World Basketball Day, even the LBA in celebration

The Lega Basket Serie A, together with its clubs, celebrates today, Saturday, December 21, 2024, the “World Basketball Day”, established last year by the United Nations General Assembly to commemorate the day in 1891 when the first basketball game in history was played, organized in the YMCA gymnasium of Springfield College in Massachusetts by Professor James Naismith, the inventor of basketball.

Basketball è the first team sport to receive this recognition, demonstrating its popularity è and spread achieved and its important social qualities.

“As the Basketball League, we are happy to celebrate World Basketball Day on December 21, established by the UN in 2023 to promote the values of basketball – says Lega Basket Serie A President Umberto Gandini – . This is an important date that aims to raise awareness through our sport on global issues, such as equality, inclusion and cooperation, and using basketball as a tool to break down cultural, political and social barriers. I take this opportunity to thank again Professor David Hollander of New York University who played a crucial role in the proposal accepted by the UN and è a friend of our basketball. Through his book “How Basketball Can Save the World”, Hollander continues to promote the principles of equality and human connection through basketball, linking it to the Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030 Agenda.”