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 ) , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = 34000 to 34990 , area_code = +90 212 (European side) +90 216 (Asian side) , registration_plate = 34 , blank_name_sec2 = GeoTLD , blank_in ...

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

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 Galatasaray Spor Kulübü (, ''Galatasaray Sports Club'') is a Turkish sports club based on the European side of the city of Istanbul in Turkey. Most notable for its association football department, the club also consists of various other de ...

(1999-01) where she won her first

Turkish Championship 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 ...

. She moved first to the

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

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 Macedo ...

n team Academic Plovdiv (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 ...

to play for

Termini Imerese Termini Imerese (; scn, Tèrmini ) , grc, Θερμαὶ αἱ Ἱμερᾶαι , grc, Θερμαὶ Ἱμέραι , or grc, Θερμὰ (Ἱμεραῖα) ; la, Thermae Himerenses; literally "Himera's hot springs". is a town of the Metropo ...

(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 The Charlotte Sting were a Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) team based in Charlotte, North Carolina, one of the league's eight original teams. The team folded on January 3, 2007. The Sting was originally the sister organization of ...

's training camp, but was released before the season started. In 2000, she attended the training camp for the now-defunct Miami Sol, 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 and played five games for them. The following year, 2004, she played seven games for the San Antonio Silver Stars.

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 in

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 g ...

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 with

Turkey national women's 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 ...

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

Honors

** 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) Galatasaray is the women's basketball section of Galatasaray S.K., a major sports club in Istanbul, Turkey. Galatasaray women's basketball team play matches in Ahmet Cömert Sport Hall which has a seating capacity for 3,500 spectators. The team ...

: 2014 *Eurobasket **

National team A national sports team (commonly known as a national team or a national side) is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in an international sport. The term is most commonly associated with team sports, for exa ...

: 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 h ...

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