Victoria Libertas (also known as "VL" or in Italian Vuelle), full name Unione Sportiva Victoria Libertas Pallacanestro, is a professional basketball team that is based in Pesaro, Italy. The club competes in the second level Italian professional basketball league, the Serie A2. It was commonly known across Europe as Scavolini Pesaro, from the name of its historical main sponsor Scavolini (from 1975 to 2014), an Italian kitchen and bathroom products designer and manufacturer, whose co-founder Valter Scavolini was formerly club president. For past club sponsorship names, see the list below.
History Victoria Libertas was officially founded in 1946 and had its best seasons during the 1980s. After being among the top teams in Italy for decades, Victoria Libertas under the name Scavolini Pesaro, won its first important trophy the 1982–83 FIBA European Cup Winners' Cup, rival the historic French club of ASVEL. Also Scavolini, participated in consecutive lost finals in 1985–86 against the title holder FC Barcelona and in 1986–87 against Cibona. Since then, Italian League was won twice (in 1988 and 1990), and the Italian Cup was also won twice (in 1985 and 1992). Scavolini participated in 1990–91 FIBA European Champions Cup, and managed to play in the semi-final of the Final Four in Paris where the club eliminated by the legendary Pop 84 (the former Jugoplastika) and ranked fourth after one more defeat in the third place game by Maccabi Tel Aviv. The two lost finals in the FIBA Korać Cup in 1990 (against Ram Joventut) and in 1992 (against il Messaggero Roma) show the dynamic of the club and at the beginning of the new decade. In recent years, Victoria Libertas was among the best European teams, having played the Euroleague in 2001–02 and 2004–05 seasons. In 2004–05 it unexpectedly got to the Euroleague Top-8 and was defeated in the quarter finals by the eventual champion Maccabi Tel Aviv. Furthermore, Victoria Libertas shooting guard, Charles Smith, was honored with the first-ever Euroleague's Alphonso Ford Top Scorer Trophy,Euroleague.net named after the late Euroleague scoring champ who died in 2004 and who was replaced in Victoria Libertas by Smith himself.
Recent history
In July 2005, as a consequence of the poor administration of the previous two seasons, Victoria Libertas failed to remain within the parameters required to join the Italian Basketball League and wound up. Pesaro's second team, Falco Spar, agreed with former Victoria Libertas president Valter Scavolini to join forces to invest in a team to bring back Victoria Libertas to Italian First Division (Lega Basket Serie A).
The new team, named Scavolini Gruppo Spar (or simply Scavolini-Spar), played the 2005–06 season in the Italian Third Division (B1). Owners' target resulted in Scavolini-Spar having large amounts of money at its disposal compared with the other teams of the league. Players from the upper divisions were enrolled, star Carlton Myers among them, which lead the team to win the league and gain promotion to the Second Division (LegaDue).
In 2006–07 Scavolini-Spar won the LegaDue playoff series, lining up players such as Carlton Myers, Rodney White (9th overall pick of the 2001 NBA draft), Mindaugas Žukauskas (captain of the Lithuanian national basketball team) and Michael Hicks (Panamian national team star). The team was therefore promoted, for the second straight year, to play the Lega Basket Serie A 2007–08 league.
Following the 2009–10 season, Spar's secondary sponsorship contract expired. The club picked up a new secondary sponsor in Italian clothing company Siviglia, thereby changing its full sponsored name to Scavolini Siviglia Style Pesaro (more simply Scavolini Siviglia Pesaro). The club changed its secondary sponsorship again with the expiration of Siviglia's contract at the end of the 2011–12 season, becoming Scavolini Banca Marche Pesaro.
From the 2014–15 season the historical sponsor Scavolini was replaced (for the first time since 1975) by the new main sponsor Consultinvest, whereby the name of the team became Consultinvest Pesaro. Since 2019 summer the new club naming is Carpegna Prosciutto Basket Pesaro thanks to the relationship with the new Title Sponsor Prosciutto di Carpegna.
