Basketball, whichi is Pallacanestro in Italian, is known by Italians for more than decades ago.
They are known as the founders of plenty of associations in the said sport. The History of Basketball in Italy is quite short in terms of how it began. The country became hooked by the sport when one of the club in Siena played basketball in Italy, the Men’s Sana Athletic club.
Because basketball is definitely an exciting sport it is not a wonder that Italians got caught by the sport. Many started practicing and learning the game. The basketball gain its popularity since then, the Italians even had basketball amateur tournaments which are very much awaited by the people there. Basketball has immediately been part of the Italians life, it became their second favorite sport next to soccer.
The Italian Professional League
The Lega Basket Serie A is the major and top league in Italy. It was founded in the year 1920, which was also the year where Italian prfessional basketball began. The Lega Basket Serie A is the highest level club competition in Italian professional basketball where play determines the national champions.
The Lega Basket Serie A is comprised of eighteen dfferent teams from various Italian cities whose teams are known to change sponsorship on a regular basis. The season consists of 30 games, home and away schedule, the eight best teams will be playing for the playoff round. Quarterfinals and semifinals series are best of five, and the finals series is best of seven.
The bottom two clubs are relegated, and replaced by the top team from the regular season phase leagues in the ULEB League Ranking system. The first team to win in the Lega Basket Serie A in 1920 was the SEF Costanza Milano.
The team in the Lega Basket Serie A with the most number of championships is the Olimpia Milano, with a total number of 25 wins in the Lega Basketb Serie A finals. The most recent winner of the league, in 2009-2010, is the team named Siena, and they have been the defending champions since the season 2006-2007. The Lega Basket Serie A is considered as the world’s third most elite basketball league after the National Basketball Associaiton (NBA) and the Spanich league ACB.
Italian National Basketball Team
Italian national basketball team is the national basketball team which represents Italy in Olympics and any other international games. It is governed by the Italian Basketball Federation. The first match of the team was played on April 4, 1926 in Milan and was able to win against France with a score of 23-17.
They first participated in the Olympic Games at the 1936 Summer Olympics which was held in Berlin where they ranked 7th. In the Eurobasket 1937 they got the second place due to being defated by Lithuania by only one point during the final game.
After the end of the World War II the Italian National Team went through the difficult times they did not qualify for two Summer Olympics and three World Championships consecutively. They also had a hard time in the leagues in Europe.
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