Pallacanestro Virtus Roma

Pallacanestro Virtus Roma
Leagues Serie A2
Founded 1960
History Virtus Aurelia
(1960–1972)
Pallacanestro Virtus Roma
(1972–present)
Arena Palazzetto dello Sport
Arena Capacity 3,500
Location Rome, Lazio, Italy
Team colors Red, Yellow, Blue
              
President Claudio Toti
Head coach Marco Calvani
Championships 1 Italian League
1 Italian Supercup
1 FIBA European Champions Cup
2 FIBA Korać Cup
1 FIBA Intercontinental Cup
Website virtusroma.it
Uniforms
Home
Away

Pallacanestro Virtus Roma, known for sponsorship reasons as Acea Virtus Roma, is an Italian professional basketball club based in Rome, Lazio. It plays in the Italian second division from the 2015-16 season.

It was formerly a major side in Europe, winning the 1984 European Champions Cup and being one of only 13 clubs to hold a Euroleague A license. However its standing later waned and Virtus became less competitive in both Europe and the domestic Serie A - which it had won in 1983 - before voluntaraily relegating to the second division in July 2015.

For past club sponsorship names, see sponsorship names.

History

The club was formed by the merger of two Roman sides, San Saba and Gruppo Borgo Cavalleggeri, under the name Virtus Aurelia in the late 1960s, the founding date of San Saba, 1960, was kept as Virtus'.

In 1972, Virtus Aurelia merged with GS Banco di Roma, the sporting wing of the similarly named bank, forming Pallacanestro Virtus Banco di Roma. The side reached the second division in 1978, staying two years before moving up to the Serie A in 1980.

This was the start of an extended stay in the first division, and success followed soon after, with the side winning the 1983 championship. Earning a place in the 1983–84 FIBA European Champions Cup, Virtus went on to win the competition at its first try, with a Larry Wright led squad, that also had Clarence Kea, Renzo Tombolato and Fulvio Polesello. Wright was decisive in the final against Barcelona, scoring 27 points as Roma overturned a halftime 10-point deficit to win the decider.[1] The next season, the Italians added the 1984 FIBA Intercontinental Cup after topping a group of international clubs in Brazil.[2] Roma also won the 1985–86 FIBA Korać Cup.

The club's next title was the 1991–92 FIBA Korać Cup, by which time Banco di Roma had been replaced as a sponsor by Il Messaggero. A squad comprising Dino Rađa, Rick Mahorn, Roberto Premier and Andrea Niccolai downed Scavolini Pesaro in the two-legged final.[1]

Fans of Roma in PalaLottomatica

During the 2002-03 season, Carlton Myers led the team to a 25-9 record in Serie A as Roma reached the playoff semifinals.[1] After adding Dejan Bodiroga and head coach Svetislav Pešić in the 2005 off-season, Virtus reached the ULEB Cup quarterfinals, the Serie A semifinals and the Italian Cup final, that it lost in overtime.[1]

In the summer of 2011, the Italian club's Euroleague A-license was suspended after it finished in the bottom half of the Serie A.[3] The next year it lost the license completely after having the worst record among A license clubs, it was replaced by EA7 Emporio Armani Milano.[4]

In a strange twist, Virtus Roma then went on to have an excellent season, unexpectedly, by their own admission, reaching the Serie A finals, which would earn it the right to return to the Euroleague. However the club relinquished their rights as they did not answer some of the competition's requirements (in particular minimum arena capacity), earning a place in the second tier Eurocup instead.[5]

In July 2015, despite having satisfied the economic conditions to participate in Serie A, the management asked to participate in the second division Serie A2 instead, the permission was granted by the Federation. The cited motives for the move was an insufficient budget to be competitive at the higher level and the desire to structure the club on a youth policy.[6][7][8]

Arena

Virtus plays at the Palazzetto dello Sport (capacity:3,500) since the 2011-12 season. It had previously played there until 1983, moving into the PalaLottomatica (capacity:11,200), where it stayed until 2011, except between 2000 and 2003 for renovation work.[9] Since downscaling operations due to reduced funds, Virtus has found the operating costs of the PalaLottomatica prohibitive and has avoided playing in the larger arena, even during the 2013 finals.[10]

Roster

Note: Flags indicate national team eligibility at FIBA sanctioned events. Players may hold other non-FIBA nationality not displayed.

