| Virtus Roma 1960 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Leagues | Serie B | |||
| Founded | 1960 2021 (refoundation) | |||
| History | Virtus Aurelia (1960–1972) Pallacanestro Virtus Roma (1972–2020) Virtus Roma 1960 (2021–present) | |||
| Arena | PalaLottomatica | |||
| Capacity | 11,200 | |||
| Location | Rome,Lazio,Italy | |||
| Team colors | Red, Yellow, Blue | |||
| President | Maurizio Zoffoli | |||
| Head coach | Alessandro Tonolli | |||
| Championships | 1FIBA Intercontinental Cup 1EuroLeague 2FIBA Korać Cups 1Italian League 1Italian Supercup | |||
| Website | virtusroma1960.it | |||
Virtus Roma 1960, commonly known asVirtus Roma, is an Italian professionalbasketball club based inRome,Lazio. The club, namedPallacanestro Virtus Roma competed in thefirst division of Italian basketball, theLBA, for decades until 2020, when it failed. In 2021 the club was refounded.
It was formerly a major side in Europe, winning the1983–84 FIBA European Champions Cup (EuroLeague), and at one time being one of only 13 clubs to hold aEuroLeague A license. However, its standing later waned, and Virtus became less competitive in both Europe and the domesticLBA - which it had won in 1983 – before being voluntarilyrelegated to the Italian second division in July 2015.
In December 2020, Virtus was dissolved after the club was declared bankrupt after months of financial struggles.
For past club sponsorship names, seesponsorship names.
The club was formed by the merger of two Roman sides, San Saba and Gruppo Borgo Cavalleggeri, under the nameVirtus Aurelia in the late 1960s, the founding date of San Saba, 1960, was kept as Virtus'. In 1972, Virtus Aurelia merged with GS Banco di Roma, the sporting wing ofBanco di Roma, formingPallacanestro Banco di Roma Virtus or simplyBanco di Roma. The side reached theItalian second division in 1978, staying two years before moving up to the Italian top levelLBA, in 1980.
This was the start of an extended stay in the first division, and success followed soon after, with the side winning the 1983 championship. Earning a place in the1983–84 FIBA European Champions Cup (EuroLeague), Virtus went on to win the competition at its first try, with aLarry Wright led squad, that also hadClarence Kea,Renzo Tombolato, andFulvio Polesello. Wright was decisive in theEuroLeague Final againstFC Barcelona, scoring 27 points, as Roma overturned a 10-point halftime deficit to win the decider.[1] The next season, the Italian club won the1984 FIBA Intercontinental Cup, after topping a group of international clubs in Brazil.[2] Roma also won the1985–86 FIBA Korać Cup final againstMobilgirgi Caserta.
The club's next title was the1991–92 FIBA Korać Cup, by which time Banco di Roma had been replaced as the club's sponsor byIl Messaggero. A squad comprisingDino Rađa,Rick Mahorn,Roberto Premier, andAndrea Niccolai downedScavolini Pesaro in the two-legged final.[1] The next year, Virtus managed to reach theFIBA Korać Cup final again, but lost the game againstPhilips Milano. During the 2002–03 season,Carlton Myers led the team to a 25–9 record in the Serie A (LBA), as Roma reached the playoff's semifinals.[1] After addingDejan Bodiroga as a player, and head coachSvetislav Pešić, in the 2005 off-season, Virtus reached theULEB Cup (EuroCup) quarterfinals, the Serie A semifinals, and theItalian Cup final, that it lost inovertime.[1]
In the summer of 2011, the Italian club'sEuroLeague A-license was suspended, after it finished in the bottom half of the Serie A.[3] The next year, it lost the license completely, after having the worst record among A license clubs. It lost its license toEA7 Emporio Armani Milano.[4]
In a strange twist, Virtus Roma then went on to have an excellent season, unexpectedly, by their own admission, reaching the Serie A finals, which would earn it the right to return to the EuroLeague. However, the club relinquished their rights, as they did not agree to some of the competition's requirements. In particular, paying rent for an arena with the minimum arena capacity. They thus earned a place in the second tierEuroCup instead.[5]
In July 2015, despite having satisfied the economic conditions to participate in the Italian top level LBA, the club's management asked to participate instead in the Italian second divisionSerie A2. The permission to do so was granted by theItalian Basketball Federation. The cited motive for the move to the lower division, was an insufficient budget to be competitive at the higher level, and the desire to restructure the club based on a youth policy.[6][7][8]
On April 23, 2019, after beatingLegnano Knights by 83–88, Virtus Roma is proclaimed champion of theSerie A2, getting the direct promotion to theSerie A.[9] Virtu returns to the highest tier after an absence of four years.
On December 9, 2020, the club withdrew from theSerie A due to financial difficulties and the inability to find a new investor.
