Basketball: why is the opening match of the NCAA women’s season taking place in Paris this Monday?

2023-11-06 17:57:55

This is a first: the opening match of the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association, the university league in the United States) women’s basketball season will take place not on American soil but in Paris. Indeed, the meeting between the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and the South Carolina Gamecocks will be held at the Halle Georges Carpentier, scene of the Paris Basketball matches in Betclic Elite, this Monday, November 6 at 7:30 p.m. The event, which may seem anecdotal in France, will be particularly followed across the Atlantic, with the meeting even being broadcast on ESPN.

But why is this prestigious opposition between the representatives of the University of Notre Dame, university champions in 2018 and their opponents from South Carolina, victorious for their part in 2022, finding itself relocated to French soil?

Promoting women’s basketball in Paris

A stakeholder in the organization of the meeting, Paris Basket was responsible for marketing the tickets and will therefore host the meeting in a strong context. The objective? Promote women’s basketball in the French capital, as the Ile-de-France club prepares to integrate a women’s team into its professional structure.

The latter, known until now as the Club of the Ministry of Finance (CSMF), will officially join the ranks of Paris Basketball for the 2024/2025 season and made its big debut this Sunday at the Halle Carpentier. As a curtain-raiser to the Betclic Elite match won (72-65) by Tuomas Iisalo’s team against Blois, this new version, which is playing this season in Nationale 2 (fourth national division) won against the reserve of Saint-Amand-les-Eaux.

The women’s basketball celebration will therefore continue this evening, during a match which will be played behind closed doors, proof of the growing interest in women’s basketball in the capital. “The city of Paris finally has a project to aim for the high level in men’s and women’s basketball. This is a historic moment for Ile-de-France basketball and the development of our club which has continued to grow for six years, Alejandro Requena, vice-president of strategy for Paris Basketball, declared to Le Parisien on October 8.

For their part, the two American teams have arrived in Paris for almost a week to prepare for this back-to-school meeting and visit the capital, like the Notre Dame players, who visited the Eiffel Tower last Thursday.