Pallacanestro Virtus Roma roster
Players Coaches
Pos. # Nat. Name
F 3 Italy Gabriele Benetti
G 9 Italy Giuliano Maresca
G 20 Denmark Alan Voskuil
Head coach
Assistant coach(es)
  • Italy Federico Fucà
  • Italy Umberto Zanchi
Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • Injured

Roster
Updated: August 18, 2016

Honours & achievements

Banners of Virtus Roma

Total titles: 6

Domestic competitions

Italian League

Italian Cup

Italian Supercup

European competitions

FIBA European Champions Cup / Euroleague

FIBA Korać Cup

Worldwide competitions

FIBA Intercontinental Cup

The road to the European victories

1983-84 FIBA European Champions Cup

Round Team   Home     Away  
1st round Luxembourg T71 Dudelange 85–44 72–40
2nd round Albania Partizani Tirana 93–55 78–69
Semi-finals France Limoges 81–76 76–74
Spain FC Barcelona 74–71 74–81
Italy Jollycolombani Cantù 85–86 79–71
Israel Maccabi Elite 82–67 91–85
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Bosna 65–55 77–86
Final Spain FC Barcelona 79–73

1985-86 FIBA Korać Cup

Round Team   Home     Away  
2nd round Bye
Top 16 Israel Hapoel Tel Aviv 93–74 82–92
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Bosna 91–77 96–100
France Challans 107–80 78–77
Semi-finals France Olympique Antibes 83–75 78–69
Finals Italy Mobilgirgi Caserta 73–72 84–78

1991-92 FIBA Korać Cup

Round Team   Home     Away  
1st round Belgium Go Pass Verviers-Pepinster 104–90 99–89
2nd round France Reims 94–71 72–54
Top 16 Spain CAI Zaragoza 97–72 81–77
Greece Panathinaikos 84–75 99–96
France Pitch Cholet 95–88 69–83
Quarter-finals France Racing Paris 80–72 71–70
Semi-finals Spain Fórum Filatélico 76–70 66–67
Finals Italy Scavolini Pesaro 94–94 99–86

Season by season record

The following table shows the records from the season 1977–78 in all competitions:

Season Tier League Pos. Postseason Italian Cup Supercup Europe Worldwide
1977–78 3 Serie B 4 Promoted – – – – – –
1978–79 2 Serie A2 5 – – – – – – –
1979–80 2 Serie A2 3 Promoted – – – – – –
1980–81 1 Serie A 10 – – – – – – –
1981–82 1 Serie A 10 – – – – – – –
1982–83 1 Serie A 1 Champions – – Korać Cup Top 16 – –
1983–84 1 Serie A 9 – Quarterfinalist – Euroleague Champions – –
1984–85 1 Serie A 1 Quarterfinalist Quarterfinalist – Euroleague Top 6 Intercontinental Cup Champions
1985–86 1 Serie A 10 Quarterfinalist Quarterfinalist – Korać Cup Champions Intercontinental Cup 8
1986–87 1 Serie A 8 Top 12 Top 32 – – – – –
1987–88 1 Serie A 10 Quarterfinalist Quarterfinalist – – – – –
1988–89 1 Serie A 12 – Top 32 – – – – –
1989–90 1 Serie A 8 Quarterfinalist Finalist – – – – –
1990–91 1 Serie A 4 Semifinalist Top 16 – – – – –
1991–92 1 Serie A 6 Semifinalist Quarterfinalist – Korać Cup Champions – –
1992–93 1 Serie A 12 – Top 16 – Korać Cup Finalist – –
1993–94 1 Serie A 15 – Top 32 – – – – –
1994–95 1 Serie A 8 Quarterfinalist Quarterfinalist – – – – –
1995–96 1 Serie A 6 Quarterfinalist Quarterfinalist – – – – –
1996–97 1 Serie A 6 Quarterfinalist Quarterfinalist – Korać Cup Quarterfinalist – –
1997–98 1 Serie A 8 Quarterfinalist Quarterfinalist – Korać Cup Semifinalist – –
1998–99 1 Serie A 6 Quarterfinalist Quarterfinalist – Korać Cup Top 16 – –
1999–00 1 Serie A 6 Top 14 Quarterfinalist – Korać Cup Quarterfinalist – –
2000–01 1 Serie A 5 Quarterfinalist Semifinalist Champions – – – –
2001–02 1 Serie A 8 Quarterfinalist – – – – – –
2002–03 1 Serie A 2 Semifinalist Quarterfinalist – – – – –
2003–04 1 Serie A 7 Quarterfinalist Quarterfinalist – Euroleague Regular season – –
2004–05 1 Serie A 6 Semifinalist Semifinalist – – – – –
2005–06 1 Serie A 6 Semifinalist Quarterfinalist – Eurocup Quarterfinalist – –
2006–07 1 Serie A 4 Semifinalist Quarterfinalist – Euroleague Top 16 – –
2007–08 1 Serie A 2 Finalist Quarterfinalist – Euroleague Top 16 – –
2008–09 1 Serie A 2 Quarterfinalist Quarterfinalist – Euroleague Top 16 – –
2009–10 1 Serie A 7 Semifinalist – – Euroleague Regular season – –
2010–11 1 Serie A 9 – – – Euroleague Top 16 – –
2011–12 1 Serie A 13 – – – – – – –
2012–13 1 Serie A 3 Finalist Semifinalist – – – – –
2013–14 1 Serie A 6 Semifinalist Quarterfinalist – Eurocup Regular season – –
2014–15 1 Serie A 10 Demoted – – Eurocup Top 16 – –
2015–16 2 Serie A2 – – – – – – – –

