Pallacanestro Cantù

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Pallacanestro Cantù
Romeo Sacchetti
Ownership	Tutti Insieme Cantù Srl
Championships	2 EuroLeagues 4 Saporta Cups 4 Korac Cups 2 Intercontinental Cups 3 Italian Leagues 2 Italian Supercups
Website	Official website
Home Away

Pallacanestro Cantù, known for sponsorship reasons as Acqua S.Bernardo Cantù, is an Italian professional basketball club that is based in Cantù, Lombardy. On the European-wide club competition scene, Cantù is second to Real Madrid – against whom they have an 8–2 record – for European trophies won, with twelve titles (two EuroLeague, four FIBA Saporta Cups, four FIBA Korać Cups and also two FIBA Intercontinental Cups.),^[1] in addition to three domestic Italian Leagues and two Italian Supercups.

History

1936–1969: Formation and early years

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 become

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 and Kent Benson, stalling in the league playoffs and losing the 1989 Korać Cup to Vlade Divac's Partizan.^[2][3]

Riva had left for Milano in 1988 but

1994–2009: 70th anniversary

The team returned to the first division after two seasons, with coach

The 2002–03 season saw the club reach the Italian Cup final, though it would concede the title to Benetton Treviso. They would avenge their loss by beating Treviso in their own arena in the 2003 Italian Supercup. Reaching the league playoffs on a number of occasions, Cantù also returned to Europe, participating in the 2004–05 ULEB Cup and the 2005–06 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 for Scavolini Pesaro and be replaced by Luca 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.

2009–present: Recovery

Dalmonte left in 2009 and was replaced by young coach

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 the

In August 2016, the club brought in coach Rimas Kurtinaitis from Khimki.^[6]

Arena

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 the

When they qualified for the EuroLeague in 2011, they had to move to the PalaDesio for their games, 15 km away from Cantù in Desio, 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 against Vanoli 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 in Cucciago, Cantù. The project consists of a renovation and an extension of the Palasport 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 in Lega Basket Serie A. Construction will last between 11 and 13 months.^[11]

Players

Current roster

Acqua S.Bernardo Cantù roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. No. Nat. Name Ht. Wt. Age SG 1 Stefanelli, Francesco 1.91 m (6 ft 3 in) 88 kg (194 lb) 29 – (1995-01-21)21 January 1995 F 3 Sergio, Luigi 1.94 m (6 ft 4 in) 87 kg (192 lb) 36 – (1988-01-25)25 January 1988 PG 7 Vitali, Luca 2.01 m (6 ft 7 in) 85 kg (187 lb) 37 – (1986-05-09)9 May 1986 SF 11 Nikolić, Stefan 2.03 m (6 ft 8 in) 95 kg (209 lb) 26 – (1997-06-29)29 June 1997 C 15 Boev, Ilia 2.08 m (6 ft 10 in) 110 kg (243 lb) 23 – (2001-01-12)12 January 2001 F/C 20 Da Ros, Matteo 2.05 m (6 ft 9 in) 94 kg (207 lb) 34 – (1989-09-25)25 September 1989 SG 21 Bucarelli, Lorenzo 1.98 m (6 ft 6 in) 93 kg (205 lb) 26 – (1998-03-06)6 March 1998 C 22 Cusin, Marco 2.11 m (6 ft 11 in) 107 kg (236 lb) 39 – (1985-02-28)28 February 1985 PF 23 Bayehe, Jordan 2.04 m (6 ft 8 in) 96 kg (212 lb) 24 – (1999-10-16)16 October 1999 G 25 Allen, Trevon 1.91 m (6 ft 3 in) 91 kg (201 lb) 26 – (1998-02-16)16 February 1998 G/F 28 Severini, Giovanni 1.97 m (6 ft 6 in) 85 kg (187 lb) 31 – (1993-04-23)23 April 1993	Head coach Marco Sodini Assistant coach(es) Marco Sodini Massimiliano Oldoini Legend (C) Team captain Injured Roster Updated: 6 May 2022

Season by season

Honours

Total titles: 18

Domestic competitions

• Italian League

Winners (3): 1967–68, 1974–75, 1980–81

Runners-up (2): 1979–80, 2010–11

• Italian Cup

Runners-up (4): 1996–97, 2002–03, 2010–11, 2011–12

• Italian Supercup

Winners (2): 2003, 2012

Runners-up (1): 2011

European competitions

• EuroLeague

Winners (2): 1981–82, 1982–83

Semifinalists (1): 1975–76

• FIBA Saporta Cup

Winners (4): 1976–77, 1977–78, 1978–79, 1980–81

Runners-up (1): 1979–80

• FIBA Korać Cup

Winners (4): 1973, 1973–74, 1974–75, 1990–91

Runners-up (1): 1988–89

Semifinalists (2): 1991–92, 1992–93

Worldwide competitions

• FIBA Intercontinental Cup

Winners (2): 1975, 1982

Runners-up (1): 1983

Other competitions

• Trofeo Cinelandia

Winners (1): 2011

Top performances in European and worldwide competitions

Notable players

Head coaches

Sponsorship names

Throughout the years, due to sponsorship deals, the club has also been known as:

References