Virtus Pallacanestro Bologna

Virtus Pallacanestro Bologna
Leagues	Lega Serie A
Founded	1871
History	1871 - Present
Arena	Futurshow Station; (11,000 seats)
Location	Bologna, Italy
Team colors	Black and White;
President	Claudio Sabatini
Head coach	Alessandro Finelli
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; Triple Crowns (1):; 2001; Saporta Cups (1):; 1990; EuroChallenge (1):; 2009
Website	virtus.it
	Uniforms
Home	Away

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Virtus 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.

[edit] 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.

However, 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 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).

In 2009, Virtus Bologna returned to European and club success by winning the EuroChallenge, against Cholet Basket in the final. MVP of the final-four was Keith Langford.

[edit] 2010-2011 roster

As of February 6, 2011 ^[1]

Number	Player	Position	Height (m)	Year of birth
6	Petteri Koponen	G	1.94	1988
8	Giuseppe Poeta	G	1.90	1985
11	Jared Homan	F/C	2.08	1983
12	Kennedy Winston	F	1.98	1984
13	Viktor Sanikidze	F	2.03	1986
14	Niccolo Martinoni	F/C	2.02	1989
15	Deividas Gailius	G/F	2.00	1988
-	Terrell McIntyre	G	1.76	1977
-	Angelo Gigli	F/C	2.09	1983