Estepona Women

Estepona's basketball club began as a project of local parents who wanted somewhere for their daughters to play, and after the original team folded in 2011, they rebuilt it two years later.

That patience turned into history in the 2024-25 season, when CAB Estepona beat Unicaja Mijas 89-69 in the Liga Femenina Challenge Final Four to reach the Liga Femenina Endesa, Spanish women's basketball's top flight, for the first time. Marina Gea was named the league's Most Valuable Player that season, and it was Ruth Sherrill who took the final's MVP award as the promotion was sealed. The club followed it with the Copa Andalucía Femenina title in 2025, again at Unicaja Mijas's expense, and the promotion itself has opened the door to the EuroCup Women from the 2026-27 season.

Games are played in front of 800 spectators at the Pabellón José Antonio Pineda, in black and white, numbers modest enough that the club's rise has been measured less in attendance than in silverware.

None of it means as much, though, as the games against Unicaja Mijas. The two sides have met repeatedly in finals rather than league placings — the 2023 Copa Andalucía Challenge decided by a single point, the 2025 cup final again separated by four — and those matches are known locally as the Derbi Malagueño, a rivalry sharpened by how often the trophy itself has been the prize.