ALBA Berlin comes back to the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague for the first time since 2015. In its last four 7DAYS EuroCup appearances the club has gone up year after year and it shifted gears in 2017 when it signed legendary coach Aito Garcia Reneses. Last season, Aito's second with the team, ALBA roared to a 5-1 start to the regular season with high scoring averages. The Berliners had to deal with important injuries that affected the core of the roster, but a 7-3 mark at the end of the regular season allowed them to place second in Group B. In the Top 16, ALBA dominated again and won Group E, paving the way to bigger things, including an MVP of the season award for Luke Sikma and a Coach of the Year accolade for Aito. ALBA disposed of Unicaja Malaga in quarterfinals 2-1 and then swept the semis against MoraBanc Andorra to set up a repeat from its first EuroCup Finals in 2010: Valencia Basket. ALBA fought, but only managed to win its game at home after a thrilling overtime and Valencia claimed its fourth EuroCup title in Spain. That did not change the fact that ALBA had had a magical run in the competition. In the German League, ALBA landed third in the regular season at 27-7 and in the playoffs, the team plowed through the quarterfinals and semifinals with respective sweeps to face archrival FC Bayern Munich in the decisive round and earn its EuroLeague ticket for 2019-20. Bayern swept the series, but ALBA lost all the games by 5 or fewer points, making it clear that it remains a major contender in Germany.
EuroLeague
EuroCup
Founded in 1989 as BG Charlottenburg, the club changed its name to ALBA two years later and soon started its string of success and its journey to becoming a top-class basketball organization. By raising the 1995 Korac Cup behind Sasa Obradovic, Teo Alibegovic and Coach Svetislav Pesic, ALBA became the first German team to win a European trophy. What followed was dominance on the homefront as Berlin reeled off seven consecutive German League titles. Those triumphs also earned ALBA a regular spot in the EuroLeague, with players like Wendell Alexis, Henrik Rodl and Marco Pesic playing major roles in the dynasty. ALBA made it to the EuroLeague eighthfinals in 1997, 1998 and 2000 and reached the 2001 FIBA SuproLeague quarterfinals. In 2004, ALBA began a run of four straight seasons in the ULEB Cup, during which it made history by winning the longest game recorded in European club competition: a five-overtime 141-127 victory over KK Bosna in December 2007. The club won the German Cup in 2006, before winning the 2008 German League championship. In the 2008-09 EuroLeague, ALBA advanced to the Top 16 for the first time and also lifted the German Cup. ALBA reached the 2010 EuroCup final – cheered on by fans who traveled by car and bus from Berlin due to air traffic problems, but Valencia Basket ended their chances of seeing their team lift the trophy. Former player Obradovic took over as head coach in 2012 and guided ALBA to German Cup triumphs in 2013 and 2014 and more success in the EuroCup. ALBA reached the 2013-14 EuroCup quarterfinals with a 15-3 record and Reggie Redding was named to the All-EuroCup Second Team, but eventual champ Valencia stopped ALBA in the quarterfinals. A year later, the team returned to the EuroLeague and registered Top 16 wins against FC Barcelona, Panathinaikos Athens and Maccabi Tel Aviv to finish the phase with a 7-7 record, but missed out on a EuroLeague playoff berth on a tiebreaker. ALBA won another German Cup in 2016 by beating Bayern in Munich in a thrilling finale. The following season ALBA was initially in the hunt in every competition but finished without any trophies, and in 2018 there was more frustration as ALBA finished close runners-up to Bayern in both the German League and Cup, and was eliminated from the EuroCup in the Top 16. With Aito Garcia Reneses on the bench for the second straight season, 2018-29 was a magical one for ALBA, which battled injuries to roll to the EuroCup Finals, only to fall against Valencia, the same foe from 2010. In domestic action, ALBA rolled through the playoffs only to be suddenly stopped by FC Bayern Munich in the finals, which did not deprive ALBA from a well-deserved EuroLeague berth for the following season. With its rich history, creative front office and passionate fans all bolstering the players, ALBA is ready to get back to the main stage in European basketball for the first time since 2015.
Trophy Case
Korac Cup: 1995 |
German National League: 1996-97, 1997-98, 1998-99, 1999-00, 2000-01, 2001-02, 2002-03, 2007-08 |
German National Cup: 1997, 1999, 2002, 2003, 2006, 2009, 2013, 2014, 2016 |