Pallacanestro Varese

Pallacanestro Varese
2021–22 Pallacanestro Varese season
Leagues	LBA
Founded	1945
History	Pallacanestro Varese (1946–present)
Arena	Palasport Lino Oldrini
Capacity	5,107
Location	Varese, Italy
Team colors	White, Red
CEO	Luis Scola
President	Marco Vittorelli
Head coach
Ownership	Varese nel cuore s.c. a r.l.
Championships	10 Italian Leagues 4 Italian Cups 1 Italian Supercup 3 Intercontinental Cups 5 EuroLeagues 2 Saporta Cups
Website	pallacanestrovarese.it
Home Away

Pallacanestro Varese, also called by its current sponsor's name, the Openjobmetis Varese, is an Italian professional basketball club based in Varese, Lombardy. Founded in 1945, the team plays in the Italian first division LBA.

For past club sponsorship names, see sponsorship names.

History[]

Varese captain Ottorino Flaborea lifts the FIBA European Champions Cup trophy after defeating CSKA Moscow at the final in Sarajevo's Skenderija on 4 April 1970 — the first of the club's five European titles during the 1970s.

Basketball was introduced in Varese in 1945, with the creation of the historical club, Pallacanestro Varese. The first sponsors were introduced 8 years later in 1954, including Storm and Ignis, followed by Emerson, Turisanda, Cagiva, Star, Ciaocrem, Divarese, Ranger, Metis, Whirlpool, and the most recent, Cimberio. Varese is also famous due to the lack of its having a main sponsor in the mid-1990s (something unusual in the Italian basketball league), and the choice of its franchise name, the Varese Roosters.

Since their creation, Pallancanestro Varese has won 10 Italian first-tier level LBA titles, in the years 1961, 1964, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1973, 1974, 1977, 1978, and their last Italian League title, won 21 years after the previous title, in 1999. With 10 titles, Pallacanestro Varese is the third most winning team ever in the Italian League, after Olimpia Milano and Virtus Bologna.

As it is shown by its roll of honors, Varese was extremely competitive in the 1970s, when the club played in the European-wide first-tier level FIBA European Champions Cup (now called EuroLeague), and played in ten finals in a row, winning 5 of them, in the years 1970, 1972, 1973, 1975, and 1976. Between 1970 and 1975, the club was named Ignis Varese. What was the club's golden age had begun some years before, as Varese conquered the FIBA Intercontinental Cup in 1966, and repeated the same title 4 and 7 years later, in the middle of the club's greatest decade in 1970 and 1973. Varese accomplished the great feat of winning the Triple Crown, winning all the trophies available in 1973, with the legendary Professor Aca Nikolić as the team's head coach. Varese also won two championships of the European-wide first-tier level FIBA European Cup Winners' Cup, in 1967 and 1980, and four Italian Cups, in 1969, 1970, 1971, and 1973.

Varese's great age ended in the early nineties, when the team dropped down to the Italian second division. Soon, the club took its revenge, coming up once again to the Italian top-tier level league, and after 5 years time became the real team to watch in the Italian League's playoffs, as it succeeded in winning its historical 10th Italian League title in 1999, with Carlo Recalcati (who later coached the Italian national team), leading the way as the club's head coach. Varese has never repeated that triumph so far, but that success is still remembered to this day. Varese has been trying to return to the top of the Italian League and European-wide competitions in the years since.

Players[]

Current roster[]

Openjobmetis Varese roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. No. Nat. Name Ht. Age PG 3 Kell, Trey 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in) 98 kg (216 lb) 25 – (1996-04-05)5 April 1996 SF 5 Gentile, Alessandro 2.01 m (6 ft 7 in) 100 kg (220 lb) 29 – (1991-11-12)12 November 1991 G 7 Beane, Anthony 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in) 86 kg (190 lb) 27 – (1994-05-06)6 May 1994 PF 9 2.00 m (6 ft 7 in) 90 kg (198 lb) 29 – (1992-08-25)25 August 1992 PG 10 1.91 m (6 ft 3 in) 79 kg (174 lb) 25 – (1996-06-10)10 June 1996 SG 11 Wilson, Elijah 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in) 93 kg (205 lb) 26 – (1995-05-14)14 May 1995 C 15 Egbunu, John 2.08 m (6 ft 10 in) 111 kg (245 lb) 26 – (1994-10-31)31 October 1994 F 21 Ferrero, Giancarlo (C) 1.98 m (6 ft 6 in) 97 kg (214 lb) 33 – (1988-08-29)29 August 1988 SF 22 Jones, Jalen 2.01 m (6 ft 7 in) 100 kg (220 lb) 28 – (1993-05-27)27 May 1993 C 30 2.08 m (6 ft 10 in) 96 kg (212 lb) 22 – (1999-07-03)3 July 1999	Head coach Assistant coach(es) Vincenzo Cavazzana Alberto Seravalli Legend (C) Team captain Injured Roster Updated: 4 September 2021

Depth chart[]

Season by season[]

Honours[]

Total titles: 25

Palasport Lino Oldrini

Adrian Banks

Domestic competitions[]

• Italian League

Winners (10): 1960–61, 1963–64, 1968–69, 1969–70, 1970–71, 1972–73, 1973–74, 1976–77, 1977–78, 1998–99

Runners-up (10): 1948–49, 1961–62, 1962–63, 1964–65, 1965–66, 1966–67, 1971–72, 1974–75, 1975–76, 1989–90

• Italian Cup

Winners (4): 1968–69, 1969–70, 1970–71, 1972–73

Runners-up (5): 1971–72, 1984–85, 1987–88, 1998–99, 2012–13

• Italian Supercup

Winners (1): 1999

Runners-up (1): 2013

European competitions[]

• EuroLeague

Winners (5): 1969–70, 1971–72, 1972–73, 1974–75, 1975–76

Runners-up (5): 1970–71, 1973–74, 1976–77, 1977–78, 1978–79

Semifinalists (1): 1964–65

• FIBA Saporta Cup (defunct)

Winners (2): 1966–67, 1979–80

Semifinalists (2): 1967–68, 1980–81

• FIBA Korać Cup (defunct)

Runners-up (1): 1984–85

Semifinalists (1): 1985–86

• FIBA Europe Cup

Runners-up (1): 2015–16

Worldwide competitions[]

• FIBA Intercontinental Cup

Winners (3): 1966, 1970, 1973

Runners-up (4): 1967, 1974, 1976, 1977

3rd place (1): 1979

4th place (1): 1978

• McDonald's Championship

4th place (1): 1999

Individual club awards[]

• Triple Crown

Winners (2): 1969–70, 1972–73

International record[]

Notable players[]

Head coaches[]

• Vittorio Tracuzzi (1948-54)
• (1954-55)
• (1955-56)
• (1956–62)
• Vittorio Tracuzzi (1954-55 & 1966–68)
• (1968–69 & 1977–78)
• Aleksandar Nikolić (1969–73)
• Sandro Gamba (1973–77)
• (1978–80, 1993–97 & 2003–04)
• Joe Isaac (1986–89 & 1992–93)
• Carlo Recalcati (1997–99 & 2010–12)
• Valerio Bianchini (1999 & 2007–08)
• Gianfranco Lombardi (2000–01)
• Grégor Beugnot (2001–03)
• Ruben Magnano (2004–07)
• Veljko Mršić (2007-08)
• (2008-10)
• Francesco Vitucci (2012-13)
• Fabrizio Frates (2013-14)
• (2014)
• Gianmarco Pozzecco (2014-15)
• Attilio Caja (2015 & 2016-20)
• Paolo Moretti (2015-16)
• Massimo Bulleri (2020-21)

Sponsorship names[]

Through the years, due to sponsorship deals, it has been also known as:^[1]

Shirt sponsors and manufacturers[]

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Colors and badge[]

• 

  City crest
  (1997–99)

• 

  Roosters crest
  (1999–01)

• 

  Casti Group crest
  (2004–05)

• 

  Cimberio Varese crest
  (2010–14)

• 

  Openjobmetis Varese crest
  (2014–present)

References[]

External links[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Pallacanestro Varese.

• Official Website (in Italian)
• Eurobasket.com Team Page
• Varese Basket Blog (in Italian)