Balkans Botevgrad
| Balkans Botevgrad | |||
| Founded | 1947 | ||
| Hall | Arena Botevgrad (4,500 seats) |
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| president | Georgi Georgiev | ||
| Trainer | Aleksandar Todorov | ||
| league | National Basketball League |
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| Colours | green white | ||
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Balkan Botevgrad ( Bulgarian Балкан Ботевград , usually just called Balkans for short ) is a Bulgarian basketball club from Botevgrad .
history
Beginnings and establishment
The association was founded in 1947. In the late 1960s , the club began to rise in professional Bulgarian basketball. In the country's highest league, the National Basketball League, the Balkans were among the top teams in the 1970s and 1980s. The first title was won in 1970 with the Bulgarian Basketball Cup. Thanks to this success, the team qualified for the European Cup Winners' Cup , in which, after victories against JA Vichy from France, they only failed in the quarter-finals against the Spaniards from Joventut de Badalona .
In 1972 the club was runner-up in Bulgaria and third the following year. Due to the good performance, they started a second time in the European Cup , this time in the Korać Cup , where they failed in the second round on Jugoplastika Split .
Bulgarian champion and debut in the national championship cup
The good performances of the previous seasons were exceeded again in the season 1973/74 when the team won the first championship for the club. Then Balkan Botevgrad started in the most important European competition in basketball, the European Cup , where with a little luck, as the second round opponent KS Partizani withdrew, the group phase was reached. In this u. a. with Pallacanestro Varese , KK Zadar and Racing Pils Mechelen very strong group, the team achieved three wins, but they were not enough to advance.
In the league, the championship success could not be repeated at first. In 1975, 1976 and 1982 another three third places were achieved, which means that Balkan continued to be one of the top teams in Bulgaria.
The golden years
Winning the Bulgarian Basketball Cup in 1986 heralded the most successful era in club history, in which the double , consisting of a national championship and a national cup, was won in 1987 and 1988 . In 1989 another championship - the third in a row and fourth overall - was won.
In the national championship, in which they were represented three times in a row between 1988 and 1990 due to the title wins, Balkan prevailed every time in the first round, but always failed in the second round. 1988 to Olimpia Milano (79:93 & 88:97), 1989 to CSKA Moscow (80: 103 & 68:87) and 1990 to Aris Thessaloniki (91: 107 & 88: 119).
insolvency
Balkan Botevgrad could not repeat the great successes. The best league placement after the last championship was a third place in the 1989/90 season.
After almost two decades before a long-term establishment in the circle of championship contenders, the club appeared to be runner-up behind serial champion Akademik Sofia in the 2007/08 season . But shortly before the start of the 2008/09 season, the club filed for bankruptcy and was excluded from the operation of the National Basketball League and downgraded to the second division ( Division A ).
present
The division A was won sovereign and thus sealed the return to the first division. In the first season after promotion, Balkan took a strong third place and was then allowed to participate in the Balkan League for the first time , but in the group stage the team was eliminated with only one win in eight games. The 2012/13 season finished Botevgrad again in third place and reached the semi-finals in the play-offs.
Hall
The club plays its home games in the Botevgrad arena , which has a capacity of 4500 seats.
successes
- 4 × Bulgarian champion (1974, 1987, 1988, 1989)
- 4 × Bulgarian Cup Winner (1970, 1986, 1987, 1988)
- 2 × Bulgarian runner-up (1972, 2008)
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Cup Winners Cup 1970/71 on linguasport.com
- ↑ a b Championship Winners on bgbasket.com
- ↑ Champions Cup 1974-75 on linguasport.com
- ↑ [1] on balkanleague.com, accessed on March 12, 2015