Basketball was invented by Dr. James Naismith, a teacher at the Springfield YMCA in Massachusetts, USA in 1891. Naismith was given the task by his superior Dr. Gulick of coming up with a sport that could be played indoors during the winter months, as the students were bored with gymnastics and minor games.

Naismith's aim was to invent a ball game which would not involve tackling and keep physical contact to a minimum. Inspired by a childhood game called "duck on a rock", Naismith came up with the idea of having an elevated goal to place more emphasis on skill rather than mere force. He found 2 peach baskets, which the school's caretaker nailed to the walls of the YMCA gym, wrote the original 13 rules and basketball was born.

The game of basketball as we know it today has developed significantly since Naismith first introduced it in Springfield. Here is an overview of the key events in European basketball since 1891 and the creation of FIBA in 1932:

• 1891 – Dr. James Naismith creates the game of basketball at the YMCA in Springfield, Massachusetts
• 1893 – The first game of basketball is played in Europe, at the YMCA in Paris, France
• 1909 – The Russian club Mayak plays against a visiting YMCA team, probably the first international game since the creation of the fledgling sport
• 1932 - FIBA is founded in Geneva, Switzerland with the following 8 national federations as founder members: Argentina, Greece, Italy, Latvia, Portugal, Romania, Switzerland and Czechoslovakia
• 1935 – The first European Championship takes place in Geneva, Switzerland. The winners are Latvia.
• 1936 – Basketball is introduced as an official sport at the Berlin Olympics
• 1956 – The FIBA World and European Headquarters move from Geneva to Munich, Germany
• 1957 – The first FIBA European Club Competition is created for Men’s Champion Clubs is created. ASK Riga is the first champion
• 1958 – Womens’ competition follows suit and the European Cup for Women’s Champion clubs is formed. Slavia Sofia defeats Dynamo Moscow in the final.
• 1959 – The World Championship for Women is held in Europe for the first time and the home team Soviet Union win the title
• 1967 – The Soviet Union men’s national team emulates the success of the women , winning the World Championships in Montevideo, Uruguay, the first European team to win a world title
• 1970 – The World Championship for Men comes to Europe for the first time in Ljlubljana, Yugoslavia. Yugoslavia defeats the Soviet Union in the final to become World Champion for the first time 
• 1972 – The Soviet Union becomes the first team to defeat the USA in the Olympics, winning the gold in Munich, Germany
• 1976 – The Soviet Union women’s national team wins the inaugural Olympic basketball tournament
• 1980 – European teams fill the podium at the Olympic Games in Moscow, which is boycotted by the USA. Yugoslavia wins gold, Italy silver and the Soviet Union bronze
• 1991 – The Soviet Union and former Yugoslavia both collapse. The Soviet Union Women's team enters its last competition, the European Championship for Women. They win the title, their 17th in a row and 21st gold from 22 participations. 
• 1995 – Yugoslavia returns to FIBA competition after sanctions
• 1998 – Yugoslavia wins the World Championship
• 2001 – FIBA World moves to Geneva, Switzerland. FIBA Europe becomes an independent FIBA Zone Commission and the headquarters moves to Widenmayerstrasse 18 in Munich.
• 2002 – Yugoslavia wins a second consecutive World Championship and becomes the first European team to defeat a USA team consisting of NBA players. Spain also beats the USA in the competition