AEL Limassol B.C.

AEL Limassol Basketball Club (Greek: Αθλητική Ένωση Λεμεσού, romanized: Athlitiki Enosi Lemesou, lit. 'Athletic Union of Limassol'), also known as PAYABL EKA AEL for sponsorship reasons and commonly referred to as AEL, is the professional basketball club of the AEL multi-sport club, based in Limassol, Cyprus. Nicknamed "the Queen of Cypriot Basketball", AEL is a founding member of the Cyprus Basketball Federation in 1966, and in the years since, the club has established itself as the most successful basketball team in Cyprus. Internationally, the club ranks seventh in the all time rankings for the most successful basketball teams in EuroCup history.

In its 57-years of existence, the club has experienced two separate periods of domestic dominance, retroactively branded as AEL's two "golden ages". The First Golden Age generally refers to the period lasting from 1980 until 1989, during which, under the leadership of player–coach Giorgos Thyrotos, the club won 12 domestic trophies. However, the Second Golden Age (2002–2010) is widely considered to have been the most successful period in the club's history, as AEL collected 15 major trophies in a span of six years and were consequently voted Cypriot sports team of the year back to back (2004, 2005). In addition to being the only sports club in Cyprus to have clinched a European trophy, having won the FIBA Europe Regional Challenge Cup, during this period, the club also set multiple Cypriot basketball records for the number of National Championships and Super Cups won in a row, and for the number of consecutive home-court victories achieved in EuroChallenge matches (25 in total) . Overall, the club has participated in 54 competitive finals both domestically and internationally, from which it has won a total of 37 major trophies, consisting of 13 Basket League titles, 9 Cypriot Cups, 8 Super Cups, 1 FIBA Europe Challenge Cup, 4 Division B titles and 2 Division B Cups.

Since the start of the 2002–03 season, the club has accumulated an average win percentage of 62.28% in its European matches. Furthermore, starting from the 2003–04 season until the 2009–10 season, AEL managed to advance to at least the knockout phase of the FIBA EuroChallenge in each season, with the 2008 and 2009 seasons being of particular note, as the club qualified for the Final Four phase of the tournament, finishing in 3rd and 4th place respectively. During these successful campaigns, AEL also managed to defeat several European basketball giants across various iterations of FIBA Europe's top-tier continental competition, securing important victories against teams such as, Fenerbahçe, Virtus Bologna, ASVEL, PAOK BC, Real Betis, Bandırma B.İ.K., BC Spartak Saint Petersburg, PBC Lokomotiv Kuban, Paris Basket Racing, PBC Ural Great, Azovmash Mariupol, G.S. Iraklis Thessaloniki, Dexia Mons-Hainaut, BC Khimik, Liege Basket and CB Estudiantes.

Certain notable players that once played for the club include Georgios Thyrotos, Duane Woodward, Milutin Aleksić, Frankie King, Giorgos Palalas, Haris Mujezinović, Remon van de Hare, Bruno Šundov, JamesOn Curry, Kenny Gabriel, Karim Souchu, LaVell Blanchard, Goran Nikolić, Michael Antonio "Mike" King, Bryan Bracey, Michael McDonald, Michalis Kounounis, Ilian Evtimov, Goran Jeretin, Vassil Evtimov, Kęstutis Šeštokas and Giannis Giannoulis.