Surne Bilbao Basket, two-time FIBA Europe Cup champion

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October 2026

Two-time FIBA Europe Cup champions, brings basketball to the fore in the city of football

Surne Bilbao Basket has enjoyed the most glorious period in its history after winning two consecutive European titles in 2025 and 2026 under strong and reliable institutional and sporting leadership

Surne Bilbao Basket has written the most glorious chapter in its history by becoming the first team to win the FIBA Europe Cup twice in a row. It is also the first professional sports club in Bilbao to win European honours in mass-participation sports.

It has achieved success after overcoming many difficulties in a city that, until now, has been wholly devoted to professional football because of the enormous popular appeal of Athletic Club, a sporting project that is a source of regional pride due to its uniqueness. Given this scenario, the Miribilla team, whose arena stands above the old iron mines hidden deep beneath Bilbao, clinched their first official title in April 2025.

They beat PAOK of Thessaloniki in a nail-biting twolegged final. The hard-working ‘miners’, managed by Jaume Ponsarnau, retained their continental crown in April 2026 in front of their home fans in a packed Miribilla arena. And they did so against the very same opponent, a historic name in European basketball.

ISABEL ITURBE: RIGOR ECONÓMICO Y LIDERAZGO FIRME

Exjugadora de baloncesto y empresaria de éxito, Isabel Iturbe alcanzó la presidencia de la entidad en septiembre de 2020.

Asumió el liderazgo en un contexto de fragilidad financiera agravado por la pandemia.

Su política de déficit cero, la profesionalización del Consejo con perfiles empresariales de Bizkaia y el control de gasto sanearon la entidad, transformándola en un club rentable y campeón.

At home, this international success has been built on a solid performance in the Liga Endesa, widely considered the best basketball competition after the NBA, where the team qualified for the 2025 Copa del Rey and has comfortably secured its place in the league. All of this has been made possible by an efficient sporting structure, the development of young talent and rigorous financial management.

In the old iron mines, they have now struck a vein of basketball hoops that fill the stands of the arena. Bilbao is, today, a city of basketball. The streets are coloured not only by the red and white of the lions’ shirts, but also by the black of Bilbao Basket.

JAUME PONSARNAU: THE BUILDER OF EUROPEAN SUCCESS

He took charge of the Bilbao-based club in the summer of 2022 and is already regarded as one of the city’s legendary figures. Levelheaded, humble and determined, the coach from Lleida has been the architect of the club’s most successful era. With an approach based on defensive solidity and team management, Ponsarnau led the team to European titles in 2025 and 2026, and was rewarded with a contract extension with the Biscayan club until 2029.

BILBAO BASKET

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