- Virtus Pallacanestro Bologna
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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 FinelliChampionships 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):
2009Website virtus.it Uniforms 
Home
AwayVirtus 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.
Contents
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 in Basketball 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 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 Bologna 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
G 7 
Koponen, Petteri 1.94 m (6 ft 4 in) 88 kg (194 lb) 23 PG 8 Poeta, Giuseppe 1.90 m (6 ft 3 in) 81 kg (179 lb) 26 G/F 9 Moraschini, Riccardo 1.94 m (6 ft 4 in) 90 kg (198 lb) 20 C 11 
Homan, Jared 2.08 m (6 ft 10 in) 110 kg (243 lb) 28 C 12 Gigli, Angelo 2.09 m (6 ft 10 in) 104 kg (229 lb) 28 F 13 
Sanikidze, Viktor 2.03 m (6 ft 8 in) 88 kg (194 lb) 25 F/C 14 Martinoni, Niccolò 2.02 m (6 ft 8 in) 97 kg (214 lb) 22 G/F 15 
Gailius, Deividas 2.00 m (6 ft 7 in) 94 kg (207 lb) 23 SG 40 Douglas-Roberts, Chris 2.01 m (6 ft 7 in) 95 kg (209 lb) 24 - Head coach
- Alessandro Finelli
- Assistant coach(es)
- Marco Sodini
- Christian Fedrigo
- Legend
- (C) Team captain
- (*) Playing only in Euroleague
Injured
Roster
Updated: 2011-09-26Notable players
- Marco Bonamico 9 seasons: '75-'76, '77-'78, '80-'86, '88-'89
- Carlo Caglieris 6 seasons: '75-'81
- Pietro Generali 6 seasons: '75-'76, '78-'83
- Gianni Bertolotti 5 seasons: '75-'80
- Terry Driscoll 3 seasons: '75-'78
Eric Luc Leclerc 1 season: '75-'76- Luigi Serafini 2 seasons: '75-'77
- Renato Villalta 13 seasons: '76-'89
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Krešo Ćosić 2 seasons: '78-'80- Jim McMillian 2 seasons: '79-'81
- Elvis Rolle 4 seasons: '81-'85
- Jan van Breda Kolff 2 seasons: '83-'85
- Augusto Binelli 18 seasons: '80-'81, '83-'00
- Roberto Brunamonti 13 seasons: '83-'96
- Joe Meriweather 1 season: '85-'86
- Greg Stokes 2 seasons: '86-'88
- - Michael Sylvester 3 seasons: '87-'90
- Floyd Allen 1 season: '87-'88
- Micheal Ray Richardson 3 seasons: '88-'91
- Clemon Johnson 3 seasons: '88-'91
- Lauro Bon 3 seasons: '89-'92
- Claudio Coldebella 7 seasons: '89-'96
- Riccardo Morandotti 7 seasons: '91-Dec '96, Jul-Nov '97
Bill Wennington 2 seasons: '91-'93
Jurij Zdovc 1 season: '91-'92- Flavio Carera 6 seasons: '92-'97, '01-'02
- Paolo Moretti 4 seasons: '92-'96
- Giampiero Savio 1 season: '93-'94
- Russ Schoene 1 season: '93-'94
- Alessandro Abbio 8 seasons: '94-'02
- Joe Binion 1 season: '94-'95
- Arijan Komazec 2 seasons: '95-'97
- Orlando Woolridge 1 season: '95-'96
Zoran Savić 2 seasons: '96-'98- Predrag Danilović 6 seasons: '92-'95, '97-'00
- Walter Magnifico 1 season: '96-'97
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Branislav Prelević 1 season: '96-'97 - Kostas Patavoukas 1 season: '96-'97
- Antoine Rigaudeau 6 seasons: '97-'03
- Alessandro Frosini 6 seasons: '97-'03
- Hugo Sconochini 4 seasons: '97-'01- - Radoslav Nesterovic 2 seasons: '97-'99
John Amaechi 1 season: '97-'98- Zarko Paspalj 1 seasons: '98-'99
|*
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David Andersen 4 seasons: '99-'03- Saulius Štombergas 1 season: '99-'00
- Nikos Ekonomou 1 season: '99-'00
- Matjaž Smodiš 3 seasons: '00-'03
- - Emanuel Ginóbili 2 seasons: '00-'02
- - Marko Jarić 2 seasons: '00-'02
- Rashard Griffith 2 seasons: '00-'02
- Erick Dial 1 season: '02-'03
- Charlie Bell 1 season: '02-'03
- - German Scarone 1 season: '02-'03
- Dejan Koturović 1 season: '02-'03
Ruslan Avleev 1 season: '02-'03- Samuele Podestà 2 seasons: '03-'05
- Anthony Williams 1 season: '03-'04
- Vonteego Cummings 1 season: '03-'04
- A. J. Guyton 1 season: '04-'05
- Bennett Davison 1 season: '04-'05
- Corey Brewer 1 season: '04-'05
- Christian Drejer 2 seasons: '05-'07
- Kris Lang 2 seasons: '05-'07
- Dušan Vukčević 2 seasons: '05-'07
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David Bluthenthal 1 season: '05-'06 - Marko Milič 1 season: '05-'06
- Carl English 1 season: '05-'06
- Travis Best 1 season: '06-'07
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Vlado Ilievski 1 season: '06-'07 - Andreas Glyniadakis 1 season: '06-'07
- Earl Boykins 1 season: '08-'09
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
Sponsorship names
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
- Official Site (Italian)
Virtus Kinder Bologna 2000–01 Euroleague Champions Categories:- Basketball teams in Italy
- Sport in Bologna
- Euroleague-winning clubs
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