Players Current roster
Honours Total titles: 5
Domestic competitions Italian League Winners (2): 1987–88, 1989–90 Runners-up (4): 1981–82, 1984–85, 1991–92, 1993–94 Italian Cup Winners (2): 1984–85, 1991–92 Runner-up (5): 1985–86, 1986–87, 2000–01, 2003–04, 2021 Italian Supercup Runners-up (1): 2001
European competitions EuroLeague 4th place (1): 1990–91 Final Four (1): 1991 FIBA Saporta Cup (defunct) Winners (1): 1982–83 Runners-up (2): 1985–86, 1986–87 Semifinalists (2): 1983–84, 1987–88 FIBA Korać Cup (defunct) Runners-up (2): 1989–90, 1991–92 FIBA EuroChallenge 4th place (1): 2009–10 Final Four (1): 2010
Worldwide competitions McDonald's Championship (defunct) 4th place (2): 1988, 1990
Other competitions FIBA International Christmas Tournament (defunct) 4th place (1): 1996 Torneo de Vasco Martini-Castelfiorentino Winners (1): 2007
International record Season Achievement Notes EuroLeague 1988–89 Quarter-finals 6th place in a group with Maccabi Tel Aviv, FC Barcelona, Jugoplastika, Aris, Limoges, CSKA Moscow and Nashua EBBC 1990–91 Final Four 4th place in Paris, lost to Pop 84 87–93 in the semi-final, lost to Maccabi Tel Aviv 81–83 in the 3rd place game 1992–93 Quarter-finals eliminated 2-1 by Benetton Treviso, 94-92 (W) in Pesaro, 94-101 (L) and 58-77 (L) in Treviso 1994–95 Quarter-finals eliminated 2-1 by Limoges, 68-55 (W) in Pesaro, 66-79 (L) and 72-82 (L) in Limoges 2000–01 Quarter-finals eliminated 2-0 by Maccabi Tel Aviv, 69-80 (L) in Tel Aviv and 77-84 (L) in Pesaro 2004–05 Quarter-finals eliminated 2-0 by Maccabi Tel Aviv, 60-88 (L) in Tel Aviv and 100-103 (L) in Pesaro FIBA Saporta Cup 1982–83 Champions defeated ASVEL 111–99 in the final of European Cup Winners' Cup in Palma de Mallorca 1983–84 Semi-finals eliminated by Simac Milano, 76–78 (L) in Pesaro and 80-90 (L) in Milan 1985–86 Final lost to FC Barcelona 86–101 in the final (Caserta) 1986–87 Final lost to Cibona 74–89 in the final (Novi Sad) 1987–88 Semi-finals eliminated by Limoges, 86–102 (L) in Limoges and 93-91 (W) in Pesaro FIBA Korać Cup 1989–90 Final lost to Ram Joventut, 98–99 (L) in Pesaro and 86-96 (L) in Badalona in the double finals of Korać Cup 1991–92 Final lost to il Messaggero Roma, 94–94 (D) in Rome and 86-99 (L) in Pesaro in the double finals of Korać Cup 1993–94 Quarter-finals eliminated by PAOK Bravo, 82-66 (W) in Pesaro and 58-96 (L) in Thessaloniki 1995–96 Quarter-finals eliminated by Teamsystem Bologna, 81-84 (L) in Pesaro and 89-100 (L) in Bologna FIBA EuroChallenge 2009–10 Final Four 4th place in Göttingen, lost to Krasnye Krylya Samara 70–73 in the semi-final, lost to Chorale Roanne 80–86 in the 3rd place game McDonald's Championship 1988 4th 4th place in Madrid, lost to Real Madrid 96–108 in the semi-final, lost to Yugoslavia 91–100 in the 3rd place game 1990 4th 4th place in Barcelona, lost to New York Knicks 115–119 in the semi-final, lost to FC Barcelona 105–106 in the 3rd place game
Logos
Arena and supporters In 1996 Victoria Libertas moved from the historic "hangar" arena into the new BPA Palas arena (today: Vitrifrigo Arena) which now hosts its home games. Drawing large audiences from nearby towns and the whole Marche region, in mid 2000s Victoria Libertas was among the top ten basketball teams in Europe for average attendance.
