Virtus Pallacanestro Bologna - History

History

Virtus was founded in 1871 as a gymnastics club, and fielded its first professional basketball team 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 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 FIBA Suproleague that year). They 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 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.