Virtus Pallacanestro Bologna
| Virtus Pallacanestro Bologna |
|
| Leagues |
Lega Serie A |
| Founded |
1871 |
| History |
1871–present |
| Arena |
Unipol Arena
(11,000 seats) |
| Location |
Bologna, Italy |
| Team colors |
Black and White
|
| President |
Claudio Sabatini |
| Head coach |
Alessandro Finelli |
| Championships |
Italian Championships (15):
1946, 1947, 1948, 1949, 1955, 1956, 1976, 1979, 1980, 1984, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1998, 2001
Italian Cups (8):
1974, 1984, 1989, 1990, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2002
Italian Supercups (1):
1995
Euroleague Championships (2):
1998, 2001
Triple Crowns (1):
2001
Saporta Cups (1):
1990
EuroChallenge (1):
2009 |
| Website |
virtus.it |
| Uniforms |
|
|
Virtus Pallacanestro Bologna is an Italian League professional basketball club, based in Bologna. Virtus returned to Italy's top division for the Serie A 2005-06 season after two years in the second division. For past club sponsorship names, see the list below.
History
Virtus was founded in 1871 as a gymnastics club, and fielded its first professional basketball teams in the 1920s. The club has won 15 national league titles in Italy's top division and 8 Italian Cups. It has also been a frequent participant in the Euroleague, the basketball equivalent to football's Champions League. Virtus' best season, as measured by trophies won, was 2000-01, when it won the Italian League, Italian Cup, and Euroleague titles all in the same season, giving the club the coveted Triple Crown championship for the year (though the latter came against the field that did not include all of Europe's national champions as some of them competed in FIBA Suproleague that year). It also won the Euroleague in 1998 led by club hero and icon Predrag Danilović.
Several key members of Virtus' treble-winners left immediately after that accomplishment. After the 2001-02 season, Manu Ginóbili, the Final Four MVP of Euroleague 2000-01, left for the NBA, as did Marko Jarić. At the end of the 2002-03 season, Virtus suffered relegation from Italy's top division as a result of financial problems.
The local derby between Virtus and Fortitudo is one of the most intense in the entire world of sports. Sports Illustrated writer Alexander Wolff devoted a chapter of his 2002 basketball book, Big Game, Small World (ISBN 0-446-52601-0), to this rivalry.
Virtus' home stadium is Unipol Arena (previously known as Palamalaguti).
In 2009, Virtus Bologna returned to European and club success by winning the EuroChallenge, defeating Cholet Basket in the final. MVP of the final-four was Keith Langford. The team has shown interest in signing Kobe Bryant during the NBA lockout. If he signs with the club he would be getting 3 million for a 10 game contract.
Roster
|
| Players |
Coaches |
| Pos. |
# |
Nat. |
Name |
Ht. |
Wt. |
Age |
| 1.0 !PG |
5 |
USA ! |
McIntyre, Terrell |
1.76 m (5 ft 9 in) |
82 kg (181 lb) |
&1000000000000003400000034 |
| 1.5 !G |
7 |
FIN ! |
Koponen, Petteri |
1.94 m (6 ft 4 in) |
88 kg (194 lb) |
&1000000000000002300000023 |
| 1.0 !PG |
8 |
ITA ! |
Poeta, Giuseppe |
1.90 m (6 ft 3 in) |
