved to İstanbul, Turkey with her parents when she was nine years old. In 1997, she won the World High School B ...

's contract expired and Vardarlı-Demirmen became the captain of Fenerbahçe. She played 675 games for Fenerbahçe in 13 seasons and won 22 trophies, including 10

Turkish Super League 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 ...

, 6 Turkish Cups and 6 Turkish Presidential Cups. She also played in the EuroLeague finals in 2013, 2014 and 2017. Vardarlı-Demirmen announced her retirement in June 2019.

Personal life

Birsel Vardarlı married Emre Demirmen in June 2014. The couple has a daughter named Lina.

Honors

**Winners (10): 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2016, 2018, 2019 * Simple cup icon

Turkish Cup The Turkish Cup ( Turkish: ''Türkiye Kupası'') is a football cup competition in Turkish football, run by the Turkish Football Federation since 1962. During a brief sponsorship period with Fortis, its sponsored name was ''Fortis Türkiye Kupası ...

**Winners (6): 2007, 2008, 2009, 2015, 2016, 2019 * Simple cup icon

Turkish Presidential Cup **Winners (6): 2007, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015

Turkey women's national team

: *

References

External links

Birsel Vardarlı Demirmen
at FIBA Basketball Archive {{DEFAULTSORT:Vardarli, Birsel 1984 births Living people Basketball players at the 2012 Summer Olympics Basketball players at the 2016 Summer Olympics Fenerbahçe women's basketball players Migrosspor basketball players Olympic basketball players for Turkey Point guards Shooting guards Sportspeople from İzmir Turkish women's basketball players Turkey women's national basketball team players