UMMC Ekaterinburg

Beginnings

Founded in 1938 as Zenit Sverdlovsk, the club had its name changed to Uralmash Sverdlovsk in 1960, like other teams from the city such as FC Ural Sverdlovsk Oblast. Four years later Uralmash reached the Soviet Top Division. In 1973 and 1974 it attained two 3rd spots, the club's best results in the Soviet era.^{[citation needed]}

After the club's owner Uralmash was merged into the conglomerate OMZ, the club was bought in 2000 by the newly formed company Ural Mining and Metallurgical Company (UMMC), adopting its current name. UMMC Ekaterinburg in 2002 won its first national championship. The following year it won the Euroleague in its debut season, becoming the first Russian team to win the top European trophy. The team also defended its national title, making it a double.^{[citation needed]}

UMMC wasn't able to win the championship in the following five seasons with the rise of VBM-SGAU Samara and Spartak Moscow Region. In 2009 it began a new successful period, winning three doubles in a row. Spartak ultimately blocked its path to the Euroleague final, defeating UMMC in the Final Four's semi-finals in all four seasons 2008–11.^{[citation needed]}

Championships

Olaf Lange was head coach of UMMC Ekaterinburg for six years, during which time they had two FIBA EuroLeague titles.^[2]

American Olympian Brittney Griner began playing with Ekaterinburg in the WNBA offseason in 2014.^[3]

American Diana Taurasi of the WNBA played with the team for ten years.^[3] In February 2015, it was reported that Taurasi was resting for the summer and sitting out the 2015 WNBA season at the request of UMMC Ekaterinburg, and was paid a bonus by the Russian team larger than her WNBA salary just to rest.^[4] In 2015, Taurasi was reportedly paid US$1.5 million per season, significantly higher than the pay in the WNBA. She left the Ekaterinburg team at the end of 2017.^[5]

In 2016, UMMC Ekaterinburg won the EuroLeague championship, also winning the title in 2018, 2019, and 2021.^[6] Ekaterinburg won five EuroLeague titles between 2013 and 2021.^[7] By 2022, the team was owned by Iskander Makhmudov.^[5]

Russian invasion of Ukraine and loss of players

After the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, American-Hungarians Courtney Vandersloot (who led the team in assists) and Allie Quigley (who was second on the team in points), Bahamian-Bosnian Jonquel Jones (who led the team in points and rebounds), and Spanish player Alba Torrens left the team.^{[8][9][10][11]}

Seven days earlier, on February 17, UMMC player and American two-time Olympic champion Brittney Griner was arrested on drug charges in Russia by the Russian Federal Security Service.^[12][13] Griner was detained while returning to Russia to play with UMMC Ekaterinburg. In July 2022, it was reported that Griner's team captain and club director had testified on her behalf during one of several hearings, testifying to her good character in a closed hearing^[14] along with player Evgenia Belyakova. From overseas, Taurasi praised the support.^[3] On August 4, 2022, Griner was sentenced to 9 years in prison.^[15][16] Ultimately, she was released on December 8 in a prisoner exchange for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, who had served 10 years of a 25-year sentence.^[17][18]

In reaction to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, in February 2022 EuroLeague Women suspended all Russian clubs, including UMMC.^[1]