Virtus Bologna

Infobox Basketball club
color1 = black
color2 = white
name = Virtus Pallacanestro Bologna
nickname =

imagesize =
leagues = Euroleague,
Lega Serie A
founded = 1871
history =
arena = Futurshow Station
(11,000 seats)
location = Bologna, Italy
colors = Black and white
president = Claudio Sabatini (owner)
coach = flagicon|Italy Renato Pasquali
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
Saporta Cups (1): 1990
website = http://www.virtus.it
h_body = ffffff
h_pattern_b = _Vwideblack
h_shorts = ffffff
h_pattern_s = _blacktop
a_body = 000000
a_pattern_b = _thinwhitesides
a_shorts = 000000
a_pattern_s = _whitetop

Virtus Pallacanestro Bologna is a prominent Italian League professional basketball club that is based in Bologna. Virtus returned to Italy's top division for the Serie A 2005-06 season after two years in the second division.

History

Virtus was founded in 1879 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 Predrag Danilović.

However, several key members of Virtus' treble-winners left immediately after that accomplishment. After the 2001-02 season, Manu Ginobili, the Final Four MVP of Euroleague 2000-01, left for the NBA, as did another important player 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 Futurshow Station (previously known as "Palamalaguti").

2008-2009 roster

Coaches

List of former sponsorship names

* no name sponsorship 1945-1953
* Minganti 1953-1958
* Oransoda 1958-1960
* Idrolitina 1960-1961
* no name sponsorship 1961-1962
* Knorr 1962-1965
* Candy 1965-1969
* no name sponsorship 1969-1970
* Norda 1970-1974
* Sinudyne 1974-1980
* Granarolo 1983-1986
* Dietor 1986-1988
* Knorr 1988-1993
* Buckler 1993-1996
* Kinder 1996-2002
* no name sponsorship 2002-2003
* Carisbo Virtus 2003-2004
* Caffè Maxim 2004-2006
* VidiVici 2006-2007
* La Fortezza (Serie A), VidiVici (EuroLeague) 2007-2008

External links

* [http://www.virtus.it Official site (in Italian)]