| Academic Metropol-Region | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Nickname | Metropol (Метропол) | ||
| Leagues | BBL | ||
| Founded | 1947 | ||
| History | PBC Academic (1947–2020) | ||
| Arena | Universiada Hall [1] | ||
| 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 | [2] | ||
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BC Academic Metropol Region (Bulgarian: БК "Академик" Метропол-Рийджън) 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.[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.
- ^ "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.