Leagues Serie A2 Team colors Black and White Website www.virtus.it Founded 17 January 1871 President Alberto Bucci | Arena Capacity 9,513 Head coach Alessandro Ramagli Arena/Stadium Unipol Arena Retired numbers 3 (4, 5, 10) League Serie A2 Basket | |
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Championships 15 Italian Championships
8 Italian Cups
2 Euroleagues
1 Saporta Cup
1 EuroChallenge
1 Italian Supercup
1 Italian LNP Cup History Virtus Bologna; 1929–present Locations Bologna, Italy, Casalecchio di Reno, Italy Profiles | ||
Turkish airlines cup a2 finale eurotrend biella segafredo virtus bologna 68 69
Virtus Pallacanestro Bologna, known for sponsorship reasons as Segafredo Virtus Bologna, is an Italian professional basketball club based in Bologna, Emilia-Romagna. It currently plays in the Italian second division Serie A2 Basket.
Contents
- Turkish airlines cup a2 finale eurotrend biella segafredo virtus bologna 68 69
- History
- Arena
- Honours
- Domestic competitions
- European competitions
- Worldwide competitions
- Unofficial
- Retired numbers
- Sponsorship names
- Kit manufacturer
- References
For past club sponsorship names, see the list below.
History
Virtus was founded in 1871 as a gymnastics club, forming its first professional basketball team in 1929. It won its first national Serie A title in 1945, adding the next three editions as well. They would add two back to back titles in 1955 and 1956. A 20-year national title drought ended with another championship in 1976, the first of four up to 1984, completing a domestic double the latter year by adding a Cup.
In 1990 they achieved a different double with the domestic cup completemented by the European Cup Winner's Cup, their first European title, beating Real Madrid in the final thanks to an outstanding Micheal Ray Richardson. After nearly a decade, Virtus added the 1993 Serie A, also winning the next two. Led by players such as Predrag Danilović, Zoran Savić and Antoine Rigaudeau the Italians won the 1997–98 FIBA Euroleague, Europe's premier competition, with another domestic title as a bonus.
In 2001 the side went one better, winning the 2000–01 Euroleague (played in competition with a new Euroleague), the Serie A and the Italian Cup to complete a Triple Crown. At the time Virtus had one of the best rosters ever in European basketball with Marko Jarić, Manu Ginóbili, Rigaudeau, Matjaž Smodiš and Rashard Griffith.
They would win the Italian cup again in 2002, but lost in the Euroleague final and the Serie A semifinals. Suffering from serious financial problems Virtus was excluded from the Serie A in Auguste 2003 after missing payments to players. The club even had to merge with FuturVirtus Castelmaggiore in the second division to avoid disappearing.
Virtus returned to the top division in 2004. In 2006-07 they qualified for the playoffs after a five-year absence, reaching the championship finals but losing to Montepaschi Siena. They also reached the EuroCup semifinals.
In 2009 they added another trophy to their cabinet, with the European third tier EuroChallenge, with 21 points from Finals MVP Keith Langford in the final against Cholet Basket.
On 4 May 2016 Virtus was relegated to Serie A2 Basket for the first time in its history after finishing in the last position of the 2015–16 Lega Basket Serie A.
Arena
Virtus' home arena is the Unipol Arena (previously known as the PalaMalaguti). The seating capacity of the arena for Virtus Bologna games is 9,513 people.
Honours
Total titles: 28
Domestic competitions
Italian League
Italian Cup
Italian Supercup
Italian LNP Cup
European competitions
Euroleague
FIBA Saporta Cup
FIBA EuroChallenge
Worldwide competitions
McDonald's Championship
Unofficial
Triple Crown
Retired numbers
Sponsorship names
Throughout the years, due to sponsorship, the club has been known as :
Kit manufacturer
2016: Macron