PBC Academic

PBC Academic (Bulgarian: ПБК "Академик") was a Bulgarian professional basketball club based in the capital Sofia. They played their home games at the Universiade Hall or at the Pravets sports complex.

Academic Sofia
NicknameThe Students (Студентите)
LeaguesNBL
Founded1947 (1947)
Dissolved2020 (2020)
HistoryPBC Academic
(1947–2020)
ArenaSport Complex Pravets
Capacity550
LocationSofia, Bulgaria
Team colorsWhite and Red
   
PresidentValentin Zlatev
Team managerRumen Guninsky
Head coachGeorgi Davidov
Championships26 Bulgarian Leagues
11 Bulgarian Cups
1 Bulgarian Super Cups
1 International Students' Cup
Website

Founded in 1947 as part of the Academic Sofia sports club, they have won the championship of Bulgaria 26 times, won the Bulgarian Cup 11 times and won the Bulgarian Super Cup 1 time. Among their international honours are two FIBA European Champions Cup finals (both lost to Rīgas ASK) in 1958 and 1959 and an International Students' Cup in 1957.

In 2000, the team were renamed Lukoil Academic as a sponsorship deal was signed with Russian oil giant Lukoil, and quickly established themselves as dominant in the Bulgarian Championship. Since then they have been a regular ULEB Cup participant, and won the FIBA Europe Regional Challenge Cup Conference South in 2003.

In September 2020, Academic withdrew from the NBL and announced that it will no longer maintain a professional team.[1]

History

Basketball club Academic Sofia was founded in 1947 as a part of the students' sports association Academic and during its history of more than half a century it has won a just place among the best teams in the country. Under the guidance of ones of the most experienced coaches in Bulgarian basketball - Bozhidar Takev, Veselin Temkov, Neycho Neychev, Tzvetan Zheliazkov, Petko Marinov, etc., BC Academic is 20 times republic champion and nine times winner of the Bulgarian Cup. Along with the titles in the domestic championships and tournaments, naturally comes the international recognition. The basketball players of Academic have successfully played in the tournaments for the Cup of the European champions. With the coach Bozhidar Takev they were twice finalists against Rīgas ASK in 1958 and 1959. In 1957 in Paris the team of Academic became the world's students champion. During its entire existence basketball club Academic has always been a school for the professional improvement and constructive contribution of some of the best Bulgarian basketball players. Stars like Liubomir Panov, Georgi Panov, Viktor Radev, Nikola Ilov, Mihail Semov. Petar Lazarov, Dimitar Sahanikov, Georgi Barzakov, Nikola Atanasov, Atanas Golomeev, Temelaki Dimitrov, Stefan Filipov, Slavei Raychev, Vladimir Boyanov have left their permanent marks in the history of the Bulgarian basketball.

The excellent training of the Academic players and their complete devotion to the game have always been highly evaluated by our national basketball selectionists. Direct participants in the glorious moments of the Bulgarian basketball - the fifth place at the Olympic Games in Melbourne - 1956 and the vice-champion's title at the European Championship - Sofia'57 are the national players Liubomir Panov, Georgi Panov, Viktor Radev, Nikola Ilov, Mihail Semov, Petar Lazarov.

The glorious tradition of the club was revived again in 2000 when Lukoil Bulgaria became the main sponsor of the team. The selection of Lukoil Academic was oriented towards young and talented players, who under the clever guidance of the senior coach Petko Marinov and his assistants built the youngest team in the republican basketball. Renewed was also the work at the adolescents school of the club, from which some players have already shown considerable success at the home championships. The long-term strategy of Lukoil Academic has shown its first results already in season 2001–02. The talented players of Petko Marinov won the cup of the country and played the most attractive final in the play-offs in the championship for the last ten years. Today the name of Lukoil Academic is again a symbol of good basketball. The ambitions of the club are the republican champion's title and the good performance at the European club tournaments.

In 2018, Lukoil announced its sponsor deal with Levski Sofia, while leaving Academic with a smaller budget.[2] Consequently, Academic sent its top players to Levski.

