Written by Lindsay Sarah Krasnoff for Secrets of Paris.
In this article:
Basketball might not be the first sport that comes to mind when you think of Paris, but the city has played a key role in the game’s development since as far back as December 1893. That legacy returned to center stage during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, where tickets to the basketball events were among the most sought-after of the summer. You might recall the historic 5×5 USA vs France Olympic gold medal women’s and men’s basketball matchups at Accor (Bercy) Arena that wrote new chapters in the Franco-American hoops rivalry. The 3×3 tournament was just as exciting, buzzing with energy at Place de la Concorde.
As exciting as these competitions were, an equally vibrant hoops culture sustains the city year-round, one that’s helping to feed today’s WNBA and NBA talent pipeline.
No other country outside North America has sent more players to the NBA all-time, while French women have also made a big impact in the WNBA since 1997. The trend is still going strong, with French players leading the picks at recent Drafts: Victor Wembanyama (San Antonio Spurs, 2023), Bilal Coulibaly and Alexandre Sarr (Washington Wizards, 2023 and 2024, respectively), Zaccharie Risacher (Atlanta Hawks, 2024), and Dominique Malonga (Seattle Storm, 2025). Meanwhile, Team France’s dynamic duo Gabby Williams (Seattle) and Marine Johannès (New York Liberty) are slated to star as the 2025 WNBA season tips off this month.
The story of how France became a basketball breeding ground, one rooted in transatlantic discovery, exchange, and aimité as told in Basketball Empire: France and the Making of a Global NBA and WNBA, is one that draws from the richness of the country’s diverse regions, including Martinique and Guadeloupe. But it all began in Paris, which remains a key site for the game’s global growth today.
Here are some of the more well-known basketball terrains, a glimpse of a different side of the city and its hidden basketball history.
Step Back In Time: The World’s Oldest Existing Basketball Court
The first basketball match on European soil took place on December 27, 1893, in the YMCA outpost at 14 rue de Trévise. Tucked away in the 9th arrondissement, the building has an exact replica of the game’s original court in Springfield, Massachusetts, replete with wood and equipment imported from North America. At the heart of basketball’s French origin story was Melvin Bragdon Rideout, the YMCA educator who introduced the game and its 13 rules as he learned them from his former teacher (and fellow Canadian) James Naismith. This is the world’s oldest basketball court still in existence, and once it reopens after renovations, it’s well worth a visit. Learn about the 14 rue Trévise project here.
The Musée du Basket (117 rue du Chateau de Rentiers, 13th arrondissement) contains a diorama of the 14 Trévise court, cultural artifacts, and an intricate timeline mural of the game’s French heritage. A virtual visit to the collection is available.
Grand Club Traditions
The first American to make a mark on French basketball in the post-1945 era was Martin Feinberg, the son of a Cleveland cabdriver who arrived in 1954 to attend university. “I didn’t go to France to play basketball,” Feinberg once told me, yet the game became a central part of his Parisian world. He played, then coached, for Paris Université Club (PUC), the country’s elite team throughout the 1950s and 1960s. PUC was an amateur team composed of university students and thus one of the most cosmopolitan clubs of the era; among its ranks were longtime Team France captain, Bamako-born Roger Antoine, Henry ‘Gentleman’ Fields, Senegal’s Samba Sow, and Michel de Fautereau, whose grandson, Victor Wembanyama, has taken France—and the NBA—by storm.
PUC still plays, but today’s elite French side is Paris Basketball. The club, founded in 2018 by American David Kahn, is one of the brightest stars of the European game as it blends French, American, and global basketball influences together into a winning mix that racks up victories within domestic and continental competition. The team’s head coach, Brazilian Tiago Splitter, got his start in the NBA first as a player, then coach, before making his Parisian debut last fall and is presently leading the team in its first-ever EuroLeague playoffs. Check out the latest schedule of upcoming matches at the new Adidas Arena at Porte de La Chapelle (the next quarterfinals match is May 27th).
The French Pro A league season runs from mid-September through mid-May, followed by the playoffs, while the EuroLeague season begins in October, with playoffs from mid-April through late May. You can find them posted at Paris Basketball and Betclic Elite.
Terre de Champions
Formal club basketball is integral to developing talent through the youth academies that are mandatory for men’s and women’s professional clubs, but the apex of the system is found within the heart of the Bois de Vincennes on the east side of Paris. There, the national sports school, INSEP, is where generations of the most promising French talent have trained while following their academic studies. INSEP graduates include NBA Champions Tony Parker, Boris Diaw, Ronny Turiaf, 13-season NBA veteran Evan Fournier, and WNBA Champion Sandrine Gruda, while Malonga trained there prior to signing her first professional contract in 2021.
