Pallacanestro Varese

Openjobmetis Varese
Leagues	LBA Champions League
Founded	1945
History	Pallacanestro Varese (1946–present)
Arena	Palasport Lino Oldrini
Arena Capacity	5,300
Location	Varese, Italy
Team colors	White, Red
President	Stefano Coppa
Head coach	Paolo Moretti
Championships	10 Italian Leagues 4 Italian Cups 1 Italian Supercup 3 Intercontinental Cups 5 EuroLeagues 2 Saporta Cups
Website	pallacanestrovarese.it
Uniforms
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

Ottorino Flaborea lifting the 1970 FIBA European Champions Cup trophy

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, 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 Winner's 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.

Current roster

Openjobmetis Varese roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. # Nat. Name Ht. Age 4.0 !PF 0 USA ! Davies, Brandon 7000208000000000000♠2.08 m (6 ft 10 in) 7001250000000000000♠25 – (1991-07-25)25 July 1991 4.5 !F/C 1 SEN ! Faye, Mouhammad 7000208000000000000♠2.08 m (6 ft 10 in) 7001310000000000000♠31 – (1985-09-14)14 September 1985 1.0 !PG 2 USA ! Wayns, Maalik 7000185000000000000♠1.85 m (6 ft 1 in) 7001250000000000000♠25 – (1991-05-02)2 May 1991 1.0 !PG 6 LTU ! Varanauskas, Ovidijus 7000187000000000000♠1.87 m (6 ft 2 in) 7001250000000000000♠25 – (1991-02-23)23 February 1991 4.5 !F/C 8 ITA ! Molinaro, Lorenzo 7000204000000000000♠2.04 m (6 ft 8 in) 7001240000000000000♠24 – (1992-09-16)16 September 1992 1.5 !G 9 SRB ! Avramović, Aleksa 7000192000000000000♠1.92 m (6 ft 4 in) 7001220000000000000♠22 – (1994-10-25)25 October 1994 1.0 !PG 10 ITA ! Cavaliero, Daniele 7000188000000000000♠1.88 m (6 ft 2 in) 7001320000000000000♠32 – (1984-01-10)10 January 1984 3.0 !SF 11 CAN ! Shepherd, Jevohn 7000198000000000000♠1.98 m (6 ft 6 in) 7001300000000000000♠30 – (1986-04-08)8 April 1986 4.5 !F/C 12 ITA ! Campani, Luca 7000208000000000000♠2.08 m (6 ft 10 in) 7001260000000000000♠26 – (1990-02-18)18 February 1990 3.5 !F 21 ITA ! Ferrero, Giancarlo 7000194000000000000♠1.94 m (6 ft 4 in) 7001280000000000000♠28 – (1988-08-29)29 August 1988 2.5 !G/F 43 USA ! Thompson, Mychel 7000200999999999999♠2.01 m (6 ft 7 in) 7001280000000000000♠28 – (1988-06-01)1 June 1988 1.5 !G 55 USA ! Galloway, Ramon 7000191000000000000♠1.91 m (6 ft 3 in) 7001250000000000000♠25 – (1991-02-10)10 February 1991 3.5 !F 14 EST ! Kangur, Kristjan 7000202999999999999♠2.03 m (6 ft 8 in) 7001340000000000000♠34 – (1982-10-23)23 October 1982	Head coach Attilio Caja Assistant coach(es) Ugo Ducarello Matteo Jemoli Legend (C) Team captain Injured Roster Updated: September 14, 2015

Honours

Total titles: 26

Palasport Lino Oldrini

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

FIBA European Champions Cup

• 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

FIBA Saporta Cup

• Winners (2): 1966–67, 1979–80

FIBA Korać Cup

• Runners-up (1): 1984–85

Worldwide competitions

FIBA Intercontinental Cup

• Winners (3): 1966, 1970, 1973
• Runners-up (4): 1967, 1974, 1976, 1977

Unofficial

Triple Crown

• Winners (2): 1969–70, 1972–73

International record

Notable players

Notable coaches

• Enrico Garbosi (1956–62)
• Vittorio Tracuzzi (1966–68)
• Nico Messina (1968–69 & 1977–78)
• Aleksandar Nikolić (1969–73)
• Sandro Gamba (1973–77)
• Edoardo Rusconi (1978–80, 1993–97 & 2003–04)
• Joe Isaac (1986–89 & 1992–93)
• Carlo Recalcati (1997–99 & 2010–12)
• Valerio Bianchini (1999 & 2007–08)
• Grégor Beugnot (2001–03)
• Ruben Magnano (2004–07)

Sponsorship names

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

Shirt sponsors and manufacturers

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