Baloncesto Málaga
S.A.D., also known as Unicaja for sponsorship reasons, 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 (appro ...
club based in
Málaga
Málaga (; ) is a Municipalities in Spain, municipality of Spain, capital of the Province of Málaga, in the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia. With a population of 591,637 in 2024, it is the second-most populo ...
, Spain. The team plays in the
Liga ACB and the
Champions League.
Founded in 1977, the team is sponsored by the
Spanish bank Unicaja and has carried that sponsorship name since 1992. They play their home games at the
Palacio de Deportes José María Martín Carpena, shortly known as the "Martín Carpena". Unicaja has won one
Liga ACB title, in 2006, as well as three
Copas del Rey, one
EuroCup, two
Basketball Champions League, one
FIBA Korać Cup and one
FIBA Intercontinental Cup title.
History
Unicaja was originally founded in 1977, as CB Caja de Ronda. In 1992, the club merged another
ACB team in the city of Málaga, CB Maristas de Málaga, which was originally founded in 1953 as Ademar Basket Club. Over the years, the club has featured players like:
Nacho Rodríguez,
Berni Rodríguez,
Carlos Cabezas,
Jorge Garbajosa,
Marcus Brown,
Sergei Babkov,
Michael Ansley,
Louis Bullock, and
Kenny Miller, as well as numerous other well-known players. The club won its first title, when it won the
European-wide third tier level FIBA Korać Cup in the
2000–01 season. They then won the
Spanish King's Cup title
in 2005. The next year, in the
2005–06 season, Unicaja won its first-ever
Spanish League championship.
The club finished its best years to date, by qualifying for the
2007 Euroleague Final Four, where it was defeated in the semifinals by
CSKA Moscow, and thus finished in third place in the
EuroLeague. In October 2007, Unicaja faced the
NBA's Memphis Grizzlies in a
friendly match, and they defeated the Grizzlies, by a score of 102–99. That was one of the 17 times that an NBA team has lost to a foreign club.
Pau Gasol and
Juan Carlos Navarro, two of the greatest Spanish basketball players of all time, played for Memphis in that historical game.
Málaga participated in the European-wide top-tier level league, the EuroLeague, for 15 consecutive seasons (
2001–02 season to
2015–16 season). However, in the summer of 2015, it lost its EuroLeague A-licence. Therefore, in the
2016–17 season, Unicaja participated in the second tier level
EuroCup. The club immediately won the EuroCup title, in its first season in the league, after winning over
Valencia Basket in the
league's Finals.
In the 2023–24 season, Unicaja switched from
Euroleague Basketball
Euroleague Basketball, run by Euroleague Commercial Assets (ECA), is a private company that runs and operates men's professional basketball club competitions in Europe, the first-tier level EuroLeague, and the second-tier level EuroCup. It has ...
-organised competitions to
FIBA
The International Basketball Federation (FIBA ; French language, French: ) is an association of national organizations which governs the sport of basketball worldwide. FIBA defines the rules of basketball, specifies the Basketball equipment ...
's
Basketball Champions League. It won the championship after defeating
Canarias in the final, which took place in
Belgrade
Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...
. As European champions, Unicaja then played in the
2024 FIBA Intercontinental Cup in
Singapore, and won its first world-level title.
In the following 2024–25 season, Unicaja once again won the BCL championship, after defeating
Galatasaray in the final of the
Final Four in
Athens
Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...
. They became the second team to win consecutive league titles, following
San Pablo Burgos.
Logos
CB Unicaja Logo.png, Logo of the club since 2024.
Logo of Baloncesto Málaga.png, Former logo of the club.
Home arenas

*Pabellón Guadaljaire (1977–78)
*Pabellón Tiro Pichón (1978–81)
*Pabellón Ciudad Jardín (1981–99)
*
Palacio de Deportes José María Martín Carpena (1999–present)
Since 1999, Unicaja Málaga has played its home games at the
Palacio de Deportes José María Martín Carpena arena. The arena originally seated 9,743 spectators for basketball games, and was expanded in the year 2010, to a current
seating capacity of 11,300 people for basketball games.
