PBC Academic
BC Academic Metropol Region (Bulgarian: БК "Академик" Метропол-Рийджън) is a reestablished Bulgarian professional basketball club based in the capital Sofia.
| Academic Metropol-Region | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Nickname | Metropol (Метропол) | ||
| Leagues | BBL | ||
| Founded | 1947 | ||
| History | PBC Academic (1947–2020) | ||
| Arena | Universiada Hall | ||
| Capacity | 4000 | ||
| Location | Sofia, Bulgaria | ||
| Team colors | Yellow and Blue | ||
| President | Viktor Vladov | ||
| Team manager | Viktor Vladov, Georgi Petrov | ||
| Head coach | Eduard Valchev | ||
| Championships | 26 Bulgarian Leagues 11 Bulgarian Cups 1 Bulgarian Super Cups 1 International Students' Cup | ||
| Website | |||
|  | |||
In April 2022, Academic has been reborn and rebranded by the new owners, the German-Bulgarian ex-professional basketball players Viktor Vladov and Georgi Petrov.
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]
They played their home games at the Universiade Hall.
After the rebranding and reestablishing to "BC Academic Metropol Region" in April 2022, the club will compete in the Bulgarian A-Grupa in season 2022/23.[2]
The club colours have been changed to dark blue and yellow, as of being more applieable to the traditional colours of Academic.
Manager Board and Sponsors
    
The main owner of the club is the former professional basketball player Viktor Vladov (profession: banker).
Followed up by the manager board members Georgi Petrov, Emmanuel Tady and Mario Yurukov.
Additional founding members are: Plamen Martinov, Nikolay Petkov and Stanislav Michev.
The sponsors are also visible on the jersey and up to date are only minority sponsors with small amounts:
"Porto Greco" Restaurant (Plovdiv, BUL), "Bryagovo Milk", "FruitCorrect", "bling Entertainment", "bikecity", "HCPKS" and "Idea Dent".
The team has also a non-profit with 2K to be implemented in NBA 2K22 and NBA 2K23 PlayStation 5 exclusive Add-Ons, which add various clubs from Europe to the videogame.
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.[3] Consequently, Academic sent its top players to Levski.
In 2022, Viktor Vladov and Georgi Petrov helped Academic to reborn its basketball team. The record champion of Bulgaria will restart from the season 2022/23 in the Bulgarian A Grupa.[4]
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
    
- 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 Eurocup | RS | 4–6 | ||
| 2014–15 | 1 | NBL | 1st | 31–4 | Runner-up | 3 EuroChallenge | RS | 2–4 | 
| 2015–16 | 1 | NBL | 1st | 33–2 | Runner-up | 3 FIBA Europe Cup | R2 | 5–7 | 
| 2016–17 | 1 | NBL | 1st | 28–7 | Runner-up | 3 Champions League | QR2 | 1–1 | 
| 4 FIBA Europe Cup | R2 | 7–5 | ||||||
| 2017–18 | 1 | NBL | 6th | 10-14 | 1/4 Final | 3 Champions League | QR3 | 2–2 | 
| 4 FIBA Europe Cup | RS | 2–4 | ||||||
| 2018-19 | 1 | NBL | 8th | 4-20 | Semifinalist | |||
| 2019-20 | 1 | NBL | 5th | 9-11 | 1/4 Final | |||
| 2020-21 | ||||||||
| 2021-22 | NALB Cup 21/22 | |||||||
| 2022-23 | 2 | BBL A Grupa[5] | ||||||
Current roster
    
Note: Flags indicate national team eligibility at FIBA-sanctioned events. Players may hold other non-FIBA nationality not displayed.
| BC Academic Metropol Region roster | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Players | Coaches | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 
 | 
 
 
 
 
 
 Updated: 5 May 2022 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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: 
 | 
 Lyubomir Panov Lyubomir Panov
 Chavdar Kostov Chavdar Kostov
 Georgi Panov Georgi Panov
 Viktor Radev Viktor Radev
 Nikola Ilov Nikola Ilov
 Hristo Nikolov Hristo Nikolov
 Mihail Semov Mihail Semov
 Petar Lazarov Petar Lazarov
 Dimitar Sahanikov Dimitar Sahanikov
 Georgi Barzakov Georgi Barzakov
 Nikola Atanasov Nikola Atanasov
 Atanas Golomeev Atanas Golomeev
 Temelaki Dimitrov Temelaki Dimitrov
 Stefan Filipov Stefan Filipov
 Slavey Raychev Slavey Raychev
 Vladimir Boyanov Vladimir Boyanov
 Charles Jones Charles Jones
 Lamont Jones Lamont Jones
   Donta Smith Donta Smith
 Lamont Mack Lamont Mack
 Dominic James Dominic James
 Travis Peterson Travis Peterson
 Antonio Burks Antonio Burks
   Willie Deane Willie Deane
   Priest Lauderdale Priest Lauderdale
 Bryant Smith Bryant Smith
 Larry O'Bannon Larry O'Bannon
 Dee Brown Dee Brown
 Taliek Brown Taliek Brown
 Brandon Heath Brandon Heath
 Killian Larson Killian Larson
 David Simon David Simon
 Anthony Beane Anthony Beane
 Danny Gibson Danny Gibson
 Stephen Zack Stephen Zack
 Melsahn Basabe Melsahn Basabe
 Pero Antić Pero Antić
 Riste Stefanov Riste Stefanov
 Gjorgji Čekovski Gjorgji Čekovski
 Damjan Stojanovski Damjan Stojanovski
 Thomas Massamba Thomas Massamba
 Kenny Adeleke Kenny Adeleke
 Kaspars Kambala Kaspars Kambala
 Mohamed Abukar Mohamed Abukar
 Kieron Achara Kieron Achara
 Mate Skelin Mate Skelin
 Željko Šakić Željko Šakić
 Jure Lalić Jure Lalić
 Nenad Čanak Nenad Čanak
 Nikola Dragović Nikola Dragović
 Bojan Popović Bojan Popović
 Slavko Stefanović Slavko Stefanović
 Branislav Ratkovica Branislav Ratkovica
 Saša Zagorac Saša Zagorac
 Filip Barović Filip Barović
Head coaches
    
 Bozhidar Takev Bozhidar Takev
 Veselin Temkov Veselin Temkov
 Neycho Neychev Neycho Neychev
 Tsvetan Zhelyazkov Tsvetan Zhelyazkov
 Petko Marinov Petko Marinov
 Željko Lukajić Željko Lukajić
 Marin Dokuzovski Marin Dokuzovski
 Eduard Valchev Eduard Valchev
References
    
- "Академик А1 прекрати дейност". basketball.bg. 16 September 2020. Retrieved 13 October 2020.
- "Нов проект на име Академик атакува българския баскетбол". Sportal.bg (in Bulgarian). Retrieved 2022-05-04.
- "Lukoil Bulgaria is the new sponsor of Levski". Sportando.com. 2 January 2018. Retrieved 2 January 2018.
- "Нов проект на име Академик атакува българския баскетбол". Sportal.bg (in Bulgarian). Retrieved 2022-05-04.
- "Академик - Метропол с нова заявка за силно представяне в ББЛ". Sportal.bg (in Bulgarian). Retrieved 2022-05-04.
External links
    
- Lukoil Academic at Basketball-bg.com (in Bulgarian)
- Lukoil Academic at BulgarianBasket.com (in English)
- Eurobasket.com PBC Academic Lukoil Page






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