PBC Lukoil Academic

PBC Lukoil Academic (Bulgarian: ПБК „Лукойл Академик“) are a Bulgarian professional basketball club based in the capital Sofia. They play their home games at the Universiade Hall or at the Pravets sports complex.

Founded in 1947 as part of the Academic Sofia sports club, they have been 20 times champions of Bulgaria and nine times winners of the Bulgarian Cup. Among their international honours are two European Champions Cup finals (both lost to ASK Riga) in 1958 and 1959 and an International Students' Cup in 1957.

In 2000, the team were renamed Lukoil Academic as a sponsorship deal was signed with Russian oil giant LUKoil, and quickly established themselves as dominant in the Bulgarian Championship. Since then they have been a regular ULEB Cup participant, and won the FIBA Europe Regional Challenge Cup Conference South in 2003.

Honours

• Bulgarian Championships (21): 1957, 1958, 1959, 1963, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1976, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011
• Bulgarian Cup winners (9): 1952, 1954, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2011
• International Students' Cup winners (1): 1957
• European Champions' Cup finalists (2): 1958, 1959
• FIBA Europe Regional Challenge Cup Conference South winners (1): 2003

History

Basketball has the fame of sport No. 1 in the history of sports club ACADEMIC. Basketball club ACADEMIC /Sofia/ was founded in 1947 as a part of the students' sports association ACADEMIC and during its history of more than half a century it has won a just place among the best teams in the country. Under the guidance of ones of the most experienced coaches in Bulgarian basketball - Bozhidar Takev, Veselin Temkov, Neycho Neychev, Tzvetan Zheliazkov, Petko Marinov, etc., BC ACADEMIC is 20 times republic champion and nine times winner of the Bulgarian Cup. Along with the titles in the domestic championships and tournaments, naturally comes the international recognition. The basketball players of ACADEMIC have successfully played in the tournaments for the Cup of the European champions. With the coach Bozhidar Takev they were twice finalists against ACK /Riga/ in 1958 and 1959. In 1957 in Paris the team of ACADEMIC became the world's students champion. During its entire existence basketball club ACADEMIC has always been a school for the professional improvement and constructive contribution of some of the best Bulgarian basketball players. Stars like Liubomir Panov, Georgi Panov, Viktor Radev, Nikola Ilov, Mihail Semov. Petar Lazarov, Dimitar Sahanikov, Georgi Barzakov, Nikola Atanasov, Atanas Golomeev, Temelaki Dimitrov, Stefan Filipov, Slavei Raychev, Vladimir Boyanov have left their permanent marks in the history of the Bulgarian basketball. The excellent training of the BC ACADEMIC players and their complete devotion to the game have always been highly evaluated by our national basketball selectionists. Direct participants in the glorious moments of the Bulgarian basketball - the fifth place at the Olympic Games in Melbourne - 1956 and the vice-champion's title at the European Championship - Sofia'57 are the national players Liubomir Panov, Georgi Panov, Viktor Radev, Nikola Ilov, Mihail Semov, Petar Lazarov.The glorious tradition of the club was revived again in 2000 when "LUKOIL-Bulgaria" became the main sponsor of the team. The selection of "LUKOIL Academic" was oriented towards young and talented players, who under the clever guidance of the senior coach Petko Marinov and his assistants built the youngest team in the republican basketball. Renewed was also the work at the adolescents school of the club, from which some players have already shown considerable success at the home championships. The long-term strategy of LUKOIL Academic has shown its first results already in season 2001-2002. The talented players of Petko Marinov won the cup of the country and played the most attractive final in the play-offs in the championship for the last ten years. Today the name of LUKOIL Academic is again a symbol of good basketball. The ambitions of the club are the republican champion's title and the good presentation at the European club tournaments.

Roster

Former players and coaches

• Players:

• Coaches:
  • Bozhidar Takev
  • Veselin Temkov
  • Neycho Neychev
  • Tsvetan Zhelyazkov
  • Petko Marinov
  • Marin Dokuzovski

External links

• Official website (Bulgarian) (English)
• Lukoil Academic at Basketball-bg.com (Bulgarian)
• Lukoil Academic at BulgarianBasket.com (English)

List of basketball clubs in Bulgaria