Işıl Alben

Işıl Alben — Biography

Işıl Alben (born 22 February 1986 in Istanbul) is a retired Turkish basketball player, listed at 1.70 m by some sources and 1.72 m by others, who played point guard. She rose through the youth ranks of İstanbul Üniversitesi from 1998, reaching the senior side at 16 and staying eight seasons in all; after moving to Botaş in 2006-07 she posted the Turkish league's first triple-double by a Turkish player and was voted the season's most valuable player.

Having agreed terms with the Spanish club Extrugasa in 2007, she changed course at the last moment and signed with Galatasaray instead, taking over as team captain in 2009-10; under her captaincy, Galatasaray became the first Turkish women's club to be crowned European champion in 2014. That same year she moved to Russia's Dynamo Kursk, helping the club to its first-ever national cup and earning the nickname "Russia's Princess"; she rejoined Galatasaray in 2015 for five more seasons, then played for Botaş from 2020 before returning to Galatasaray again in 2022.

With the national side she won a silver medal at EuroBasket Women 2011 and bronze in 2013, and represented Turkey at the 2012 London and 2016 Rio Olympics, while enduring three ACL injuries over the course of her career. She announced her retirement on 3 June 2023 and, on 18 July that year, was named General Coordinator of the Galatasaray Women's Basketball Team; she was also honoured as Woman Athlete of the Year in 2023.