Notable players
Sandro Dell'Agnello 2 seasons: '94-'96 Paolo Conti 5 seasons: '95-'00 Ario Costa 12 seasons: '84-'96 Franco Bertini Vincenzo Esposito 2 seasons: '96-'98 Andrea Gracis 11 seasons: '83-'94 Walter Magnifico 19 seasons: '80-'96, '98-'01 Sandro Riminucci Antonello Riva 2 seasons: '94-'96 Mike Sylvester 6 season: '80-'86 Renzo Vecchiato 2 seasons: '87-'89 Jason Smith 1 season: '01 Peter Guarasci 3 seasons: '96-'99 Andrés Guibert 1 season: '97-'98 Henri Drell 3 seasons: '19-'22 Hanno Möttölä 1 season: '04-'05 Teemu Rannikko 2 seasons: '03-'05 Yann Bonato 1 season: '97-'98 Robert Archibald 1 season: '04-'05 Mindaugas Žukauskas 3 seasons: '06-'09 Tautvydas Lydeka 3 seasons: '10-'12 – '15-'16 Simas Jasaitis 1 season: '16-'17 Donatas Zavackas 1 season: '16-'17 Egidijus Mockevičius 2 season: '18-'19 – '23-'24 Miroslav Berić 2 seasons: '01-'03 Aleksandar Đorđević 2 seasons: '03-'05 Marko Milič 2 seasons: '03-'05 Marko Tušek 2 seasons: '00-'02 Željko Jerkov 1 seasons: '82-'83 Dragan Kićanović 2 seasons: '81-'83 Aleksandar Petrović 1 season: '87-'88 Greg Ballard 1 season: '87-'88 Joseph Blair 2 seasons: '99-'00, '01-'02 Myron Brown 1 season: '98-'99 Melvin Booker 4 seasons: '97-'98, '99-'02 Darwin Cook 3 seasons: '87-'88, '89-'91 Lloyd Daniels 1 season: '95-'96 Tony Dawson 1 season: '98-'99 Todd Day 1 season: '97-'98 Darren Daye 5 seasons: '87-'92 Larry Drew 1 season: '88-'89 Alphonso Ford † 1 season: '03-'04(his last team before his untimely death onSeptember 4, 2004) Corey Gaines 1 season: '94-'95 Dean Garrett 2 seasons: '93-'95 Chris Gatling 1 season: '02-'03 DeMarco Johnson 2 seasons: '00-'02 George McCloud 1 season: '93-'94 Aaron McGhee 1 season: '02-'03 Scoonie Penn 1 season: '04-'05 Norm Richardson 1 season: '02-'03 Charles Smith 1 season: '04-'05 Kevin Thompson 2 seasons: '95-'97 James White 1 season: '11-'12 Rodney White 1 season: '06-'07 Haywoode Workman 2 seasons: '91-'93 Austin Daye 1 season: '15-'16
Head coaches Petar Skansi 2 seasons: '81-'82, '82-'83 Aleksandar Nikolić 1 season: '83-'84 Don Casey 1 season: '84-'85 Valerio Bianchini 5 seasons: '87-'88, '88-'89, '93-'94, '94-'95, '95-'96 Sergio Scariolo 2 seasons: '89-'90, '90-'91 Duško Vujošević 1 season: '97-'98 Marco Crespi 2 seasons: '02-'03, '04-'05 Piero Bucchi 1 season: '16-17 Spiro Leka 1 season '17-'18 Massimo Galli 1 season '18-'19 Matteo Boniciolli 1 season '19 Federico Perego 1 season '19-present
Sponsorship names In the past, due to sponsorship deals, it has also been known as:Lega A Basket page on history of Victoria Libertas.
Benelli Pesaro (1952–58) Lanco Pesaro (1958–61) Algor Pesaro (1961–63) Butangas Pesaro (1966–69) Frizz Pelmo Pesaro (1969–70) Tropicali Pesaro (1970–71) Maxmobili Pesaro (1971–75) Scavolini Pesaro (1975–2014) Consultinvest Pesaro (2014–2017) No Main Sponsor (2017–2019) Carpegna Prosciutto Basket Pesaro (2019–2025) No Main Sponsor (2025–2019)
References
External links Official Site Eurobasket.com Team Page Previous Season Stats (LegaBasket 2007–08) Latest Stats (LegaBasket 2008–09)