81 kg (179 lb) |
&1000000000000002600000026 |
| 2.5 !G/F |
9 |
ITA ! |
Moraschini, Riccardo |
1.94 m (6 ft 4 in) |
90 kg (198 lb) |
&1000000000000002100000021 |
| 6.0 !C |
11 |
USA ! |
Homan, Jared |
2.08 m (6 ft 10 in) |
110 kg (243 lb) |
&1000000000000002800000028 |
| 6.0 !C |
12 |
ITA ! |
Gigli, Angelo |
2.09 m (6 ft 10 in) |
104 kg (229 lb) |
&1000000000000002800000028 |
| 4.0 !F |
13 |
GEO ! |
Sanikidze, Viktor |
2.03 m (6 ft 8 in) |
88 kg (194 lb) |
&1000000000000002500000025 |
| 5.5 !F/C |
14 |
ITA ! |
Martinoni, Niccolò |
2.02 m (6 ft 8 in) |
97 kg (214 lb) |
&1000000000000002200000022 |
| 2.5 !G/F |
15 |
LIT ! |
Gailius, Deividas |
2.00 m (6 ft 7 in) |
94 kg (207 lb) |
&1000000000000002300000023 |
| 2.0 !SG |
40 |
USA ! |
Douglas-Roberts, Chris |
2.01 m (6 ft 7 in) |
95 kg (209 lb) |
&1000000000000002500000025 |
|
- Head coach
- Assistant coach(es)
- Marco Sodini
- Christian Fedrigo
- Legend
Roster
Updated: 2011-09-26
|
Notable players
Coaches
- Renzo Poluzzi - 1948-50
- Dino Fontana - 1950-51
- Venzo Vannini - 1951-52
- Larry Strong - 1952-53
- Giancarlo Marinelli - 1953-54
- Larry Strong - 1954-55
- Vittorio Tracuzzi - 1955-60
- Eduard Kucharski - 1960-63
- Mario Alesini - 1963-66
- Jaroslav Sip - 1966-68
(incl. 4 games from the '68-'69 season)
- Renzo Ranuzzi - 1968-69
(18 games)
- Nello Paratore - 1969-70
- Vittorio Tracuzzi - 1970-71
(incl. 4 games from the '71-'72 season)
- Nico Messina - 1971-73
(incl. 18 games from the '71-'72 season)
- Dan Peterson - 1973-78
- Terry Driscoll - 1978-80
- Ettore Zuccheri - 1980-81
(23 games)
- Renzo Ranuzzi - 1981
(18 games from the '80-'81 season)
- Aleksandar Nikolić - 1981-82
- George Bisacca - 1982
(11 games from the '82-'83 season)
- Mauro Di Vincenzo - 1982-83
(24 games)
- Alberto Bucci - 1983-85
- Alessandro Gamba - 1985-87
- Krešimir Ćosić - 1987-88
- Bob Hill - 1988-89
- Ettore Messina - 1989-93
- Alberto Bucci - 1993-97
(incl. 23 games from the '96-'97 season)
- Lino Frattin - 1997
(11 games from the '96-'97 season)
- Ettore Messina - 1997-02
(replaced for two games in '01-'02
by Giordano Consolini)
- Bogdan Tanjević - 2002
(14 games from the '02-'03 season)
- Valerio Bianchini - 2002-03
(20 games)
- Giampiero Ticchi - 2003
- Alberto Bucci - 2003-04
- Giordano Consolini - 2004-05
- Zare Markovski - 2005-07
- Stefano Pillastrini - 2007
- Renato Pasquali - 2008
- Matteo Boniciolli - 2008-09
- Lino Lardo - 2009–11
- Alessandro Finelli - 2011-present
Through the years, due to sponsorship deals, it has been also known as:[1]
- No name sponsorship (1945–53)
- Minganti (1953–58)
- Oransoda (1958–60)
- Idrolitina (1960–61)
- No name sponsorship (1961–62)
- Knorr (1962–65)
- Candy (1965–69)
- No name sponsorship (1969–70)
- Norda (1970–74)
- Sinudyne (1974–80)
- Granarolo (1983–86)
- Dietor (1986–88)
- Knorr (1988–93)
- Buckler (1993–96)
- Kinder (1996-02)
- No name sponsorship (2002–03)
- Carisbo Virtus (2003–04)
- Caffè Maxim (2004–05)
- VidiVici (2005–07)
- La Fortezza (Serie A), VidiVici (EuroLeague) (2007–08)
- La Fortezza (Serie A), Virtus BolognaFiere (EuroChallenge) (2008–09)
- Canadian Solar (2009–10)
References
External links