Saint Petersburg Lions

Saint Petersburg Lions was a Russian professional basketball club that was based in Saint Petersburg, Russia. The team was created in 2000 by a consortium of Italian and Swiss sponsors at the lead of Interperformances basketball agency. They were banned by the Russian Basketball Federation due to their participation in the newly created Euroleague run by Euroleague Basketball Company during the 2000-01 season. The Russian federation had actually agreed to send its representatives to the SuproLeague, run by FIBA Europe. When the merger of the two competitions the following year occurred, the Lions were dissolved.