Rilski Sportist Samokov

Basketball in Samokov predates the club itself: the American College in the town had organised games as early as 1922, and it was out of that activity that Rilski Sportist's basketball section grew in 1927, taking the name later shared with the town's football club, though the two have run as separate entities.

The recent record carries the club's identity more than the founding date does. Back-to-back National Basketball League titles in 2024 and 2025 followed a run of four Bulgarian Cups and three Bulgarian Super Cups won across the previous decade, and in 2009 the club had already claimed the Balkan International Basketball League, reaching the final again in 2011 and 2015. Ludmil Hadjisotirov is remembered as the coach who carried the team through much of that stretch.

Home games are played in front of 2,500 seated spectators at Arena Samokov, known locally as Arena Samelyon, with room for several hundred more when needed. European nights against opponents from the FIBA Europe Cup and the Basketball Champions League have become part of the club's calendar.

Blue and white, and the nickname Riletso, tie the club to the mountain above the town, while on court the sharpest fixtures are saved for Spartak Pleven, a meeting still called the "Derby of the Round," and for Levski Sofia.