On September 6 2003 a large reception was held to honor Latvia's participation in the European Basketball Championship. It took place in the Norrkoping City Hall. Representatives from the media, the hosts of the championship, guests of honor as well as members of the Latvian community in Sweden participated.

Latvian refugees arriving in Sweden after World War II did a lot to popularize basketball in Sweden by, among other things, translating the rules of the game to Swedish. For 23 years Latvian Ali Strunke held the position of chairman of the Swedish Basketball Association. Several members of the Swedish national team were of Latvian descent: Gunārs Kraulis, Jānis Teriņš, Mārtiņš Teriņš, Jānis Zālamans and Artūrs Veigurs. Amongst the Latvians that brought basketball to Sweden was the former Latvian national team player Voldemārs Šmits.

This December Riga and Norrkoping celebrate fifteen years as affiliated cities. During the basketball championships the municipality of Riga hosted an information stand.