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

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

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''), more commonly referred to as simply Galatasaray and familiarly as Cimbom, is a Turkish sports club based on the European side of the city of Istanbul including basketball, wheelchair ...

(1999–01) where she won her first Turkish Championship in Turkey. She moved first to the Greek team Apollon Ptolemaida (2001–02) then later to the

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

n team Academic Plovdiv (2002). Yılmaz moved then to Italy to play for

Termini Imerese Termini Imerese (; ) is a town of the Metropolitan City of Palermo on the northern coast of Sicily, in Italy. It is one of the most important towns of the Metropolitan City of Palermo, from which it is 33 km away. The town is easily reachabl ...

(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 a women's professional basketball league in the United States. The league comprises 13 teams (scheduled to expand to 15 in 2026). The WNBA is headquartered in Midtown Manhattan. The WNBA w ...

(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 disbanded on January 3, 2007. The Sting was originally the sister organization ...

'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 or manager 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 a contract at present ...

contract with the

Phoenix Mercury The Phoenix Mercury are an American professional basketball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. The Mercury compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member of the Western Conference. One of eight original franchises, it wa ...

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 th ...

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 municipalities in Spain, municipality of Spain, located in Andalusia. It is the capital of the province of Almería, province of the same name. It lies in southeastern Iberian Peninsula, Iberia on the Mediterranean S ...

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

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 b ...

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 silver medal in 2011 and bronze medal in 2013. Competi ...

. 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 Istanbul University, also known as University of Istanbul (), is a Public university, public research university located in Istanbul, Turkey. Founded by Mehmed II on May 30, 1453, a day after Fall of Constantinople, the conquest of Constantinop ...

. 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 Istanbul: 2014 *Triple Crown ** Galatasaray Istanbul: 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 18 June to 3 July 2011. This was the 4th time that the EuroBa ...

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 for 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 21st-century Turkish sportswomen Turkey women's national basketball team players