| Pallacanestro Cantù | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 | |||
| Leagues | LBA | ||
| Founded | 1936 | ||
| History | Associazione Pallacanestro Cantù 1936–1940 Opera Nazionale Dopolavoro Cantù 1940–1948 Pallacanestro Cantù 1948–present | ||
| Arena | Palasport Pianella PalaDesio | ||
| Capacity | 3,910 (Pianella) 6,700 (PalaDesio) | ||
| Location | Cantù, Lombardy, Italy | ||
| Team colors | White, Blue, Sky Blue | ||
| President | Roberto Allievi | ||
| Head coach | Nicola Brienza | ||
| Ownership | Tutti Insieme Cantù Srl | ||
| Championships | 2EuroLeagues 4Saporta Cups 4Korac Cups 2Intercontinental Cups 3Italian Leagues 2Italian Supercups 1Italian LNP Cup | ||
| Website | Official website | ||
Pallacanestro Cantù, known for sponsorship reasons asAcqua S.Bernardo Cantù, is an Italian professional basketball club that is based inCantù, Lombardy. On the European-wide club competition scene, Cantù is second toReal Madrid – against whom they have an 8–2 record – for European trophies won, with twelve titles (twoEuroLeague, fourFIBA Saporta Cups, fourFIBA Korać Cups and also twoFIBA Intercontinental Cups.),[1] in addition to three domesticItalian Leagues and twoItalian Supercups.
The club was founded as Associazione Pallacanestro Cantù in 1936 with impetus from Mario Broggi and Angiolino Polli. At a time when basketball was an unknown sport in Italy, a group composed of Broggi, Polli, Attilio Molteni, Peppino Borghi, Alberto Broggi, Vittorio Sgariboldi, Nene Marchi and Peppino Colombo started to play in the courtyard of the Sacramentine Sisters Institute. A name change in 1940 saw the club becomeOpera Nazionale Dopolavoro Cantù, winning their first major trophy in 1942 with theBruno Mussolini Trophy after a squad coached by Luigi Cicoria won againstPallacanestro Varese and General Cantore Milano. The club re-emerged after World War II as Pallacanestro Cantù, playing in the third divisionSerie C in 1949. It then reached the second divisionSerie B in 1953 and the first divisionSerie A in 1954, though they downgraded after one season. The Broggi brothers retired during this period, replaced on the court by Lino Cappelletti (the first Cantù player to make theItalian national team) Lietti, Ronchetti and Quarta, whilst the squad was sponsored by the Milenka distillery.[2][3]
Returning to the Serie A in 1956, the club was sponsored by Ettore Casella through hisOransoda brand, and two years later he became the club's owner, nominating Aldo Allievi as president.[4] The arrival of Tony Vlastelica allowed Cantù, now playing in a covered Parini arena, to finish fourth in 1957–58 and start challengingMinganti Bologna andSimmenthal Milano. Over the summer, Casella transferred his Oransoda sponsorship to Virtus Bologna whilst using another of his brands, Fonte Levissima, for Cantù,[4] whilst Gianni Corsolini was named coach. After Cappelletti retired, he was replaced in 1962 by a young player from Milano,Carlo Recalcati. Recalcati, along with the "wall of Cantù" – composed of Bob Burgess (arrived fromReal Madrid),Alberto De Simone and Alberto Merlati – Antonio Frigerio and Carlos D'Aquila formed the team – coached byBorislav Stanković – that would win the club's first ever Serie A title in 1967–68.[2][3]
The 1969off-season saw Erminio Casella (who had replaced his father as owner after his death in 1967) leave the club, with Allievi stepping in to take his place.Arnaldo Taurisano was named coach andPierluigi Marzorati joined, and stayed fifteen years with the club. ThoughIgnis andSimmenthal had a hold on the Italian league during that period, aBirra Forst-sponsored squad composed of Marzorati, Recalcati, Antonio Farina,Ciccio Della Fiori and Renzo Tombolato captured three successiveFIBA Korać Cups in1973,1974 and1975, beating respectivelyMaes Pils,Partizan fromBelgrade andFC Barcelona. The 1974–75 season ended with the club earning their secondscudetto with players such as Marzorati, Della Fiori, Recalcati, Farina, Tombolato,Bob Lienhard, Franco Meneghel andMario Beretta, who later in that same year would add theFIBA Intercontinental Cup, beating Real Madrid and the final runners-upAmazonas Franca on the way.Harthorne Wingo joined the squad in 1976 and led the club to another European title, the1977 Cup Winners' Cup claimed againstRadnički Belgrade, a title repeated thenext year overSinudyne Bologna, whilstJohn Neumann helped them achieve the three-peat in1979 by beatingEBBC.[2][3]
