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Wikipedia / PBC Academic

BC Academic Metropol Region () is a reestablished Bulgarian professional basketball club based in the capital Sofia.

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.

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.

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. Under the guidance of Bozhidar Takev, Veselin Temkov, Neycho Neychev, Tzvetan Zheliazkov, Petko Marinov and others, BC Academic has been republic champion 20 times and won the Bulgarian Cup on 9 occasions. They have additional achieved international success. Under coach Bozhidar Takev, they were twice finalists in the European Championships against Rīgas ASK in 1958 and 1959. In 1957, they became world champions in Paris.

The 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 originated towards young players, who with senior coach Petko Marinov and his assistants built the youngest team in the republican's basketball league. The renewed school was also known for the work by adolescents of the club, for which some players had already shown considerable success at the during home championships. The players of Petko Marinov won the cup of their country and played the most attractive final in the play-offs in the championship, for the last ten years. The modo of the club consists of the republican champion's titles and, the one of the best performances in the European club tournaments.

In 2018, Lukoil announced its sponsor deal with Levski Sofia, while leaving Academic with a smaller budget. 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.

Honours

Domestic competitions

European competitions

Worldwide competitions

  • International Students' Cup

  • Winners (1): 1957

Season by season

Current roster

Notable players

Head coaches

References