Banca Transilvania becomes the main partner of the Romanian Basketball Federation and will support its activity and competition plans. The partnership was announced today in Bucharest, at a press conference, by Ömer Tetik – Chief Executive Officer of Banca Transilvania – and Horia Paun – President of the Romanian Basketball Federation.

Under this partnership, BT will be a sponsor of EuroBasket 2017; the main sponsor of the men's national basketball team in the 2016-2017 season; will support the main tournaments and activities of the men's and women's U20, U18 and U16 national teams; and will be the main sponsor of the women's senior national basketball team in the 2016-2017 season.

The Romanian Basketball Federation has 275 affiliated clubs and more than 21,000 registered athletes competing domestically.

"We are pleased that, through this partnership, Banca Transilvania becomes the main supporter of Romanian basketball. By investing in local talent, we invest in national pride; basketball is a sport that is widely loved and played in our country by athletes of all ages. We hope for the best possible results from the national team and the club teams. Banca Transilvania is a friend of Romanian basketball," said Ömer Tetik, Chief Executive Officer of Banca Transilvania.

"The Romanian Basketball Federation is honored to officially announce the expansion of its partnership with Banca Transilvania. After BT became the Official Sponsor of Romania's women's national basketball team last year, playing an essential role in qualifying for EuroBasket Women 2017, I am pleased to say that we have decided to broaden our cooperation and turn it into a solid, long-term partnership focused both on sporting performance and on developing and promoting basketball among children and young people. The partnership with Banca Transilvania will certainly help us achieve results worthy of the confidence in this sport." – said Horia Paun, President of the Romanian Basketball Federation.

Banca Transilvania, a friend of Romanian basketball

The bank is also the main financial backer of U-BT Cluj-Napoca Sports Club, and since December 2015 has been the official sponsor of the women's national basketball team in the qualification campaign for EuroBasket 2017. BT is helping to nurture future generations of basketball players and has for several years been a partner of the "Ghita Muresan Summer Camp" programme; this year it will support the National Baby and Mini-Basketball Championship for children aged 7 to 12. Banca Transilvania and the Romanian Basketball Federation together set a European attendance record in the 2017 EuroBasket Women qualifiers: nearly 7,000 spectators at the Romania–Turkey game, held in Cluj-Napoca.

Basketball in Romania

• Romania is among the eight countries that in 1932 founded the International Amateur Basketball Federation (FIBA), together with Argentina, Czechoslovakia, Switzerland, Greece, Italy, Latvia and Portugal. In effect, Romania helped lay the foundations of modern basketball;
• Ghita Muresan was the first Romanian to play in the NBA. He began his basketball career in Cluj-Napoca, at CS Universitatea Mobitelco, the current U-Banca Transilvania team, sponsored by Banca Transilvania;
• The European Basketball Championship (EuroBasket 2017) will be hosted in Romania for the first time; the country has participated 17 times in this competition.