The form from these seasons would continue into the 1980s, thanks to a squad coached byValerio Bianchini with AmericansTom Boswell andBruce Flowers, future Serie A all-time top scorerAntonello Riva,Renzo Bariviera, Denis Innocentin, Giorgio Cattini, Fausto Bargna and Marzorati. The latter, along with Riva, were decisive in the Italian's fourthCup Winners' Cup in 1981 with an 86–81 win over FC Barcelona, also helping them win their third scudetto that same year. They earned a place in the1981–82 Champions Cup, despite a rocky start as Bianchini did not travel with the squad early in the season, whilst Marzorati and Bariviera were injured. They lost 85–87 away toMaccabi Tel Aviv after a basket by new signingC. J. Kupec was disallowed. They travelled to Belgrade needing to win, or lose by 15 or fewer points against Partizan to reach the final, which they managed as they lost 89–104 afterDražen Dalipagić scored 55 points. Again pitted against Maccabi Tel Aviv in the final, Squibb Cantù brought 1,200 fans toCologne on 25 May 1982, winning 86–80 thanks to 23 points from Kupec, 21 from Flowers, and 18 apiece for Marzorati and Riva. Though they conceded their league title to Bologna from Sinudyne in the play-off quarterfinals, they defended their European title in the1982–83 edition as title holders, where they faced a decisive game, overcomingCSKA Moscow 106–73 to reach the final against rivalsBilly Milano. The game inGrenoble was close, withJim Brewer blockingJohn Gianelli's second-to-last shot to see the team emerge 69–68 winners as fans swamped the court while Marzorati held the cup, the team's other American,Wallace Bryant, had 18 points as did Riva, with Brewer adding 14.
The rest of the 1980s saw the club stay competitive but failing to add any titles despite counting American players like Dan Gay,Richard Anderson,Lorenzo Charles,Jeff Turner andKent Benson, stalling in the league playoffs and losing the1989 Korać Cup toVlade Divac's Partizan.[2][3]
Riva had left for Milano in 1988 butPace Mannion joined the club and was decisive in the conquest of the1991 Korać Cup, scoring eight consecutive three-pointers to down Real Madrid, with Marzorati ending his career with another title. At the second season ofFabrizio Frates as head coach of the team, Clear Cantù made another season in the1991–92 FIBA Korać Cup after having reached the semi-finals of the competition, where they lost toScavolini Pesaro for one point difference (a 76–74 home win and a 86–89 defeat in Pesaro). The 1992–93 season established the good performances in Europe (1992–93 FIBA Korać Cup). Clear Cantù ended the season in the semi-final losing to another Italian club after being surrounded by"Saša" Đorđević'sPhilips Milano (who subsequently won the trophy). In Serie A, although the team ranked fifth in the regular season, they ruled the play-off quarterfinals thanks toStefanel Trieste with 2–0 wins. In the semi-finals the barrier ofknorr Bologna proved impossible to overcome. However, the team qualified to compete in the next season's FIBA European League and to return in the top European basketball club's competition after an absence of nine years. The 1993–94 season saw the club playing inFIBA European League against European clubs likeEfes Pilsen,Panathinaikos,7up Joventut,Buckler Beer Bologna,Cibona orPau-Orthez (ranked 8th and last in the group B with 2–12 record) and changing coaches and foreign players but this could not prevent the team from downgrading to the second division, ending a forty-year tenure in the first division, the Allievi family conceded the ownership to Franco Polti in its wake.