Honours

Domestic competitions
Winners (26): 1957, 1958, 1959, 1963, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1976, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2015 , 2016, 2017
Winners (11): 1952, 1954, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2011, 2012, 2013
Winners (1): 2016
Runners-up (1): 2017

European competitions
Runners-up (2): 1958, 1958–59
Winners(1): 2003

Worldwide competitions
  • International Students' Cup
Winners (1): 1957

Season by season
Season Tier League Pos. W–L Bulgarian Cup European competitions
2013–14 1 NBL 2nd 2 EurocupRS4–6
2014–15 1 NBL 1st 31–4 Runner-up 3 EuroChallengeRS2–4
2015–16 1 NBL 1st 33–2 Runner-up 3 FIBA Europe CupR25–7
2016–17 1 NBL 1st 28–7 Runner-up 3 Champions LeagueQR21–1
4 FIBA Europe CupR27–5
2017–18 1 NBL 3 Champions LeagueQR32–2
4 FIBA Europe CupRS2–4

Current roster

Note: Flags indicate national team eligibility at FIBA sanctioned events. Players may hold other non-FIBA nationality not displayed.

PBC Lukoil Academic roster
PlayersCoaches
Pos.No.Nat.NameHt.Wt.Age
PG 5 Dimitrov, Lachezar 1.87 m (6 ft 2 in) 80 kg (176 lb) 22 – (1999-08-17)17 August 1999
G/F 8 Alipiev, Ivan (C) 2.00 m (6 ft 7 in) 84 kg (185 lb) 22 – (1999-07-28)28 July 1999
SG 20 Lekov, Nikolay 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in) 84 kg (185 lb) 24 – (1998-03-26)26 March 1998
F/C 11 Mihaylov, Nikolay 2.04 m (6 ft 8 in) 90 kg (198 lb) 21 – (2000-08-15)15 August 2000
F 10 Milov, Aleksandar 1.98 m (6 ft 6 in) 81 kg (179 lb) 26 – (1995-10-15)15 October 1995
G/F 25 Marinov, Marin 2.02 m (6 ft 8 in) 90 kg (198 lb) 21 – (2000-08-09)9 August 2000
F/C 41 Krastanov, Krastan 2.06 m (6 ft 9 in) 22 – (1999-10-06)6 October 1999
SG 3 Penchev, Kamen 21 – (2000-07-10)10 July 2000
PG 4 Damyanov, Georgi 22 – (1999-12-03)3 December 1999
SG 6 Lachezarov, Kostadin 21 – (2000-11-08)8 November 2000
G/F 7 Dimitrov, Krasimir 1.95 m (6 ft 5 in) 85 kg (187 lb) 24 – (1998-02-03)3 February 1998
PF 9 Chernokozhev, Tsvetomir 2.06 m (6 ft 9 in) 93 kg (205 lb) 21 – (2000-06-01)1 June 2000
PG 12 Ivanov, Nikolay 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in) 21 – (2001-02-03)3 February 2001
PF 14 Mirchev, Mario 2.04 m (6 ft 8 in) 94 kg (207 lb) 23 – (1999-03-18)18 March 1999
Head coach
  • Georgi Davidov
Assistant coach(es)
  • Ivan Ivanov
  • Yordan Yankov
Strength & conditioning coach(es)
  • Saša Jakovljević
Physiotherapist(s)
  • Vasil Vasilev
Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • Injured
Updated: 7 January 2018

Notable players

Note: Flags indicate national team eligibility at FIBA sanctioned events. Players may hold other non-FIBA nationality not displayed.

Criteria

To appear in this section a player must have either:

  • Set a club record or won an individual award while at the club.
  • Played at least one official international match for their national team at any time.
  • Played at least one official NBA match at any time.

Head coaches

References
  1. "Академик А1 прекрати дейност". basketball.bg. 16 September 2020. Retrieved 13 October 2020.
  2. "Lukoil Bulgaria is the new sponsor of Levski". Sportando.com. 2 January 2018. Retrieved 2 January 2018.
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