Lega Basket Serie A

Italian Basketball League A
Lega Basket A

Current season, competition or edition: File:Sports current event.svg Lega Basket Serie A 2010–11
Lega Basket A
Sport	Basketball
Founded	1920
No. of teams	16
Country	Italy
Continent	FIBA Europe (Europe)
Most recent champion(s)	Montepaschi Siena (6th title)
Most titles	Olimpia Milano (25 titles)
Official website	LegaBasket.it Template:It icon

Template:Template other

Lega Basket Serie A is the highest level club competition in Italian professional basketball where play determines the national champion. The season consists of a home-and-away schedule of 30 games, followed by an eight-team playoff round. Quarterfinals and semifinals series are best-of-five, and the finals series is best-of-seven. The bottom two clubs are relegated, and replaced by the top team from the regular-season phase and the eight-team playoff round winner of the second-level Legadue. The Italian League is one of the 3 "A" level ranked European domestic leagues in the ULEB League Rankings system.

History

The national basketball league was first organized for play in Italy in 1920. The first title was won by SEF Costanza Milano, and the team holding the record for title championships is Olimpia Milano, who have won 25 championships. Twenty different teams have won the championship since its inception. In recent years, the league has been dominated by a handful of teams:

• Benetton Treviso, with five scudetti (league titles) since 1992.
• Virtus Bologna, with five scudetti between 1993 and 2001.
• Virtus' crosstown rivals Fortitudo (who dropped from the professional ranks in 2009); although only with two scudetti, they had an 11-year run from 1996 to 2006 in which they appeared in the championship series 10 times.
• Montepaschi Siena, with five scudetti since 2004.

Until the 2000s, the Italian Championship was the most important national domestic league in Europe, but now the Spanish ACB League is considered to be stronger than Serie A. Nonetheless, the league is still considered to be one of the three premiere European pro national domestic basketball leagues, along with the Spanish ACB and the Greek A1 League.^{[citation needed]}

Through the 2007–08 season, 18 teams competed; however, in September 2008, two clubs, Basket Napoli (not related to the current NSB Napoli, which moved from Rieti to Naples after the 2008–09 season) and Orlandina, were forcibly relegated from the professional ranks for financial irregularities and were not replaced for the 2008–09 season. Today, 16 teams compete in the highest level of play.

Arena standards

Currently, all clubs must play in arenas that seat at least 3,500 people. Starting with the 2011–12 season, clubs must play in arenas that seat at least 5,000 people.

2010–11 teams

Main article: Lega Basket Serie A 2010–11

Team	City/Area	Region	Colours
Air Avellino	Avellino	Campania	white/green
Angelico Biella	Biella	Piedmont	white/blue
Armani Jeans Milano	Milano	Lombardy	white/red
Bancatercas Teramo	Teramo	Abruzzo	white/red
Banco di Sardegna Sassari	Sassari	Sardinia	white/blue
Benetton Basket Bwin Treviso	Treviso	Veneto	white/green
Bennet Cantù	Cantù	Lombardy	white/blue
Canadian Solar Bologna	Bologna	Emilia-Romagna	white/black
Cimberio Varese	Varese	Lombardy	white/red
Enel Brindisi	Brindisi	Apulia	white/blue
Fabi Shoes Montegranaro	Montegranaro	Marche	yellow/blue
Lottomatica Roma	Roma	Lazio	red/yellow/blue
Montepaschi Siena	Siena	Tuscany	white/green
Pepsi Caserta	Caserta	Campania	white/black
Scavolini Siviglia Style Pesaro	Pesaro	Marche	white/red
Vanoli-Braga Cremona	Cremona	Lombardy	blue/black