The team returned to the first division after two seasons, with coachDado Lombardi andThurl Bailey helping Polti Cantù reach theItalian Cup final and an eighth place in the league on its return season. Francesco Corrado bought the club in 1999. During the course of the season, player Enrico Ravaglia died in acar crash, and the team – with a returning Riva – regrouped on the court. The 2000–01 season started badly, which led to theincumbent coach being replaced by long-time youth coachStefano Sacripanti who guided the club to win. He would do better the next season, leading an American-centric group ofJerry McCullough,Bootsy Thornton, Sam Hines,Shaun Stonerook, Todd Lindeman and Ryan Hoover to a fourth place in the league, enough to qualify for theEuroLeague (though Corrado decided to renounce participating for financial reasons).[2][3]
The 2002–03 season saw the club reach the Italian Cup final, though it would concede the title toBenetton Treviso. They would avenge their loss by beating Treviso in their own arena in the 2003Italian Supercup. Reaching the league playoffs on a number of occasions, Cantù also returned to Europe, participating in the2004–05 ULEB Cup and the2005–06 FIBA EuroCup. The club celebrated its 70th anniversary during the 2006–2007 season; as part of the commemoration, a 54 year old Marzorati played during an October 2006 game, beating records as the oldest ever professional basketball player and the only player to have played for the same club in five different decades.[5] When Corrado left the club to become president of Lega Basket, his son Alessandro became the eighth president in team history, another change saw Sacripanti leave forScavolini Pesaro and be replaced byLuca Dalmonte. During the summer 2008, Cantù was brought by the NGC group led by Eugenio Cremascoli along with his children Paolo and Anna, though Corrado remained president.
Dalmonte left in 2009 and was replaced by young coachAndrea Trinchieri, who took the club to the Italian Cup Final Eight and the fourth place in the league, before reaching the playoff semi-finals where they lost to holdersMontepaschi Siena, earning a place in thenext year's EuroCup.
The next season, Trinchieri led a squad with long-time players such as captainNicolas Mazzarino,Manuchar Markoishvili,Maarty Leunen andVladimir Micov to first the Italian Cup final and then the league final, where they would lose to frequent champions Siena. Meanwhile, Anna Cremascoli became the club's president in September 2011, the first woman ever to hold the position at a Serie A club (she would be joined by other part-owners in 2014, including the team's fans with a 10% share, though she remained president and majority owner). Having earned a place in the2011–12 Euroleague, the Italians reached the Top 16 thanks to abuzzer beater fromGianluca Basile againstGescrap Bizkaia Bilbao. Placed in a toughGroup H with Maccabi Tel Aviv and FC Barcelona Regal, they tied Tel Aviv for second but exited on points scored, losing the penultimate game to Barcelona by a single point as Basile could not repeat his earlier exploit.[1] Meanwhile, they played in the Supercup and Italian Cup finals but lost both toMontepaschi Siena, whilst in the league they were defeated in the quarter-finals byScavolini Pesaro.[3]
The 2012 summer saw main sponsor Bennet leave, to be replaced by Mapooro, a brand from the NGC group, whilst the squad saw wholesale changes with Basile leaving and eight new players coming in. Mapooro Cantù beat Siena to win the Supercup, then triumphed in the qualifying rounds (organised at "home" in thePalaDesio) to reach theEuroLeague regular season.[1] Though they beat Real Madrid andFenerbahçe Ülker they exited at the group stage after losing to the Turks in Istanbul, where Manuchar Markoishvili went mid-season by transferring toGalatasaray. The now Lenovo-sponsored team came back from a shaky start to crack the league playoffs, where – thanks to the arrival ofJoe Ragland – they reached the semi-finals, losing the seven-game series againstAcea Roma in the last game. Trinchieri left the club over the summer and was replaced by Sacripanti, whilst Daniele Della Fiori replaced Bruno Arrigoni as general manager and Acqua Vitasnella became main sponsor. A solid season saw the side reach the Italian Cup Final 8, theEuroCup Last 32 and the league playoffs, remaining unbeaten at home during all of the latter's regular season, though they lost their quarter-finals series against Roma. Known as FoxTown Cantù in Europe, the team went to theEuroCup Round of 16 before exiting at the hands ofUNICS.
