History
Despite being one of Europe's richest clubs, Fortitudo has for much of its history played second fiddle in its own city to arch rivals Virtus Bologna. Fortitudo won its first major trophy in 1998, winning the Italian Cup.
Fortitudo made the Italian League championship finals ten consecutive years (1997 through 2006). After three straight finals losses, Fortitudo won the Italian League Championship for the first time in 2000. Four consecutive finals losses were followed by Fortitudo's second league title in 2005, courtesy of a 3-1 win over Armani Jeans Milano in the finals series when instant replay upheld a Ruben Douglas buzzer beater in Game 4 of the championship series.
In recent years, Fortitudo has become a fixture in the Euroleague, basketball's equivalent to the Champions League in football. It got to the Final four in 1999 (it lost in semifinal against Virtus Bologna) and the semifinal of Euroleague playoffs in 2001 (again eliminated by the eternal rivals of Virtus); then the club lost in the Euroleague final in 2004 to Maccabi Tel Aviv by 44 points, after defeating Montepaschi Siena on the day before in semifinal. However, they had a subpar 2006-07 season by their recent standards, finishing 13th out of 18 teams after changing coaches no less than three times. They nonetheless made the field for the 2007-08 Eurocup, as most of Italy's entries to that competition are based on performance over a three-year period, and Fortitudo's past performances compensated for their disappointing 2006-07 campaign.
Fortitudo's home arena was Paladozza, also known for sponsorship reasons as Land Rover Arena in the last years.
On 14 July of 2012 the FIP officialized the radiation of the club and revokes the affiliate code n ยบ 103, not accepting the request from the company. Sadly this event marks the end of the long history of Fortitudo.
Read more about this topic: Fortitudo Pallacanestro Bologna
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