Cholet Basket is a 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
Cholet,
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
. The club plays in the
French League The French League (: "French League for purging, mutual aid and European collaboration") was a collaborationist French movement founded by Pierre Costantini in September 1940. Its journal was entitled '' L'Appel''.
Bibliography
* Pierre Phi ...
. Their home arena is
La Meilleraie. Established in 1975, Cholet won its first French championship in the 2009–10 season. In 1998 and 1999, Cholet won the
French Cup.
History
Establishment
The team debuted in the 1st division in the 1987–88 season and after managing to get to the premier league in only 12 years. The team were able to sustain themselves in the league, and were consistently in the top 10 teams having a highly successful youth system. This youth system has allowed the club to produce professional players season after season. After winning the National Cup in 1999, Cholet got automatically qualified for its first participation to the
Euroleague (3 victories – 13 defeats). During the 2004–05 season 10 of the 12 players in the first team derived from the youth system. Some of the most illustrious players who had their debut in the team are
Antoine Rigaudeau,
Jim Bilba
Jim Ruddy Anicet Bilba (born April 17, 1968 in Pointe-Ã -Pitre) is a former professional basketball player and coach, from France.
Professional career
Bilba won the EuroLeague championship with Limoges CSP in 1993.
National team career
Bilba ...
and
Mickaël Gelabale
Mickaël Gelabale (born May 22, 1983) is a French professional basketball player for Élan Chalon of the Pro B. He also represents the France national basketball team internationally. Standing at , he plays either at the small forward position or ...
.
During the 2008–2009 season, Cholet was defeated by
Virtus Bologna in the
EuroChallenge
FIBA EuroChallenge (called the FIBA Europe League in 2003–05, and FIBA EuroCup in 2005–08) was the 3rd-tier level transnational men's professional continental club basketball competition in Europe, from 2003 to 2015. It was organized and run ...
's Final (75–77).
In 2010, Cholet finished 1st of the 2009–2010
Pro A League regular season and won the championship after defeating
Le Mans
Le Mans (, ) is a city in northwestern France on the Sarthe River where it meets the Huisne. Traditionally the capital of the province of Maine, it is now the capital of the Sarthe department and the seat of the Roman Catholic diocese of Le Man ...
in the Play-Offs Final (81–65). Thanks to its national champion title, Cholet is automatically qualified for the 2010–2011
Euroleague season. Cholet was eliminated during the first round (4 victories – 6 defeats) of the 2010–2011 Euroleague after defeating prestigious (and at the time unbeaten)
Fenerbahçe Ülker (82–78).
In 2011, Cholet, defending its title finished 1st again of the
2011-12 Pro A League regular season and was only defeated during the finals by
SLUC Nancy
Stade Lorrain Université Club Nancy Basket, commonly referred to as SLUC Nancy Basket, is a French professional basketball club based in Nancy. The club currently competes in the LNB Pro A, the top league in France, and holds two league titles. S ...
(74-76).
Logos
Youth academy
Cholet Basket is intensively focusing on its Youth Academy to provide players to its professional squad. During the 2004–05 season, 10 of the 12 players of the Pro squad have progressed through the club Youth Academy. It is also one of the only six European clubs to have provided two players to the same
NBA draft in
2009
File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...
, with Rodrigues Beaubois and Nando De Colo beside
Real Madrid
Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid.
Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...
(
2005
File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...
),
Joventut Badalona (
2009
File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...
),
Fenerbahçe Ülker (
2008
File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...
),
KK Partizan
Košarkaški klub Partizan ( sr-Cyrl, Кошаркашки клуб Партизан, English: Partizan Basketball Club), commonly referred to as KK Partizan or simply Partizan, is a professional basketball team based in Belgrade, Serbia. It is ...
(
2002
File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...
) and
Pau-Ortez (
2003
File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...
).
;Notable Players that have progressed through the Cholet Youth Academy (''Espoirs'')
Players
Retired numbers
Current roster
FIBA Hall of Famers
Season by season
Achievements
* French Championship
Pro A:
2010
File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...
*
La Semaine des As Cup
The LNB Pro A Leaders Cup, or French Basketball League Cup, is the annual national league cup competition for teams from the top-tier level of French professional basketball, the LNB Pro A. It was created in its current form in 2003 (after orig ...
: 2008
*
French Cup: 1998, 1999
* Match des Champions (French
Pro A Champion vs
French Cup winner): 2010
* Finalist of
Pro A: 1988, 2011
*
French Cup Finalist: 2005, 2008
* Finalist of the
Tournoi des As Cup
The LNB Pro A Leaders Cup, or French Basketball League Cup, is the annual national league cup competition for teams from the top-tier level of French professional basketball, the LNB Pro A. It was created in its current form in 2003 (after origin ...
: 1988, 1989, 1990 and 1993.
* Champion of Division 2 (now
Pro B): 1986
Notable players
Head coaches
* 1970s: DragoÅŸ Nosievici
* 1987–89: Jean Galle
* 1989–91: Jean-Paul Rebatet
* 1991–95: Laurent Buffard
* 1995–96: Alain Thinet (7 games) then Eric Girard (1 game) then Jean Galle
* 1996–2001: Eric Girard
* 2001–02: Savo Vucević
* 2002–03: Jean-François Martin
* 2003–04:
Erman Kunter
Erman Kunter (born 8 October 1956) is a Turkish-French former professional basketball player and coach. He most recently served as head coach of Galatasaray, of the Turkish Basketball Super League (BSL).
He is well-known for being the player tha ...
* 2004–06:
Ruddy Nelhomme
Ruddy Nelhomme (born March 15, 1972) is a Guadeloupean-French former professional basketball player and coach.
Coaching career Club coaching career
Since 2007, Nelhomme has coached Poitiers Basket 86.
National team coaching career
Since 2010, ...
* 2006–10:
Erman Kunter
Erman Kunter (born 8 October 1956) is a Turkish-French former professional basketball player and coach. He most recently served as head coach of Galatasaray, of the Turkish Basketball Super League (BSL).
He is well-known for being the player tha ...
* 2010–12:
Erman Kunter
Erman Kunter (born 8 October 1956) is a Turkish-French former professional basketball player and coach. He most recently served as head coach of Galatasaray, of the Turkish Basketball Super League (BSL).
He is well-known for being the player tha ...
* 2012–14: Jean-Manuel Sousa
* 2014–15: Laurent Buffard
* 2015–16: Jérôme Navier
* 2016–18: Philippe Hervé
* 2018: Régis Boissié
* 2018–21:
Erman Kunter
Erman Kunter (born 8 October 1956) is a Turkish-French former professional basketball player and coach. He most recently served as head coach of Galatasaray, of the Turkish Basketball Super League (BSL).
He is well-known for being the player tha ...
* 2021–present: Laurent Vila
References
External links
Official websiteLNB Club Profile
Euroleague Club Profile
{{FIBA Europe Cup 2022–23
Cholet Basket