Domestically, they reached the playoffs again, with help fromNBA All-StarMetta World Peace who joined the club in March, but were undone in the last game of the quarter-final series againstReyer Venezia. In November 2015, the club was bought by Ukrainian-Russian billionaireDmitry Gerasimenko: in the first weeks of its ownership he announced he planned to build a new arena, brought in coachSergey Bazarevich and four new players.[3]
In August 2016, the club brought in coachRimas Kurtinaitis fromKhimki.[6]
Cantù started playing in the uncovered courtyard of the Sacramentine Sisters Institute before moving to another outside court on Piazza Parini. A covered arena, the PalaParini, was built in 1956 (when theItalian Basketball Federation disallowed the use of outside courts). They played there until moving to the newly builtPalasport Pianella for the 1974–75 season.[3]
When they qualified for the EuroLeague in 2011, they had to move to thePalaDesio for their games, 15 km away from Cantù inDesio, as the Pianella did not meet EuroLeague standards.[1] The PalaDesio itself underwent a €130,000 refurbishment over the summer, with changes to the court, electrical installations and outside area that made it in line with the aforementioned standards.[7] They also played their European games in Desio the next season, in addition to a number of domestic games over the next seasons (one game during 2010–11, four more the next season,[8] then two local derbies againstVanoli Cremona and Milano in 2014–15).[9]
The arena situation has driven a wedge between the club management and the local authorities as a promised new venue to replace the obsolete Pianella (which costs around €400,000 in upkeep, ten times more than most Serie A arenas) has not yet been built, whilst renting the PalaDesio full-time would prove too costly.[10]
On July 6, 2016, there was the official presentation of the project for the new arena inCucciago,Cantù. The project consists of a renovation and an extension of thePalasport Pianella, with the increase of capacity from 3,910 to 5,634. Inside the building, there will be a new museum dedicated to the club, a cafe/restaurant, a gym, a children fun area, a new team's training court and the offices of the club. It will be the fourth largest basketball arena inLega Basket Serie A. Construction will last between 11 and 13 months.[11]
| Acqua S.Bernardo Cantù roster | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | Coaches | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Updated: October 5-6, 2025 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Note: Flags indicate national team eligibility atFIBA-sanctioned events. Players may hold other non-FIBA nationalities not displayed.
| Pallacanestro Cantù retired numbers | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No | Nat. | Player | Position | Tenure | Date retired | Ref. |
| 6 |  | Chicco Ravaglia | PG | 1999 | 1999 | [12] |
| 14 | | Pierluigi Marzorati | PG | 1969–1991 2006 | September 12, 1991 | [13] |
Total titles: 20
| Season | Achievement | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|
| EuroLeague | |||
| 1968–69 | Quarter-finals | 3rd place in a group withSpartak ZJŠ Brno,Standard Liège andMaccabi Tel Aviv | |
| 1975–76 | Semi-finals | eliminated byMobilgirgi Varese, 85–95 (L) inVarese, 70–78 (L) inCantù | |
| 1981–82 | Champions | defeatedMaccabi Tel Aviv, 86–80 in the final ofEuropean Champions Cup inCologne | |
