Euroleague Team - Paf Fortitudo Bologna - ULEB
<img src="../flash/captures/text.gif" width="417" height="18">

League LEGA, Italy
President Giorgio Serągnoli
Address Via S. Felice, 103
Bologna
Web www.fortitudo.it
Email
Phone + (39) 051 / 55 82 24
Fax + (39) 051 / 52 48 44
    uleb.net
<img src="../flash/captures/logouleb.gif" width="161" height="80">
<img src="../flash/captures/europa.gif" width="69" height="50" align="right"> <img src="../flash/captures/euroleague.gif" width="116" height="100">  
Euroleague Teams Euroleague Competition System Euroleague Logo Return Home Page Euroleague <img src="../flash/captures/fons1.gif" width="145" height="160">

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The History of
Fortitudo Bologna

Paf Fortitudo has entered the door of the Third Millennium by winning the first Championship of its history at the end of a wonderful 1999/2000 season, once more at the top of Italy and Europe.
A walking of 36 wins out of 40 games played in the Italian League, where Paf Fortitudo had not rivals during the regular season writing the new all time record (no one had close the season with a 12 point advantage before, thanks to the 27 wins out of 30 games!) and then easily beating Siena and Verona in the playoffs.
The finals between Paf Fortitudo and Benetton Treviso saw the loss in the first home game for Bologna, but then the team reacted in the best way and went on winning three consecutive games in a row and celebrating the Championship in game 4 in Treviso.

It has been the victory of the President Giorgio Serągnoli and all the club managers and staff, with a no-ending work around the team, and it has been the victory of coach Charlie Recalcati and his staff, the victory of Carlton Myers and all his teammates, Gregor Fucka (named MVP of the Playoffs), Giacomo Galanda, Gianluca Basile, Arturas Karnisovas, Stojko Vrankovic, Marko Jaric, Claudio Pilutti, Dan Gay, Matteo Anchisi, Massimo Ruggeri.

Now, Paf Fortitudo is ready to start again. And it will be one more great season, because Paf Fortitudo has signed some more great players who will do their best to make the team win again. Andrea Meneghin and Alessandro De Pol will play with the white&blue colours of the Fortitudo Eagle, so they will play together with their teammates of the National Team of Italy Myers, Fucka, Galanda, Basile: it means that Paf Fortitudo will be the real soul of the National Team.
The Lithuanian 216 cm tall Eurelijus Zukauskas, who won the Euroleague in 1999 with Zalgiris Kaunas, will be the new center, and Pilutti and Ruggeri will give their help enetering the court from the bench. So, Paf Fortitudo is ready to start again. Firstly, let's turn back once more to remember how everything has started.

Here you can find a brief history of Fortitudo Basketball, since the year of foundation 1932. A suffering story, but always with the proud, the courage, the heart to start again day after day. The Basketball Division of Fortitudo S.G. (1901) was born in 1932, the team plays its first championship in Second Division. The first championship in "Serie A" is in 1966, with coach Beppe Lamberti and Dewey Andrew as the first foreign player signed. In 1968 Gary Schull arrives at Fortitudo: "the Baron" will play five years in Bologna, as one of the most important and legendary players ever.
The team lives a difficult season in '73/74, with coach Dido Guerrieri as the first coach of Fortitudo to be cut during the season, Alberto Bucci replaces him. The team goes down to "Serie B", but then is recalled to "Serie A".
1974/75, the new coach is "the Professor" Aza Nikolic, but the foreign player De Vries gets injured and Fortitudo falls down to "Serie A2", then comes back in A1 one year later after great season, 2nd place in the A2 Championship and 5th place at the end of the playoffs.
The 1976/77 is an historical season, with Fortitudo as 3rd placed in the Championship and 2nd in the Korac Cup in the Final won by Jugoplastika.
1979/80, after falling to "A2" at the end of the previous season, Fortitudo comes back to A1 soon with the pair of Americans Starks-Jordan.
Then, the team lives six seasons of up and down results, and since '87 to '89 two unforgettable seasons, the first coach Di Vincenzo and his team dominate the "Serie A2" beating Virtus Bologna (A1) in the playoffs, the second with the "Gentle Giant" Artis Gilmore playing for Fortitudo (7th place in A1).
In 1989/90 Renato Palumbi (actually Vice-President) becomes the new President, in a difficult moment caused by economic troubles. The team falls down to A2, where then on the April 2 1992, practically condemned to "Serie B", Fortitudo has the last chance in Reggio Emilia: the story tells that Teo Alibegovic comes in a day to replace the injured Vandiver and scores 28 points (with Pete Myers 16/16 from the line) in the 93-89 win. And so the history changes. Thanks to Giorgio Serągnoli, an industrial manager in love with Fortitudo for many years.

The team comes to A1 in '92, and then the new "Fortitudo Project" is about to start.
In '93/94 Sergio Scariolo is the coach of the team with Gay and Esposito as the newcomers and Fortitudo arrives at an important 6th place, achieving the qualification for the Korac Cup.
The year later "Mister Europe" Sasha Djordjevic arrives at Fortitudo: 2nd place in the regular season and 3rd place in the playoffs, and also arriving to the semifinal of the Korac Cup. Then, Carlton Myers comes too, and Fortitudo Eagle flies to the first Championship Finals of its history (beaten 3-1 by Stefanel Milano).
Fortitudo plays its second consecutive Finals in '96/97 with coach Valerio Bianchini (Benetton Treviso wins 3-2) and the third with the new coach Pero Skansi in '97/98 (Kinder Bologna wins 3-2), after the Italy Cup as the first trophy won by Fortitudo on its history on the 1st of February '98. At the same time, Fortitudo runs in EuroLeague, at one step from the Final Four for two consecutive years.
1998/99 means a lot of changements for Fortitudo, who try to give start to its future, and the team arrives at the Final Four of EuroLeague in Munich, while in the Championship and Italy Cup arrives at one only shot to reach the finals.
We are at the last present, 1999/2000, the most incredible season ever: after the loss in the third game of the EuroLeague quarterfinals against Maccabi Tel Aviv, the team reacts at its best and goes straight on to the victory in the Championship.

 

 

 

 

 

 

National Championship
1999/00

 

National Cup
1997/98

 

EUROLEAGUE [ Home | Teams | Logo | Calendar |competition ]

 

Copyright © 2000, ULEB. All Rights Reserved.


LEGA, Italia PLK, Poland BLB, Belgium LCB, Portugal LNB, France HEBA, Greece BBL, England ACB, Spain LNBA, Switzerland