Astana Basketball Club ( kk, Astana Basketbol Kluby), commonly referred to as BC Astana, is a Kazakh professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

club that is based in

Astana Astana, previously known as Akmolinsk, Tselinograd, Akmola, and most recently Nur-Sultan, is the capital city of Kazakhstan. The city lies on the banks of the Ishim (river), Ishim River in the north-central part of Kazakhstan, within the Akmo ...

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...

. Founded in 2011, it has competed in the

Kazakhstan Basketball Championship The Kazakhstan Basketball Championship (russian: Чемпионата Казахстана по баскетболу) is the highest professional basketball league in Kazakhstan, it is organised by the National Basketball Federation Kazakhstan. Its ...

and the

VTB United League VTB United League (russian: Единая Лига ВТБ) is an international professional men's club basketball list of basketball leagues, league that was founded in 2008. It is made up of mostly Russian clubs, along with one each from Belarus an ...

since, obtaining a slew of domestic titles in the process.

History

BC Astana was created in March 2011, with the aim of competing in the

Valery Tikhonenko Valeri Tikhonenko (russian: Валерий Алексеевич Тихоненко; born 19 August 1964) is a retired Soviet and Russian professional basketball player and coach. During his playing career, he played at the small forward and power ...

was chosen as the team's general director. There were doubts expressed by other clubs in the VTB United League, about whether or not the club would be a good addition to the competition, due to the lack of basketball tradition in Kazakhstan; but the side answered all the admission requirements, including their budget, stadium (a revamped

Saryarka Velodrome The Saryarka Velodrome ( kk, Сарыарқа велотрегі, ''Saryarqa velotregi''; russian: Велотрек Сарыарка) is an indoor cycle-racing track or velodrome that is located in Astana, Kazakhstan. Constructed in the shape of ...

) and the proximity of hotels, and an international airport. The side received the totality of its funding from the

Samruk-Kazyna Samruk-Kazyna ( kk, Самұрық-Қазына, translit=Samūryq-Qazyna), officially known as the National Welfare Fund "Samruk-Kazyna" ( kk, «Самұрық-Қазына» ұлттық әл-ауқат қоры» Акционерлік Қо� ...

sovereign wealth fund. They would sign a number of Kazakhstani players from successful side

Astana Tigers Tigers Astana Basketball Club ( kk, Zholbarystar Astana Basketbol Kluby) or more commonly Astana Tigers ( kk, Astana Zholbarystary) is a Kazakh basketball club based in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan. Founded in 2000, the club competed in the Kazakhst ...

, also recruiting their

head coach A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches. In some sports, the head coach is instead called the "manager", as in assoc ...

, Vitaly Strebkov, to serve as the team's assistant coach. In their first season in the VTB United regional league, the team from Kazakhstan won 7 games out of 16 during 2011–12 regular season, including games against strong sides, such as Žalgiris and the defending title holders,

Khimki Khimki ( rus, Химки, p=ˈxʲimkʲɪ) is a city in Moscow Oblast, Russia, 18.25 kilometres northwest of central Moscow, and immediately beyond the Moscow city boundary. History Origins and formation Khimki was initially a railway station tha ...

, nearly reaching the playoffs. They had more success on the domestic front, winning the Kazakhstani national domestic league championship, and the Kazakhstani Cup. The team became a part of the

Astana Presidential Club The 'Astana' Presidential Club ( kk, Astana Prezidenttik Kluby) is a multi-sports club established under the initiative of Nursultan Nazarbayev in 2012. The main aim of the Club is to support and develop professional sports and sports of high achi ...

multi-sports club A sports club or sporting club, sometimes an athletics club or sports society or sports association, is a group of people formed for the purpose of playing sports. Sports clubs range from organisations whose members play together, unpaid, and ...

, when it was formed in December 2012.

Arenas

BC Astana plays its home basketball games at the

, which has a

seating capacity Seating capacity is the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, in terms of both the physical space available, and limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile that ...

of 10,000 people for basketball games. There is also a possibility to play games at newly built (2019) martial arts palace Zhekpe-zhek with capacity of 5000 people in the stands.

Logos

BC Astana Logo.png, Logo (2011–2017) BC Astana 2017 logo.png, Logo (2017–2022) BC Astana 2022 logo.png, Logo (2022–present)

Players

Current roster

Depth chart

Season by season

Trophies and awards

: **Winner (10): 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 *

Kazakhstan Basketball Cup The Kazakhstan Basketball Cup () is the national men's professional basketball cup competition in the country of Kazakhstan. It is organised annually over a few days in a single location by the National Basketball Federation Kazakhstan. Its offic ...