| 1982–83 | Champions | defeatedBilly Milano, 69–68 in the final ofEuropean Champions Cup inGrenoble | |
| 1983–84 | Semi-final group stage | 3rd place in a group withFC Barcelona,Banco di Roma Virtus,Bosna,Maccabi Tel Aviv andLimoges CSP | |
| FIBA Saporta Cup | |||
| 1976–77 | Champions | defeatedRadnički Belgrade, 87–86 in the final ofEuropean Cup Winners' Cup inPalma de Mallorca | |
| 1977–78 | Champions | defeatedSinudyne Bologna, 84–82 in the final ofEuropean Cup Winners' Cup in Milan | |
| 1978–79 | Champions | defeatedEBBC, 83–73 in the final ofEuropean Cup Winners' Cup inPoreč | |
| 1979–80 | Final | lost toEmerson Varese, 88–90 in the final (Milan) | |
| 1980–81 | Champions | defeatedFC Barcelona, 86–82 in the final ofEuropean Cup Winners' Cup in Rome | |
| FIBA Korać Cup | |||
| 1973 | Champions | defeatedMaes Pils, 106–85 (W) inCantù, 85–94 (L) inMechelen in the double finals ofFIBA Korać Cup | |
| 1973–74 | Champions | defeatedPartizan, 99–86 (W) inCantù, 75–68 (W) inBelgrade in the double finals ofKorać Cup | |
| 1974–75 | Champions | defeatedFC Barcelona, 71–69 (W) inBarcelona, 110–85 (W) inCucciago in the double finals ofKorać Cup | |
| 1988–89 | Final | lost toPartizan, 89–76 (W) inCucciago, 82–101 (L) inBelgrade | |
| 1990–91 | Champions | defeatedReal Madrid, 73–71 (W) inMadrid, 95–93 (W) inCucciago | |
| 1991–92 | Semi-finals | eliminated byScavolini Pesaro, 76–74 (W) inCucciago, 86–89 (L) inPesaro | |
| 1992–93 | Semi-finals | eliminated byPhilips Milano, 74–72 (W) inCucciago, 72–85 (L) inMilan | |
| FIBA Intercontinental Cup | |||
| 1975 | Champions | Intercontinental Cup Champions with a 4–1 record in a league tournament inCantù | |
| 1982 | Champions | Intercontinental Cup Champions with a 5–0 record in a league tournament inDen Bosch | |
| 1983 | Runners-up | Runner-up with a 3–2 record in a league tournament inBuenos Aires | |
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:
|
2010s
2000s
| 1990s
1980s
| 1970s
1960s
1950s
|
James Strong –1 season: '54–'55
Isidoro Maršan –2 seasons: '56–'58 Gianni Corsolini –2 seasons: '58–'60Vittorio Tracuzzi –2 seasons: '60–'62 Gianni Corsolini –3 seasons: '62–'65Arnaldo Taurisano –1 season: '65–'66Borislav Stanković –2 seasons: '66–'69Arnaldo Taurisano –10 seasons: '69–'79Valerio Bianchini –3 seasons: '79–'82Giancarlo Primo –1 season: '82–'83 Gianni Asti –1 season: '83–'84Carlo Recalcati –6 seasons: '84–'90Fabrizio Frates –2 seasons: '90–'92
Antonio Díaz-Miguel –6 games: '93 Bruno Arrigoni –1⁄2 season: '93–'94 Giancarlo Sacco –1+1⁄2 seasons: '94–'95 Bruno Arrigoni –1 game: '95Gianfranco Lombardi –1+1⁄2 seasons: '95–'97 Virginio Bernardi –6 games: '97 Massimo Magri –1⁄2 season: '97–'98Fabrizio Frates –1 season: '98–'99 Franco Ciani –1⁄2 season: '99–'00Stefano Sacripanti –6+1⁄2 seasons: '00–'07Luca Dalmonte –2 seasons: '07–'09Andrea Trinchieri –4 seasons: '09–'13Stefano Sacripanti –2 seasons: '13–'15 Fabio Corbani –1⁄2 season: '15
Sergei Bazarevich –1⁄2 season: '15–'16
Rimas Kurtinaitis –1⁄2 season: '16Carlo Recalcati –1⁄2 season: '16–'17
Kyrylo Bol'shakov –1⁄2 season: '17Marco Sodini –1⁄2 season: '17–'18Evgeniy Pashutin –1 season: '18–'19Nicola Brienza –1⁄2 season: '19Cesare Pancotto –1+1⁄2 seasons: '19–21Piero Bucchi –1⁄2 season: '20–21Marco Sodini –1 season: '21–'22Romeo Sacchetti –1 season: '22–'23Devis Cagnardi –1 season: '23–'24Nicola Brienza –1+1⁄2 seasons: '24–presentThroughout the years, due to sponsorship deals, the club has also been known as:
