The origin of this great sport dates back to the Mayan culture, around 1400 BC. The people of Ancient Mesoamerica created a sport/ritual called pok-a-pok which even include human sacrifices for the lost team. It also had small similarities with basketball and racquetball as well. More than 3000 years later, this has evolved to one of the most popular sports and, of course, one of the main events offered by the best betting platform VIP-IBC.

The real basketball was born in 1891 in the United States; more as a necessity than a new game. James Naismith, a physical education teacher, needed to create an indoor activity for his students as the winter was too cold for outdoor sports like football and baseball. He also wanted something different than a full contact and power demanding sport and more related to the skill. For this, the professor asked for a couple of boxes, but he only got two fruit baskets which he used to hang them on each side of the court with one ‘simple’ objective: put the ball inside the basket.

A fun fact about this is that they started playing with a soccer ball. Years later, when basketball became more popular, the rules gave the sport an original and appropriate ball. Also, Naismith had 18 students at that moment, so the game started with a set of 13 different rules, including teams of 9 players each.