: **Winner (9): 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 *

FIBA Asia Champions Cup The FIBA Asia Champions Cup, previously known as the Asian Basketball Confederation (ABC) Champions Cup until 2002, is the Asian club championship for professional basketball. It is organised by FIBA Asia, and takes place once a year (since 199 ...

: ** ''Bronze (1)'': 2017

Head coaches

Matteo Boniciolli Matteo Boniciolli (born 18 April 1962) is an Italian basketball coach of APU Udine in the Italian Serie A2. He has been a head coach since 1999, guiding several clubs in Italy and abroad to titles, also having taken charge of the Italian nati ...

: (2011–13) * Aleksandar Trifunović: (2013–15) *

Ramūnas Butautas Ramūnas Butautas (born 22 May 1964 in Kaunas) is a Lithuanian professional basketball coach who last coached Lietkabelis Panevėžys of the Lithuanian Basketball League. He is the son of Stepas Butautas. In 2017, Butautas was elected as the he ...

: (2015–16) * Ilias Papatheodorou: (2016–17) *

Kostas Flevarakis Kostas Flevarakis ( el, Κώστας Φλεβαράκης; born 24 May 1969) is a Greek professional basketball coach, currently serving as head coach for Kosovo team KB Ylli. Coaching career After coaching in the junior teams of PAOK from 1988 ...

: (2017–2018) * Mikhail Karpenko: (2018) * Emil Rajković: (2018–2021) *

Darko Ruso Darko Ruso ( sr-cyr, Дарко Русо; born 28 March 1962) is a Serbian professional basketball coach who is the current head coach for BC Avtodor of the VTB United League and the Kazakhstan Championship. Coaching career In June 2021, Astan ...

: (2021–2022) * Dejan Parežanin: (2022–present)

Notable players

:To appear in this section a player must have either: - Set a club record or won an individual award as a professional player.
- Played at least one official international match for his senior national team. * Jerry Johnson *

Rustam Murzagaliyev Rustam Murzagalyiev (born 24 May 1992) is a Kazakh professional basketball player, currently with BC Astana of the VTB United League and the Kazakhstan Basketball Championship. He represented Kazakhstan's national basketball team at the 2017 FI ...

* Anton Ponomarev * Anatoliy Kolesnikov *

Jānis Blūms Jānis Blūms (born 20 April 1982) is a former Latvian professional basketball player. Standing at , Blūms played both point guard and shooting guard positions. He also served as the captain of the Latvian national basketball team. Player care ...

Rašid Mahalbašić Rašid Mahalbašić (born 7 November 1990) is a Slovenian-born Austrian professional basketball player for CB Miraflores, San Pablo Burgos of the Spanish LEB Oro. Standing at , he can play at Power forward (basketball), power forward and Center (ba ...

Ivan Paunić Ivan Paunić ( sr-cyr, Иван Паунић; born January 27, 1987) is a Serbian professional basketball player for Russian team PBC Lokomotiv-Kuban, Lokomotiv Kuban of the VTB United League, and of the EuroCup Basketball, EuroCup until the team ...

Leonidas Kaselakis Leonidas Kaselakis (Greek: Λεωνίδας Κασελάκης; born June 1, 1990) is a Greek professional basketball player and the team captain for Peristeri of the Greek Basket League. He is a 2.02 m (6 ft 7 in) tall, 109 kg (240&nb ...

Dimitrios Katsivelis Dimitrios Katsivelis (alternate spelling: Dimitris) (Greek: Δημήτρης Κατσίβελης; born October 1, 1991) is a Greek professional basketball player for Kolossos Rodou of the Greek Basket League. He is a 1.98 m (6 ft 6") tall, ...

* Dmitriy Gavrilov * Justin Carter * Anthony Clemmons *

Ojārs Siliņš Ojārs Siliņš (born 20 July 1993) is a Latvian professional basketball player for Stal Ostrów Wielkopolski of the Polish Basketball League (PLK). He plays the small forward and power forward positions. Professional career Siliņš made his pr ...

References and notes

External links

Official websiteEurobasket.com Team Profile
{{Astana Presidential Club Astana Presidential Club Basketball teams established in 2011 2011 establishments in Kazakhstan Basketball teams in Astana