The Hall of Fame moves from Seville to Lleida, but its essence remains intact. Tonight, starting at 8:30 PM (with the red carpet coverage beginning an hour earlier), the Seu Vella in Lleida will host the finest figures in Spanish basketball. It will be a magical evening where nine personalities and organizations from the basketball world enter an exclusive club that has already reached its fifth anniversary. Among the previous inductees are some of the greatest names in Spanish basketball: the Gasol brothers, Juan Carlos Navarro, Amaya Valdemoro, Arvydas Sabonis, Elisa Aguilar, Oscar Schmidt, Aíto García Reneses, Clifford Luyk, Epi, and Juan Antonio Corbalán.
The list expands in 2025 to 73 members. Few know Spain’s national team successes better than Rudy Fernández—the only player present in all six men’s gold medals won by Spain: from the world triumph in Saitama 2006 to the surprising continental title in Berlin 2022. In total, four European titles (2009, 2011, 2015, and 2022) and two world championships (2006 and 2019) made Spain the number one nation. But the first gold belongs to others—or more precisely, to other women. Among them is Ana Belén Álvaro, twice voted the best point guard in Europe, who conquered Perugia 1993, one year after fulfilling the Olympic dream of Barcelona 1992.
**Great Scorers**
National teams have won plenty, but individually, no one has achieved with Spain what Jordi Villacampa did—not even Pau Gasol, Juan Carlos Navarro, or anyone else. The second-highest scorer in Liga Endesa history left his mark with the national team and a record that has stood for 35 years: 48 points against Venezuela at the 1990 World Championship in Argentina. Even more impressive were the 63 points scored by Joe Arlauckas for Real Madrid in the European Cup against Virtus Bologna in 1996, after Arvydas Sabonis had left as his teammate.
The women’s national team shed its “too short” label with the arrival of Luci Pascua. With her, Spanish basketball became a giant. Although the Catalan-born player never won Olympic gold, she earned eight medals with Spain before continuing to work for women’s basketball through the players’ union.
Basketball would also be unimaginable without referees and coaches. Santiago Fernández is a living history of officiating in Spain, while Svetislav Pesic is a member of the exclusive club of Euroleague winners as both player and coach, having also dominated international basketball with two EuroBasket titles and one World Cup. Nor can we forget the youth academies. If there are two in Spain that have nurtured great stars, they are Joventut and Estudiantes—a fact attested to by Rudy Fernández and Villacampa, both products of the Penya. All of them will be present tonight at the fifth edition of the Hall of Fame, jointly organized by the Spanish Basketball Federation (FEB) and Diario AS.
Lleida is ready for the great celebration of basketball.