Nearby is the Stade Pershing. Today the stadium includes a running track, soccer and baseball fields, but shortly after its 1919 completion, it hosted the first international basketball tournament held as part of that summer’s Inter-Allied Games. The teams who competed in that landmark competition? France, the United States, and Italy.
In the 1920s, the French championship finals were regularly held in the historic Roman Arènes de Lutèce in the Latin Quarter. Here’s an archival clip of a match played on May 9, 1926, when FA Mulhouse beat SC Tourcoing 39-37:
The Playground Courts in and Around Paris
The freewheeling style epitomized in “playground” or streetball competitions gained a loyal following in the early 1980s but stems from basketball’s French heritage as…an outdoor sport. Despite beginning life indoors at the 14 rue de Trévise gym, the game’s democratization and popularization during the First World War meant a transition to courtyards and makeshift dirt courts. This coincided with basketball’s shift from being known as a Protestant sport (via the YMCA) to a Catholic one; after 1919, many of the Catholic Church patronages embraced the game for its adaptability to a more urban setting, one that required less space than soccer. So, too, did the military, which viewed basketball as a way to (re)build bodies torn by the ravages of war, from trench warfare to food rationing.
Thus, some of the most iconic basketball terrains developed as part of the city landscape, including the courts at Bir Hakeim. It was on those courts, in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower, where American Wilt Chamberlain made basketball history during a June 1960 visit as he dunked (and made an indelible imprint on French memories) while sporting a suit.
Other playground courts, such as those built under the Stalingrad métro stop, were caged-in, a nod to the New York street-style courts. Caged or not, such playground sites became synonymous with the pickup style popularized in the 1980s and 1990s but stigmatized as being too ‘American’ or too close to immigrant populations who lived in the areas close to the courts. Yet, the beauty of Paris’ playground courts is that they’ve long served as a spaces for inclusion and liberty, according to basketball photographer Kévin Couliau, who has played on—and photographed—courts around Paris and the world. The colorful Pigalle Duperré outdoor court, wedged into a scruffy corner of the 9th arrondissement, has become an Instagram sensation and a must-stop for players and fans visiting the city.
Many of the courts are tucked around the city, recently renovated as part of the Paris 2024 Summer Games heritage project. Others are along the less beaten path, such as those in Levallois. There, along the banks of the Seine, is a court built by four-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year winner Rudy Gobert, as well as public courts featuring murals of basketball legends to inspire players of all levels and sizes to dream their own hoop dreams.
There are many basketball courts in and around Paris, including the Playground Rudy Gobert (pictured left) and a set of 3×3-ready courts in Levallois with murals of the game’s inspiring stars, including Tony Parker (center), Céline Dumerc, Victor Wembanyama, and LeBron James (right).
If you want to play a pick-up game yourself or just watch, here are just a few places specifically designed for 3×3 basketball in Paris.
The Largest Street Basketball Tournament in the World
But the most exciting outdoor basketball court is the one that hosts Quai 54, the largest street basketball tournament in the world. This unique competition first unfurled its aspirations in 2003 on the courts in Levallois. Since then, the site of this annual basketball event has moved to the city center along the Champs de Mars to, in recent years, Roland Garros (home to the French Open tennis championships). Quai 54, which is sponsored by Air Jordan since 2006, brings together some of the best basketballers around Paris, Africa, and the world for a two-day summertime competition and festival that celebrates the game’s global reach, its culture, music, and – of course — sneakers.
This year, Quai 54 will be held at Roland Garros July 5-6. Tickets were still available at the time of writing—grab them while you can!
French Basketball Museum & Gift Shop
Despite its growing popularity and prestige, the headquarters of the Fédération Française De Basket Ball (FFBB) is located in a non-descript building in the 13th arrondissement at 117 rue du Château des Rentiers. Open weekdays 10am-5pm, the lobby houses an official FFBB merch store and a small museum space open free to the public. Everything is in French, so you may not want to cross town to see it unless you’re a fan, but its obscure location also means you’re more than likely to have the whole place to yourself.
Lindsay Sarah Krasnoff is a historian, writer, and sports diplomacy expert; author of Basketball Empire: France and the Making of a Global NBA and WNBA (Bloomsbury).
Add Comment