Pantterit

Pantterit (English: Panthers) is a professional basketball club from Helsinki, Finland. The club was formed in 1938 and it has won the men's Finnish championship title for 14 times making it the most successful team in Finnish basketball history. Pantterit also has 5 women's Finnish championship titles.

== History == Men The club was formed in 1938 and were originally named Kiri-Veikot. Pantterit played in the very first season of Finnish championship in basketball in 1939. The club took its first championship title in 1944 and became the club to beat in two following decades. Pantterit became the first Finnish team to participate in international basketball competitions, as they played against polish Legia Warsaw in the 1958 season of Champions Cup. Pantterit beat Legia on the first leg (64-62), but lost the second leg (67-71) and were eliminated by aggregate score. In the 1959–60 season Pantterit beat their first round opponents HSG Wissenschaft HU from East Germany, but were relegated in the next round against KS Polonia from Poland.