Ville Tahvanainen, 24, is the first Finnish male player in the Portuguese basketball league.
Played 11 matches in the Finnish men’s national basketball team Ville Tahvanainen moves to Portuguese premier league club CD Povo. No Finns have played in the Portuguese men’s league before.
Tahvanainen, 24, started her professional career a year ago in Iceland, before which she played for four years in the American college series in the NCAA for the Bradley University team.
– The player market was a bit slower than a year ago. Although there were different opportunities, I wanted to wait for a place where I could make a big leap forward as a player, Tahvanainen explains in the Basketball Association’s press release.
CD Povoa contacted Tahvanainen last week, and the parties quickly reached an agreement on what the role of the Finnish full-back in the team would be.
– The team wants to play with three backs and keep the tempo up, which is a really interesting style of play for me. My goal is to immediately take on a big role in the team as a basket maker, play both with and without the ball and help the team win, says Tahvanainen.