BASKET: NBA och SBBF lanserar Junior NBA League

NBA AND SWEDISH BASKETBALL FEDERATION LAUNCH FIRST JR. NBA SWEDEN BASKETBALL LEAGUE

- Partnership will Create School-Based League for Boys and Girls -

STOCKHOLM, Oct.8, 2015 – The National Basketball Association (NBA) and the Swedish Basketball Federation (SBBF) today announced a new partnership to create the Jr. NBA Sweden Basketball League, a school-based basketball league for 12-year-old boys and girls.

The Jr. NBA Sweden Basketball League will be held in Stockholm and will feature 30 local schools. Each school team will represent one of the 30 NBA teams and will receive corresponding NBA team branded t-shirts for their games..

“I want to wish all of the participating schools the very best of luck in the Jr. NBA Sweden Basketball League,” said Boston Celtics forward and Sweden native Jonas Jerebko. “I encourage you to play as a team and focus on the fundamentals of the game. Most of all have fun and may the best team win.”

Similar to the NBA, teams will be divided into two conferences and six divisions. The regular season will run from October through December, with the top eight teams from each conference qualifying for the playoffs in February. The top two teams from each conference will then meet in the league championship in March to determine the Jr. NBA Sweden Basketball League champion.

“As part of our commitment to basketball development in Sweden, we are thrilled to partner with the Swedish Basketball Federation on the Jr. NBA Sweden Basketball League,” said NBA EMEA Senior Director, Basketball Operations Neal Meyer. “Being present in schools through this programme provides a fun environment for the children to compete against one another and learn the game of basketball. We look forward to crowning the first Jr. NBA Sweden Basketball League champion.”

“The NBA is a well-known product, and we hope that starting this league will be a way to increase the general interest in basketball in Sweden and attract new players,” said SBBF Head of Youth and Development Henrik Smedberg. “The league will also function as a fun and free activity for children during school breaks.”

Leveraging the excitement of the NBA, the league will also promote shared NBA and SBBF values of teamwork, leadership, fitness and healthy living through competitive league play and a Jr. NBA youth clinic.

Jr. NBA is the league’s global youth basketball participation program for boys and girls. The NBA conducts Jr. NBA programs around the world, including in the U.S., Canada, Mozambique, India, the Philippines, Spain, Turkey, Uganda, the United Kingdom and Vietnam. In 2015, 75 Jr. NBA international programs will be staged in 33 countries and reach more than 1.85 million youth.

For more information on the Jr. NBA Sweden Basketball League, please visit http://www.basket.se/JuniorNBALeague/

About the NBA
The NBA is a global sports and media business built around three professional sports leagues: the National Basketball Association, the Women’s National Basketball Association, and the NBA Development League. The league has established a major international presence with offices in 13 markets worldwide, games and programming in 215 countries and territories in 47 languages, and NBA merchandise for sale in more than 125,000 stores in 100 countries on 6 continents. NBA rosters at the start of the 2014-15 season featured a record 101 international players from 37 countries and territories. NBA Digital’s assets include NBA.com and NBA Mobile, which achieved record traffic during the 2014-15 season, as well as NBA TV. The NBA is the No. 1 professional sports league on social media, with more than 875 million likes and followers globally across all league, team, and player platforms. Through NBA Cares, the league addresses important social issues by working with internationally recognized youth-serving organizations that support education, youth and family development, and health-related causes.

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För mer information
Henrik Smedberg
Ansvarig Barn-, ungdom- och utveckling
Tel +46 8 699 63 01
henrik.smedberg@basket.se

Presskontakt NBA
Tom Marchesi
NBA EMEA Communications
Tel: +44 207 420 8921
tmarchesi@nba.com

Fotomontage: Getty Images