Segafredo Virtus Bologna is back in the EuroCup for the first time since the 2003-04 campaign on the heels of a fantastic season in which the team added its first continental trophy since 2009. Virtus claimed the FIBA Champions League crown with great authority. It won its regular season group and eliminated French sides Le Mans and Nanterre 92 to make it to the final four in Antwerp, Belgium. Virtus kept rolling, using outstanding defense to down Brose Bamberg 67-50 in the semifinals and Iberostar Tenerife in the title game, 61-73. It was a big step for a team that still competed in the Italian second division as recently as 2016-17. Virtus also did well in last season's domestic competitions. It reached the Italian Cup tournament and knocked off the top-seeded team, AX Armani Exchange Olimpia Milan, before losing against Vanoli Cremona in the semifinals. Virtus finished the Italian League regular season with a 15-15 record, but that was not enough to qualify for the Italian League playoffs. Virtus is back, and the "Black V" jerseys will be seen again in the 7DAYS EuroCup - more than 15 years later!

EuroLeague

EuroCup

Among the clubs with a great past looking for a brilliant future, Virtus Bologna stands its ground as strongly as any. Virtus began as a gymnastics club in 1879, formed its first pro basketball teams in the late 1920s and proceeded to consistently win championships for more than half a century. Virtus so enjoyed its first Italian title in 1945 that it added on three more in a row for good measure. Virtus would return to the top in Italy in 1955 and 1956, but that preceded a 20-year drought. Since then, however, the trophies have been lifted consistently, starting with four Italian League crowns between 1976 and 1984, the last coming with an Italian Cup victory for the club's first double. The second double came six years later, with an Italian Cup and the first mark made by Virtus on the European stage, the 1990 Saporta Cup; Virtus beat Real Madrid 79-74 in the title game behind an outstanding Michael Ray Richardson. The 1993 Italian League crown, the club's first in almost a decade, soon became a three-peat. A shining moment came in 1998 when Virtus won its first EuroLeague crown and doubled up with another Italian League title. Predrag Danilovic, Zoran Savic and Antoine Rigaudeau led Virtus to that first EuroLeague title. Things got even better in 2001 as Virtus ruled wherever it played, claiming the EuroLeague, the Italian League and the Italian Cup titles, a first-ever trophy crown with one of the best rosters ever in European basketball featuring Marko Jaric, Manu Ginobili, Rigaudeau, Matjaz Smodis and Rashad Griffith. Virtus made it four trophies in a row by winning the 2002 Italian Cup, but lost in the EuroLeague final and the Italian League playoff semifinals that season. Virtus suffered financial troubles afterward and had to merge with FuturVirtus Castelmaggiore in the Italian second division to avoid disappearing. Virtus return to the Italian top level the year after, backed by thousands of diehard fans, and made it to the Italian League playoffs in the 2006-07 season after a five-year absence. Virtus knocked off Biella and Lottomatica Roma before losing the title series against an unstoppable Montepaschi Siena. That season, the club also made it to the FIBA EuroCup final four. Virtus returned to the EuroLeague in the 2007-08 season and lost four consecutive Italian Cup finals from 2007 to 2010. The club lifted the EuroChallenge trophy in 2009 after defeating Cholet Basket 75-77 thanks to 21 points from Keith Langford. After several transition years, Virtus went down to the Italian second division in 2016, but returned to the top tier a year later and won the FIBA Champions League title last season by defeating Iberostar Tenerife in the final. Virtus is on its way back to continental greatness and is ready to prove it in the 2019-20 EuroCup.

Trophy Case