ASVEL Basket, commonly known as ASVEL or sometimes as ASVEL Lyon-Villeurbanne, and also known as LDLC ASVEL for sponsorship reasons, is a French professional
basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...
team that is located in the city of
Villeurbanne
Villeurbanne (; frp, Velorbana) is a commune in the Metropolis of Lyon in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in eastern France.
It is situated northeast of Lyon, with which it forms the heart of the second-largest metropolitan area in France after ...
Lyon
Lyon,, ; Occitan language, Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, third-largest city and Urban area (France), second-largest metropolitan area of F ...
, France. The club, which is the basketball section of the ASVEL
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 ...
, competes in the top-tier levelFrench Pro A League. The club's home games are played at L'Astroballe, which seats 5,556 people.
Founded in 1948, the team is the most successful in French basketball with 21 Pro A championships and 10
French Cup
The Coupe de France, formerly known as the Coupe Charles Simon, is the premier knockout cup competition in French football organized by the French Football Federation (FFF). It was first held in 1917 and is open to all amateur and professiona ...
titles.
In 2014,
Tony Parker
William Anthony Parker Jr. (born 17 May 1982) is a French-American former professional basketball player and majority owner of ASVEL Basket in LNB Pro A. Himself the son of a basketball pro, Parker started his career at Paris Basket Racing in ...
became the president of the club. In 2017,
Nicolas Batum
Nicolas Batum (; born December 14, 1988) is a French professional
< ...
became the club's director of basketball operations. In June 2019, football club Olympique Lyonnais purchased a 25% stake in the ASVEL men's team, plus a 10% stake in the ASVEL women's team, in a deal worth around €3.7 million. The deal also included a plan for a new EuroLeague-standard arena.
History
The parent club was founded in 1948, with the merger of two multi-sport clubs in Lyon and vicinity; ASVEL is an acronym combining the names of the predecessor clubs—''Association Sportive Villeurbanne'' and ''Éveil Lyonnais''. In its history, ASVEL has won 20 French Pro A League championships, 10
French Cup
The Coupe de France, formerly known as the Coupe Charles Simon, is the premier knockout cup competition in French football organized by the French Football Federation (FFF). It was first held in 1917 and is open to all amateur and professiona ...
San Antonio Spurs
The San Antonio Spurs are an American professional basketball team based in San Antonio. The Spurs compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Southwest Division. The team plays its home ...
Tony Parker
William Anthony Parker Jr. (born 17 May 1982) is a French-American former professional basketball player and majority owner of ASVEL Basket in LNB Pro A. Himself the son of a basketball pro, Parker started his career at Paris Basket Racing in ...
, became the club's president.
In the French Pro A League 2015–16 season, ASVEL won its 18th French League title, after beating Strasbourg IG 3 games to 2 in the French Pro A League Finals. ASVEL was down 2–0 in the series, but won three games in a row to take the championship.
In March 2017, NBA player,
Nicolas Batum
Nicolas Batum (; born December 14, 1988) is a French professional
< ...
, became a shareholder in Infinity Nine Sports, the main investment company behind the club, and took over the position as director of basketball operations. Tony Parker remained majority owner, and ASVEL President. In 2018, the club signed a 10-year name sponsorship agreement with LDLC. The club also changed its main team colors from the original white and green to white and black, and changed its main logo design.
In 2019, ASVEL returned to the EuroLeague after the organisation decided to give the team a wild card for two years.
In the 2021–22 season, ASVEL won its third Pro A championship in a row, its first three-peat in 32 years after beating
Monaco
Monaco (; ), officially the Principality of Monaco (french: Principauté de Monaco; Ligurian: ; oc, Principat de Mónegue), is a sovereign city-state and microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Italian region of Lig ...
in the Finals.
Arenas
L'Astroballe, with a seating capacity of 5,556 has been used as the long-time home arena of ASVEL.
In July 2016, ASVEL announced that it would build a new multi-functional arena, with a projected seating capacity between 12,000 and 16,000 people, depending on the configuration. The arena is projected to cost €60 million. The new arena will be named the LDLC Arena, and its design and construction were given to architectural firm Populous and Citinea. Construction began in January 2022 and is expected to be finished by the end of 2023.
Logos and branding
ASVEL Basket logo.svg , (The official logo of the club, 2011–2018)
LDLC ASVEL Basket logo.png , (The official logo of the club, 2018–present)
On September 11, 2018, the club changed its name to
LDLC
LDLC OL is a French esports organization with players competing in '' Counter-Strike: Global Offensive'', ''Fortnite Battle Royale'', ''League of Legends'', ''PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds'' and ''World Rally Championship''.
On January 7, 2020, ...
ASVEL for sponsorship reasons. Along with this change, the club changed its main colors from green to black and white. The decision was made with the explanation that, "when you are European, green is a colour that does not make you dream", and was followed by criticism from fans. The new logo, used since 2018, consists of the number four, which refers to ASVEL legend
Alain Gilles
Alain Gilles (5 May 1945 – 18 November 2014) was a French professional basketball player and coach. Standing at 1.88 m (6' 2") tall, Gilles played at the point guard and shooting guard positions.
His number 4 jersey was retired by ASVEL, and t ...
, while also keeping the V that was used in the previous logo.
French Cup
The Coupe de France, formerly known as the Coupe Charles Simon, is the premier knockout cup competition in French football organized by the French Football Federation (FFF). It was first held in 1917 and is open to all amateur and professiona ...
2017
File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a s ...
* French Super Cup
: Winners (2): 2009, 2016
: ''Runners-up (1)'': 2008
* Federation Cup (defunct)
: Winners (1): 1983–84
: ''Runners-up (1)'': 1981–82
1997
File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...
*
FIBA Saporta Cup
The FIBA Saporta Cup was the name of the second-tier level European-wide professional club basketball competition, where the domestic National Cup winners, from all over Europe, played against each other. The competition was organized by FIBA E ...
FIBA Korać Cup
The FIBA Korać Cup was an annual basketball club competition held by FIBA between the 1971–72 and 2001–02 seasons. It was the third-tier level club competition in European basketball, after the FIBA European Champions' Cup (later renamed th ...
Latin Cup
The Latin Cup was an international football tournament for club sides from the Southwest European nations of France, Italy, Spain, and Portugal. In 1949 the football federations came together and requested FIFA to launch the competition. Europ ...
: ''3rd place (2)'':
1953
Events
January
* January 6 – The Asian Socialist Conference opens in Rangoon, Burma.
* January 12 – Estonian émigrés found a government-in-exile in Oslo.
* January 14
** Marshal Josip Broz Tito is chosen President of Yug ...
*Villeurbanne, France Invitational Game
: Winners (1): 2020
Season by season
Season by season results of the club in national, cup, and European competitions.
: Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe.
International record
Players
Current roster
Depth chart
Squad changes for the 2022–2023 season
In
Out
Retired numbers
Notable players
Head coaches
Club Presidents
Individual club records
Individual club record holders, while players of ASVEL.
ASVEL players with the most French League championships
ASVEL players with the most French League championships won, while members of the club.
Sponsors
*
LDLC
LDLC OL is a French esports organization with players competing in '' Counter-Strike: Global Offensive'', ''Fortnite Battle Royale'', ''League of Legends'', ''PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds'' and ''World Rally Championship''.
On January 7, 2020, ...