Club info
Three-time Euroleague champion and eight-time European titlist EA7 – Emporio Armani Milan continues its steady climb to the top as it enters the 2011-12 season with a famed coach and a strong appetite. Injuries derailed a promising start to last season’s Turkish Airlines Euroleague campaign, however Milan turned back the clock and brought back coaching legend Dan Peterson to finish the Italian League in third place. This year Sergio Scariolo takes the reins eager to bring Milan to the top. And with 25 Italian League crowns to go with its continental success, the top is clearly where this club belongs. Olimpia Milan was a dominant franchise from its onset. Founded in 1936, Milan immediately won four consecutive domestic titles. Thirty years later, the arrival of Bill Bradley helped turn Milan into a continental power as the club lifted the Euroleague title in front of its home fans. Milano added three Saporta Cup titles between 1971 and 1976 led by the likes of Art Kenney, Renzo Bariviera, Giorgio Giomo and head coach Cesare Rubini. Milan tacked on Korac Cup crowns in 1985 and 1993. Mike D'Antoni, Dino Meneghin and Joe Barry Carroll helped Milan beat Varese 91-78 in the 1985 Korac Cup final, while Aleksandar Djordjevic, Antonello Riva and Riccardo Pittis led Milan past Roma in the 1993 Korac title series. Milan reached its best moments with a classic team of stars like Meneghin, Bob McAdoo and D'Antoni. They led Olimpia to back-to-back Euroleague titles in 1987 and 1988, both times against Maccabi Tel Aviv, under two different head coaches, Peterson and Franco Casalini. The second of those crowns opened the Final Four era in Europe - even though Milan had won the title in the same format back in 1966. Milano's last titles came as the team won both the Italian League and the Italian Cup in 1996 with Nando Gentile, Dejan Bodiroga and Gregor Fucka. Things have not been easy since then, with Olimpia even missing the domestic playoffs on occasion. A new era started for Olimpia Milano when fashion designer Giorgio Armani became the team’s main sponsor. Milano made it to the Italian League finals in 2005 before losing against Climamio Bologna, but it earned the right to play again in the Euroleague. Armani Jeans Milan reached the Euroleague Top 16 in the 2008-09 season, winning five of its last six regular season games to clinch that spot. The team also made it back to the Italian League finals, a feat it repeated again in 2010. Milan’s hopes to reach the Euroleague Top 16 ended on the final day of the regular season last season, but with Scariolo now leading the way, there is great optimism that this is the year Milan breaks through with a deep run.
Trophy Case
Euroleague: 1966, 1987, 1988
Cup of Cups: 1971, 1972, 1976
Korac Cup: 1985, 1993
Intercontinental Cup: 1987
Italian National League: 1936, 1936-37, 1937-38, 1938-39, 1949-50, 1050-51, 1951-52, 1952-53, 1953-54, 1956-57, 1957-58, 1958-59, 1959-60, 1961-62, 1962-63, 1964-65, 1965-66, 1966-67, 1971-72, 1981-82, 1984-85, 1985-86, 1986-87, 1988-89, 1995-96
Italian National Cup: 1972, 1986, 1987, 1996