Players
Retired numbers
Current roster
Depth chart
Notable players
*
Álex Abrines
*
Curro Ávalos
*
Saúl Blanco
*
Carlos Cabezas
*
Iñaki De Miguel
*
Alberto Díaz
*
Dani Díez
*
Roger Esteller
*
Jaime Fernández
*
Xavi Fernández
*
Germán Gabriel
*
Jorge Garbajosa
*
Ricardo Guillén
*
Carlos Jiménez
*
Tomás Jofresa
*
Chuck Kornegay
*
Pablo Laso
*
Jesús Lázaro
*
Juan Antonio Orenga
*
Alfonso Reyes
*
Berni Rodríguez
*
Mario Muñoz Oses
*
Ignacio Rodríguez
*
Dani Romero
*
Gaby Ruiz
*
Mike Smith
*
Carlos Suárez
*
Fran Vázquez
*
Paco Vázquez
*
Sergi Vidal
*
Jean-Jacques Conceição
*
Juan Ignacio Sánchez
*
Walter Herrmann
*
Ademola Okulaja
*
Marcus Faison
*
Jean-Marc Jaumin
*
JR Bremer
*
Nedžad Sinanović
*
Vítor Faverani
*
Rafael Hettsheimeir
*
Augusto Lima
*
Rafa Luz
*
Paulo Prestes
*
Roderick Blakney
*
Earl Calloway
*
Earl Rowland
*
Kyle Wiltjer
*
Davor Kus
*
Oliver Lafayette
*
Veljko Mršić
Veljko Mršić (; born 13 April 1971) is a Croatian professional basketball coach and former player, who is currently the head coach of the KK Split, Split of the Croatian Premijer liga (Croatian basketball), Premijer liga and the ABA League.
P ...
*
Sandro Nicević
*
Hrvoje Perić
*
Krunoslav Simon
*
Zan Tabak
*
Luka Žorić
*
Jiri Welsch
*
Christian Eyenga
*
Juan José García
*
Sasu Salin
*
Joseph Gomis
*
Edwin Jackson
*
Mathias Lessort
*
Florent Pietrus
*
Stéphane Risacher
*
Moustapha Sonko
*
Frédéric Weis
*
Giorgi Shermadini
*
Shammond Williams
*
Robert Archibald
*
Joel Freeland
*
Darren Phillip
*
Ioannis Giannoulis
*
Georgios Printezis
*
Kostas Vasileiadis
*
Pavel Ermolinskij
*
Jon Stefansson
*
Gal Mekel
*
Jeff Brooks
*
Kaspars Berzins
*
Kristaps Valters
*
Gintaras Einikis
*
Mindaugas Kuzminskas
*
Domantas Sabonis
*
Richard Hendrix
*
Omar Cook
*
Vladimir Golubović
*
Kendrick Perry
*
Michał Chyliński
*
Thomas Kelati
*
Adam Waczyński
*
Adam Wójcik
*
José Ortiz
*
Daniel Santiago
*
Hamady Ndiaye
*
Boniface Ndong
*
Milan Gurović
*
Stefan Marković
*
Dragan Milosavljević
*
Dejan Musli
*
Nemanja Nedović
*
Kosta Perović
*
Bojan Popović
*
Vladimir Štimac
*
Uroš Tripković
*
Zoran Dragić
*
Erazem Lorbek
*
Alen Omić
*
Marko Tusek
*
Richard Petruska
*
Sergei Babkov
*
Valeri Tikhonenko
*
Volodymyr Gerun
*
Eugene Jeter
*
Panchi Barrera
*
Jayson Granger
*
Joe Arlauckas
*
Victor Alexander
*
James Augustine
*
Mario Bennett
*
Adrian Branch
*
Marcus Brown
*
Louis Bullock
*
Jack Cooley
*
Juan Dixon
*
Zabian Dowdell
*
Jamie Feick
*
Gerald Fitch
*
Kyle Fogg
*
Marcus Haislip
*
Marc Iavaroni
*
Tarence Kinsey
*
Tony Massenburg
*
Ray McCallum Jr.