Champions

Season	Champion	Runner-up	Champion's Coach
1948–49	Virtus Bologna	Pallacanestro Varese	Renzo Poluzzi
1949–50	Borletti Milano	Virtus Bologna	Cesare Rubini
1950–51	Borletti Milano	Ginnastica Roma	Cesare Rubini
1951–52	Borletti Milano	Virtus Bologna	Cesare Rubini
1952–53	Borletti Milano	Virtus Bologna	Cesare Rubini
1953–54	Borletti Milano	Gira Bologna	Cesare Rubini
1954–55	Minganti Bologna	Ginnastica Triestina	Larry Strong
1955–56	Minganti Bologna	Borletti Milano	Vittorio Tracuzzi
1956–57	Simmenthal Milano	Minganti Bologna	Cesare Rubini
1957–58	Simmenthal Milano	Minganti Bologna	Cesare Rubini
1958–59	Simmenthal Milano	Oransoda Bologna	Cesare Rubini
1959–60	Simmenthal Milano	Oransoda Bologna	Cesare Rubini
1960–61	Ignis Varese	Idrolitina Bologna	Enrico Garbosi
1961–62	Simmenthal Milano	Ignis Varese	Cesare Rubini
1962–63	Simmenthal Milano	Ignis Varese	Cesare Rubini
1963–64	Ignis Varese	Simmenthal Milano	Vittorio Tracuzzi
1964–65	Simmenthal Milano	Ignis Varese	Cesare Rubini
1965–66	Simmenthal Milano	Ignis Varese	Cesare Rubini
1966–67	Simmenthal Milano	Ignis Varese	Cesare Rubini
1967–68	Oransoda Cantù	Ignis Sud Napoli	Borislav Stanković
1968–69	Ignis Varese	Simmenthal Milano	Nico Messina
1969–70	Ignis Varese	Simmenthal Milano	Aza Nikolić
1970–71	Ignis Varese	Simmenthal Milano	Aza Nikolić
1971–72	Simenthal Milano	Ignis Varese	Cesare Rubini
1972–73	Ignis Varese	Simmenthal Milano	Aza Nikolić
1973–74	Ignis Varese	Innocenti Milano	Alessandro Gamba
1974–75	Forst Cantù	Ignis Varese	Arnaldo Taurisano
1975–76	Sinudyne Bologna	Mobilgirgi Varese	Dan Peterson
1976–77	Mobilgirgi Varese	Sinudyne Bologna	Alessandro Gamba
1977–78	Mobilgirgi Varese	Sinudyne Bologna	Nico Messina
1978–79	Sinudyne Bologna	Billy Milano	Terry Driscoll
1979–80	Sinudyne Bologna	Gabetti Cantù	Terry Driscoll
1980–81	Squibb Cantù	Sinudyne Bologna	Valerio Bianchini
1981–82	Billy Milano	Scavolini Pesaro	Dan Peterson
1982–83	Banco Roma	Billy Milano	Valerio Bianchini
1983–84	Granarolo Bologna	Simac Milano	Alberto Bucci
1984–85	Simac Milano	Scavolini Pesaro	Dan Peterson
1985–86	Simac Milano	Mobilgirgi Caserta	Dan Peterson
1986–87	Tracer Milano	Mobilgirgi Caserta	Dan Peterson
1987–88	Scavolini Pesaro	Tracer Milano	Valerio Bianchini
1988–89	Philips Milano	Enichem Livorno	Franco Casalini
1989–90	Scavolini Pesaro	Ranger Varese	Sergio Scariolo
1990–91	Phonola Caserta	Philips Milano	Franco Marcelletti
1991–92	Benetton Treviso	Scavolini Pesaro	Petar Skansi
1992–93	Buckler Bologna	Benetton Treviso	Ettore Messina
1993–94	Buckler Bologna	Scavolini Pesaro	Alberto Bucci
1994–95	Buckler Bologna	Benetton Treviso	Alberto Bucci
1995–96	Stefanel Milano	Teamsystem Bologna	Bogdan Tanjević
1996–97	Benetton Treviso	Teamsystem Bologna	Mike D'Antoni
1997–98	Kinder Bologna	Teamsystem Bologna	Ettore Messina
1998–99	Pallacanestro Varese	Benetton Treviso	Carlo Recalcati
1999-00	Paf Bologna	Benetton Treviso	Carlo Recalcati
2000–01	Kinder Bologna	Paf Bologna	Ettore Messina
2001–02	Benetton Treviso	Skipper Bologna	Mike D'Antoni
2002–03	Benetton Treviso	Skipper Bologna	Ettore Messina
2003–04	Montepaschi Siena	Skipper Bologna	Carlo Recalcati
2004–05	Climamio Bologna	Armani Jeans Milano	Jasmin Repeša
2005–06	Benetton Treviso	Climamio Bologna	Template:Country data ISRTemplate:Namespace detect showall David Blatt
2006–07	Montepaschi Siena	VidiVici Bologna	Simone Pianigiani
2007–08	Montepaschi Siena	Lottomatica Roma	Simone Pianigiani
2008–09	Montepaschi Siena	Armani Jeans Milano	Simone Pianigiani
2009–10	Montepaschi Siena	Armani Jeans Milano	Simone Pianigiani
2010–11	Montepaschi Siena	Bennet Cantù	Simone Pianigiani

Titles per club

Titles	Club
25	Olimpia Milano
15	Virtus Pallacanestro Bologna
10	Pallacanestro Varese
6	ASSI Milano, Montepaschi Siena
5	Ginnastica Triestina, Pallacanestro Treviso
4	Ginnastica Roma
3	Pallacanestro Cantù
2	Reyer Venezia, Victoria Libertas Pesaro, Fortitudo Bologna
1	Costanza Milano, Internazionale Milano, Virtus Roma, Juvecaserta

Titles per city

City	Titles	Clubs
Milano	33	Olimpia Milano (25), ASSI Milano (6), Internazionale Milano (1), SEF Costanza Milano (1)
Bologna	17	Virtus Pallacanestro Bologna (15), Fortitudo Pallacanestro Bologna (2)
Varese	10	Pallacanestro Varese (10)
Siena	6	Montepaschi Siena (6)
Trieste	5	Società Ginnastica Triestina (5)
Treviso	5	Benetton Pallacanestro Treviso (5)
Roma	5	Società Ginnastica Roma (4), Pallacanestro Virtus Roma (1)
Cantù	3	Pallacanestro Cantù (3)
Venezia	2	Reyer Venezia (2)
Pesaro	2	Victoria Libertas Pesaro (2)
Caserta	1	Juvecaserta Basket (1)

Finals appearances

Num	Team	W	L
34	Olimpia Milano	20	14
24	Virtus Bologna	12	12
20	Pallacanestro Varese	10	10
10	Fortitudo Bologna	2	8
9	Benetton Treviso	5	4
6	Scavolini Pesaro	2	4
6	Montepaschi Siena	6	0
5	Bennet Cantú	3	2
3	Juvecaserta Basket	1	2
2	Virtus Roma	1	1
1	Partenope Napoli	0	1
1	Libertas Livorno	0	1

See also

• Italian Basketball Federation
• Italian Cup
• Italian Supercup
• Legadue

External links

• Official Website Template:It icon
• Euroleague.net Italian League Page

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