Virtus played at the 3,500 seating capacityPalazzetto dello Sport arena, until 1983. The club then played at the 11,200 seatPalaLottomatica arena, from 1983 to 2011, except between 2000 and 2003, when the arena was undergoing extensive renovation work.[10]
After the club down scaled its operations costs, due to reduced funds, Virtus found the operating costs of the PalaLottomatica to be prohibitive, and decided to avoid playing in the larger arena. So from 2011 to 2018, it returned to the Palazzetto dello Sport, even playing games there during the2013 Italian LBA Finals.[11]
On June 9, 2018, Virtus Roma reached a new deal with All Events SpA, the operator ofPalaLottomatica, to play at the arena during theSerie A2 2018–19 season.[12]
This was the last roster that Roma had in the2020–21 LBA season before the official withdrawal from the championship.
| Virtus Roma roster | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | Coaches | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Updated: 10 December 2020 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Note: Flags indicate national team eligibility atFIBA-sanctioned events. Players may hold other non-FIBA nationalities not displayed.
The team would line up as in the shown below. Roma adopted a6+6 format where a maximum of 6 foreign players along with 6 Italian or Italian grown players could be called for each game.
| Pos. | Starting 5 | Bench 1 | Bench 2 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| C | Dario Hunt | Riccardo Cervi | Ygor Biordi | ||
| PF | Chris Evans | Damir Hadžić | |||
| SF | Jamil Wilson | Liam Farley | |||
| SG | Anthony Beane | Luca Campogrande | |||
| PG | Gerald Robinson | Tommaso Baldasso |
(colours:Italian or homegrown players;foreign players)
Total titles: 6
1983–84 FIBA European Champions Cup
| 1985–86 FIBA Korać Cup
| 1991–92 FIBA Korać Cup
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The following table shows the records from the season 1977–78 in all competitions:
| Season | Tier | League | Pos. | Postseason | Italian Cup | Supercup | Europe | Worldwide | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1977–78 | 3 | Serie B | 4 |  Promoted | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 1978–79 | 2 | Serie A2 | 5 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 1979–80 | 2 | Serie A2 | 3 | Promoted | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 1980–81 | 1 | Serie A | 10 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 1981–82 | 1 | Serie A | 10 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 1982–83 | 1 | Serie A | 1 | Champions | – | – | Korać Cup | Top 16 | – | – |
| 1983–84 | 1 | Serie A | 9 | – | Quarterfinalist | – | Euroleague | Champions | – | – |
| 1984–85 | 1 | Serie A | 1 | Quarterfinalist | Quarterfinalist | – | Euroleague | Top 6 | Intercontinental Cup | Champions |
| 1985–86 | 1 | Serie A | 10 | Quarterfinalist | Quarterfinalist | – | Korać Cup | Champions | Intercontinental Cup | 8 |
| 1986–87 | 1 | Serie A | 8 | Top 12 | Top 32 | – | – | – | – | – |
| 1987–88 | 1 | Serie A | 10 | Quarterfinalist | Quarterfinalist | – | – | – | – | – |
| 1988–89 | 1 | Serie A | 12 | – | Top 32 | – | – | – | – | – |
| 1989–90 | 1 | Serie A | 8 | Quarterfinalist | Finalist | – | – | – | – | – |
| 1990–91 | 1 | Serie A | 4 | Semifinalist | Top 16 | – | – | – | – | – |
| 1991–92 | 1 | Serie A | 6 | Semifinalist | Quarterfinalist | – | Korać Cup | Champions | – | – |
| 1992–93 | 1 | Serie A | 12 | – | Top 16 | – | Korać Cup | Finalist | – | – |
| 1993–94 | 1 | Serie A | 15 | – | Top 32 | – | – | – | – | – |
| 1994–95 | 1 | Serie A | 8 | Quarterfinalist | Quarterfinalist | – | – | – | – | – |
| 1995–96 | 1 | Serie A | 6 | Quarterfinalist | Quarterfinalist | – | – | – | – | – |
| 1996–97 | 1 | Serie A | 6 | Quarterfinalist | Quarterfinalist | – | Korać Cup | Quarterfinalist | – | – |
| 1997–98 | 1 | Serie A | 8 | Quarterfinalist | Quarterfinalist | – | Korać Cup | Semifinalist | – | – |
| 1998–99 | 1 | Serie A | 6 | Quarterfinalist | Quarterfinalist | – | Korać Cup | Top 16 | – | – |
| 1999–00 | 1 | Serie A | 6 | Top 14 | Quarterfinalist | – | Korać Cup | Quarterfinalist | – | – |
| 2000–01 | 1 | Serie A | 5 | Quarterfinalist | Semifinalist | Champions | – | – | – | – |
| 2001–02 | 1 | Serie A | 8 | Quarterfinalist | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 2002–03 | 1 | Serie A | 2 | Semifinalist | Quarterfinalist | – | – | – | – | – |
| 2003–04 | 1 | Serie A | 7 | Quarterfinalist | Quarterfinalist | – | Euroleague | Regular season | – | – |
| 2004–05 | 1 | Serie A | 6 | Semifinalist | Semifinalist | – | – | – | – | – |
| 2005–06 | 1 | Serie A | 6 | Semifinalist | Quarterfinalist | – | Eurocup | Quarterfinalist | – | – |
| 2006–07 | 1 | Serie A | 4 | Semifinalist | Quarterfinalist | – | Euroleague | Top 16 | – | – |
| 2007–08 | 1 | Serie A | 2 | Finalist | Quarterfinalist | – | Euroleague | Top 16 | – | – |
| 2008–09 | 1 | Serie A | 2 | Quarterfinalist | Quarterfinalist | – | Euroleague | Top 16 | – | – |
| 2009–10 | 1 | Serie A | 7 | Semifinalist | – | – | Euroleague | Regular season | – | – |
| 2010–11 | 1 | Serie A | 9 | – | – | – | Euroleague | Top 16 | – | – |
| 2011–12 | 1 | Serie A | 13 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 2012–13 | 1 | Serie A | 3 | Finalist | Semifinalist | – | – | – | – | – |
| 2013–14 | 1 | Serie A | 6 | Semifinalist | Quarterfinalist | – | Eurocup | Regular season | – | – |
| 2014–15 | 1 | Serie A | 10 |  Demoted | – | – | Eurocup | Top 16 | – | – |
| 2015–16 | 2 | Serie A2 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
Note: Flags indicate national team eligibility atFIBA-sanctioned events. Players may hold other non-FIBA nationalities not displayed.