Notable players

2010's

2000's

1990's

1980's

1970's

  • Italy Enrico Gilardi 8 seasons: '79–'87, '88–'90
  • Italy Roberto Castellano 6 seasons: '78–'83, '89–'90

Coaches

Coach Jasmin Repeša and his players during a timeout during the 2005-06 season.
  • Maurizio Polidori – 1972–73
  • Francesco Della Penna – 1973–74
  • Alessandro Lisotti – 1974–76
  • Nello Paratore – 1976–81
  • Giancarlo Asteo – 1981–82
  • Paolo Di Fonzo – 1982
  • Valerio Bianchini – 1982–85
  • Mario De Sisti – 1985–86
  • Giuseppe Guerrieri – 1986–88
  • Giancarlo Primo – 1988–89
  • Petar Skansi – 1989
  • Valerio Bianchini – 1989–91
  • Paolo Di Fonzo – 1991–92
  • Franco Casalini – 1992–94
  • Nevio Ciaralli – 1994

Sponsorship names

Throughout the years, due to sponsorship, the club has been known as:

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Club profile: Virtus Rome". Eurocup Basketball. 13 September 2013. Retrieved 17 July 2015.
  2. ↑ Stankovic, Vladimir (2 December 2013). "Larry Wright, the man with two rings". Euroleague. Retrieved 17 July 2015.
  3. ↑ "New teams proposed as 2011-12 Turkish Airlines Euroleague participants". Euroleague. 30 June 2011. Retrieved 17 July 2015.
  4. ↑ "Euroleague board awards two-year Turkish Airlines Euroleague license to EA7 Emporio Armani Milan". Euroleague. 20 June 2012. Retrieved 17 July 2015.
  5. ↑ "Rome announces it will not play in Turkish Airlines Euroleague". Euroleague. 21 June 2013. Retrieved 17 July 2015.
  6. ↑ Canfora, Mario (16 July 2015). "Basket, Serie A: Roma si retrocede in A-2. Caserta ripescata" [Basketball, Serie A: Roma relegates itself to A-2. Caserta retaken]. La Gazzetta dello Sport (in Italian). Rome. Retrieved 17 July 2015.
  7. ↑ "Consiglio federale a Roma. Barilla sponsor della maglia Azzurra, Ammissioni ai Campionati 2015-16, Prandi presidente CIA" [Federal council in Rome. Barilla sponsor of the blue shirt, 2015-16 championship admissions, Prandi CIA president]. Federazione Italiana Pallacanestro (in Italian). 17 July 2015. Retrieved 17 July 2015.
  8. ↑ "Basket: l'Acea Virtus riparte dai giovani e dal territorio" [Basketball: Acea Virtus starts again from youth and territory]. Pallacanestro Virtus Roma (in Italian). 16 July 2015. Retrieved 17 July 2015.
  9. ↑ "Il Palazzetto dello Sport" [The Palazzetto dello Sport]. Pallacanestro Virtus Roma (in Italian). Retrieved 18 July 2015.
  10. ↑ Corio, Paolo (14 June 2013). "Finali basket: perché Roma non vuole il PalaEUR" [Basketball finals: why doesn't Rome want the PalaEUR]. Panorama (magazine) (in Italian). Retrieved 18 July 2015.
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