*
Kenny Miller
*
Gary Neal
*
DeMarcus Nelson
*
Andy Panko
*
Brian Roberts
*
Lou Roe
*
Sean Rooks
*
Ralph Sampson
*
Paul Shirley
*
Reggie Slater
*
Ray Tolbert
*
Marcus Williams
*
David Wood
Head coaches
*Alfonso Queipo de Llano: 1977–79, 1985–86
*
José María Martín Urbano : 1979–80, 1982, 1985, 1987, 1990–92
*Damián Caneda: 1980–81
*Ramón Guardiola: 1981–82
*Moncho Monsalve: 1982–84
*Ignacio Pinedo: 1984–85
*Arturo Ortega: 1986–87
*
Zoran Slavnić: 1987–88
*Mario Pesquera: 1988–90
*Javier Imbroda: 1992–98
*Pedro Ramírez: 1998–99
*
Božidar Maljković: 1999–03
*Paco Alonso: 2003
*Chechu Mulero: 2003
*
Sergio Scariolo: 2003–08
*
Aito Garcia Reneses: 2008–2011
*
Chus Mateo: 2011–12
*
Luis Casimiro: 2012
*
Jasmin Repeša: 2012–13
*
Joan Plaza: 2013–2018
*
Luis Casimiro: 2018–2021
*
Fotios Katsikaris: 2021–2022
*
Ibon Navarro: 2022–present
Season by season
Caja de Ronda
CB Maristas
Unicaja
Honours and awards
Domestic competitions
*
Spanish League
: Winners (1):
2005–06
: ''Runners-up (2)'':
1994–95,
2001–02
*
Spanish Cup
: Winners (3):
2005,
2023,
2025
So far, the year has seen the continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudanese civil war, and the Gaza war. Internal crises in Bangladesh post-resignation v ...
: ''Runners-up (2)'':
2009,
2020
*
Spanish Supercup
: Winners (1):
2024
: ''Runners-up (3)'':
2006,
2015,
2023
European competitions
*
EuroLeague
: ''Third place (1)'':
2006–07
*
EuroCup
: Winners (1):
2016–17
*
FIBA Champions League
: Winners (2):
2023–24,
2024–25
*
FIBA Korać Cup
: Winners (1):
2000–01
: ''Runners-up (1)'':
1999–00
Worldwide competitions
*
FIBA Intercontinental Cup
: Winners (1):
2024
Other competitions
*2nd division championships: (2)
**1ª División B: 1981, 1987
*
Andalusia Cup: (17)
**1996, 2001, 2003, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2020, 2021, 2023, 2024.
*Torrox, Spain Invitational Game
**2008
*Trofeo de Platja d'Aro
**2008
*Trofeo Pollinica
**2008
*Trofeo Ciudad de Cordoba, Spain
**2009
Individual awards
ACB Finals MVP
*
Michael Ansley – 1995
*
Jorge Garbajosa – 2006
Spanish Cup MVP
*
Jorge Garbajosa – 2005
*
Tyson Carter – 2023
*
Kendrick Perry – 2025
ACB Slam Dunk Champion
*
Florent Piétrus – 2006
*
James Gist – 2012
ACB Three Point Shootout Champion
*Paco Vázquez – 2001
All-EuroLeague Second Team
*
Jorge Garbajosa – 2006
All-ACB First Team
*
Jorge Garbajosa – 2005, 2006
*
Jayson Granger – 2015
*
Dylan Osetkowski – 2024
All-ACB Second Team
*
Nemanja Nedović – 2017
EuroCup Finals MVP
*
Alberto Díaz – 2017
Basketball Champions League Final Four MVP
*
Kendrick Perry – 2024
*
Tyson Carter – 2025
Reserve team
Baloncesto Málaga B is the
reserve team
In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players who are under contract to a club but who do not regularly play in matches for the club's primary team. Reserve teams usually include players who are part of the larger first-team squad but ...
of Unicaja,
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 (appro ...
based in
Málaga
Málaga (; ) is a Municipalities in Spain, municipality of Spain, capital of the Province of Málaga, in the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia. With a population of 591,637 in 2024, it is the second-most populo ...
.
From 2007 to 2016, Baloncesto Málaga had an agreement with
CB Axarquía, for them to play as the club's main
farm team, while Baloncesto Málaga B, which currently plays also under the name Unicaja, was the club's third team until the end of this contract.
Women's team
On 14 July 2017, the club announced the creation of a women's team.
Just in its second season, Unicaja promoted to
Liga Femenina 2.
Season by season
Notes
References
External links
Official websiteBaloncesto Málagaat
ACB.COM
Baloncesto Málagaat
Eurobasket.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Malaga
Basketball teams in Andalusia
Unicaja
Basketball teams established in 1977
1977 establishments in Spain