| Criteria |
|---|
To appear in this section a player must have either:
|
Nemanja Gordić2 seasons: '10–'12
Vladimir Dašić4 seasons: '10–'12'
Lorenzo D'Ercole
Maxime De Zeeuw
Ndudi Ebi
Austin Freeman
Melvin Ejim
Rok StipčevićKyle GibsonLuigi Datome5 season: '08–'13
Sani Bečirović1 season: '08–'09Primož Brezec1 season: '08–'09Brandon Jennings1 season: '08–'09Allan Ray2 seasons: '07–'09
Roberto Gabini3 seasons: '07–'09Erik Daniels1 season: '07–'08Gregor Fučka1 season: '07–'08Roko Leni Ukić1 season: '07–'08
Jón Stefánsson2 seasons: '06–'08Erazem Lorbek2 seasons: '06–'08
Ognjen Aškrabić1 season: '06–'07Mire Chatman1 season: '06–'07Roberto Chiacig1 season: '06–'07David Hawkins4 seasons: '05–'08Dejan Bodiroga2 seasons: '05–'07
Vlado Ilievski2 seasons: '05–'07Obinna Ekezie1 season: '05–'06Thomas Van Den Spiegel2 seasons: '04–'06Tyus Edney1 season: '04–'05Vincenzo Esposito1/2 season: '04
Luboš Bartoň2 seasons: '03–'05Cory Alexander1 season: '03–'04Keith McLeod1 season: '03–'04Marko Tušek4 seasons: '02–'06'Davide Bonora3 seasons: '02–'05Horace Jenkins1 season: '02–'03
Daniel Santiago1 season: '02–'03Anthony Parker1 season: '02–'03Carlton Myers3 seasons: '01–'04Alex Righetti7 seasons: '00–'07Ben Handlogten1 season: '01–'02Jerome Allen2 seasons: '00–'02Rod Sellers1 season: '00–'01Juan Espil1 season: '00–'01Mike Iuzzolino1 season: '99–'00Henry Williams1 season: '99–'00Warren Kidd2 seasons: '98–'00Mario Boni2 seasons: '97–'99Saša Obradović2 seasons: '97–'99Bill Edwards1 season: '97–'98Walter Magnifico1 season: '97–'98Ed Stokes1 season: '96–'97Davide Ancilotto1 season: '96–'97Steve Henson2 seasons: '95–'97Hugo Sconochini3 seasons: '95–'96, '04–'06Tod Murphy1 season: '95–'96Jeff Sanders1 season: '94–'95Tanoka Beard1 season: '93–'94Shelton Jones1 season: '93–'94Sandro Dell'Agnello2 seasons: '92–'94Rick Mahorn2 seasons: '91–'93Dino Rađa3 seasons: '90–'93Michael Cooper1 season: '90–'91Roberto Premier5 seasons: '89–'94Fausto Bargna 1 season: '89–'90Danny Ferry1 season: '89–'90Brian Shaw1 season: '89–'90
Josè Vargas1 season: '88–'89Emiliano Busca10 seasons: '87–'90, '92–'99Carlo Della Valle2 seasons: '87–'89Tiziano Lorenzon5 seasons: '86–'91Mike Bantom3 seasons: '86–'89George Gervin1 season: '86–'87Jim Rowinski2 seasons: circa '85–'88Leo Rautins1 season: '85–'86Marco Solfrini4 seasons: '82–'86Larry Wright3 seasons: '82–'84, '87–'88Clarence Kea2 seasons: '82–'84Stefano Sbarra6 seasons: '81–'87Fulvio Polesello8 seasons: '80–'88Ray Townsend1 season: '84–'85Enrico Gilardi8 seasons: '79–'87, '88–'90Roberto Castellano6 seasons: '78–'83, '89–'90
|
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Throughout the years, due to sponsorship, the club has been known as:
