Olimpia Milano

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Armani Jeans Milano

Founded	1936
Arena	Forum di Assago (11200)
Team History	Pallacanestro Milano (1936-present)
Team Colors	White, and Red
Lega Basket Serie A	25 (1936, 1937, 1938, 1939, 1950, 1951, 1952, 1953, 1954, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1962, 1963, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1972, 1982, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1989, 1996)
European Championship Cup	3 (1966, 1987, 1988)
Cup Winners' Cup (Saporta Cup)	3 (1971, 1972, 1976)
Korac Cup	2 (1985, 1993)
Intercontinentale Cup	1987
Italian Cup	4 (1972, 1985/86]], 1985/86]], 1996)
Owner	Giorgio Corbelli
Head Coach	Sasha Djordjevic

Olimpia Milano is an Italian basketball team, based in Milan, Italy, founded in 1936 by Milan businessman Adolfo Bogoncelli. Its colors are red and white, and the team is sometimes referred as "Scarpette Rosse" (Red Shoes) because team officials imported from the United States red Converse All-Star shoes for players. The tag line stuck, and the nickname is still used by many fans today.

Their sponsorship has kept the team name changing frequently. From 1936 until 1955, Borletti sponsored the club. Sponsorship changed to Simmenthal until 1973, when Innocenti became the title sponsor, and Cinzano in 1976, with Billy in 1980.

Foreign players began playing in 1957, and the team kept winning the LEGA Basket Serie A championship of Italian basketball, with players from the 1960s including Nane Vianello, Sandro Riminucci, Pieri, and Bill Bradley.

In the 60's and the 1970s three teams were fighting across Europe for supremacy: Olimpia Milano, Ignis Varese, and Real Madrid; Pallacanestro Varese and Olimpia Milano were arch-rivals, as the two cities are 25 miles (40 km) apart. While Milano was a frequent Italian champion, they were unable to win the prestigious European Championship Cup.

Late in the 1970's, the quality of play declined, but Olimpia Milano still won a Cup Winner's Cup. In the second half of the 1970's the team signed several good players: the Boselli twins, Mike Silvester and Mike D'Antoni. American head coach Dan Peterson and a new sponsor led the team back to prominence, and the team was sold in 1980 to the Gabetti family. Top Italian superstar Dino Meneghin joined the team and more players signed for Milano afterwards — John Gianelli, Roberto Premier. Bob McAdoo, Joe Bryant, Joe Barry Carroll, Russ Schoene, Antoine Carr, and Mike Brown followed.

During the 1980s, they made nine LEGA championships, winning five, with the 1987 team winning LEGA Serie A, the European Championship (won also in 1988: both finals were won against Maccabi Tel Aviv), the Italian Cup and the Intercontinental Cup.

Led by point guard Sasha Djordjevic, the team won another Korac Cup in 1993.

Bepi Stefanel purchased the team in 1994, and the team signed notable European players Dejan Bodiroga, Gregor Fucka, Sandro De Pol, and Nando Gentile. In 1996, the team won the Italian Cup and its 25th Italian National Chanpionship, celebrating the 60th anniversary of the club.

Team management has been inconsistent as ownership groups from 1998 to 2004 have included Warren Kidd, Hugo Sconochini, Claudio Coldebella and Petar Naumoski.

The current ownership, which bought the club in 2004, includes Adriano Galliani (President of Italian soccer club A.C. Milan), Massimo Moratti (vice president of rival Internazionale), and stylist Giorgio Armani, among others.

On January 25, 2006, in the midst of a disappointing season in the Euroleague and domestically, Djordjevic was named as the team's new coach.

1 Current roster
2 Famous players
3 History of Sponsorship Names
4 External links

[edit] Current roster

5	Stefano Mercante	Point guard
6	Sven Schultze	Power forward
7	Green Nate	Shooting guard
8	Danilo Gallinari	Point guard
9	Massimo Bulleri	Point guard
10	Kiwane Garris	Point guard
13	Travis Watson	Center
15	Joseph Blair	Center
16	Sergio Plumari	Small forward
17	Dante Calabria	Shooting guard
18	Mario Gigena	Small forward
20	Marco Tusek	Shooting guard