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 competes in the Bulgarian A-Grupa.
History
Basketball club Academic Sofia was founded in 1947 as a part of the students' sports association, Academic. Under coach Bozhidar Takev, they were twice finalists in the European Championships against Rīgas ASK in 1958 and 1959.
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.
Honours Domestic competitions Bulgarian League 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 Bulgarian Cup Winners (11): 1952, 1954, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2011, 2012, 2013 Bulgarian Basketball Super Cup Winners (1): 2016 Runners-up (1): 2017
European competitions EuroLeague Runners-up (2): 1958, 1958–59 FIBA Europe Conference South Winners(1): 2003
Worldwide competitions International Students' Cup Winners (1): 1957
Season by season SeasonTierLeagueBulgarian CupEuropean competitions2013–141NBL2nd 2 Eurocup 4–62014–151NBL1st31–4Runners-up3 EuroChallenge 2–42015–161NBL1st33–2Runners-up3 FIBA Europe Cup 5–72016–171NBL1st28–7Runners-up3 Champions League 1–14 FIBA Europe Cup 7–52017–181NBL6th10-141/4 final3 Champions League 2–24 FIBA Europe Cup 2–42018-191NBL8th4-20Semifinalist2019-201NBL5th9-111/4 final2020-212021-22NALB Cup 2022-232BBL A Grupa
Notable players
Lyubomir Panov Chavdar Kostov Georgi Panov Viktor Radev Hristo Nikolov Petar Lazarov Nikola Atanasov Atanas Golomeev Stefan Filipov Slavey Raychev Charles Jones Lamont Jones Donta Smith Lamont Mack Dominic James Travis Peterson Antonio Burks Willie Deane Priest Lauderdale Bryant Smith Larry O'Bannon Dee Brown Taliek Brown Brandon Heath Killian Larson David Simon Anthony Beane Danny Gibson Stephen Zack Melsahn Basabe Pero Antić Riste Stefanov Gjorgji Čekovski Damjan Stojanovski Thomas Massamba Kenny Adeleke Kaspars Kambala Kieron Achara Mate Skelin Željko Šakić Jure Lalić Nenad Čanak Nikola Dragović Bojan Popović Slavko Stefanović Branislav Ratkovica Saša Zagorac Filip Barović
Head coaches Bozhidar Takev Veselin Temkov Neycho Neychev Tsvetan Zhelyazkov Petko Marinov Željko Lukajić Marin Dokuzovski Eduard Valchev
References
External links Lukoil Academic at Basketball-bg.com Lukoil Academic at BulgarianBasket.com Eurobasket.com PBC Academic Lukoil Page