Club Baloncesto Breogán, S.A.D., also known as Río Breogán 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

Lugo Lugo (, ) is a city in northwestern Spain in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Galicia (Spain), Galicia. It is the capital of the Lugo (province), province of Lugo. The municipality had a population of 100,060 in 2024, ...

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

. The team plays in the

Liga ACB The Liga ACB, known as Liga Endesa for sponsorship reasons, is the top professional basketball division of the Spanish basketball league system. Administered by the Asociación de Clubs de Baloncesto (ACB), Liga ACB is contested by 18 teams, w ...

. The club was founded in 1966 by the Varela-Portas brothers. The team played for the first time in the Spanish top league in 1970. The name of the club is a reference to legendary Galician King Breogán. It is the most popular basketball club in Galicia, and it is also the Galician club with the most seasons and games in the top tier of Spanish basketball -

- and European and

Copa del Rey The , commonly known as , or (in English) the Spanish Cup or King's Cup, and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–1936) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–1976), is an annual knockout football competition in Spanis ...

appearances in addition to that. Because of that, Breogán fans proudly nickname their team as "O equipo de Galicia" (in English: Galicia's team). Breogán jerseys have always been sky blue with details in details in white or dark blue. The shorts have been also traditionally sky blue, with the exception of some years that have been white too. Their home arena is the Pazo dos Deportes, an arena with 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 5,310 people. The Pazo has been one of the Top-10 European arenas in attendance and one of the first in relation to the city population. The current president of the team is José Antonio Caneda. Well-known players have included: Charlie Bell, Pete Mickeal,

Velimir Perasović Velimir Perasović (; born 9 February 1965) is a Croatian professional basketball coach and former player. He is serving as the head coach for the Russian team BC UNICS, UNICS Kazan of the VTB United League. Early life Perasović was born in Stob ...

, José Miguel Antúnez, Alfonso Reyes, Tanoka Beard, Anthony Bonner, Claude Riley, James Donaldson, Greg Foster, James Feldeine, or, most recently, Džanan Musa, Ethan Happ and Justus Hollatz.

History

Founded in 1966, CB Breogán only needed five years to promote for the first time in its history to the Liga Nacional. It played in it from 1971 to 1977, except in the 1974–75 season, before dropping down again to lower divisions. Alfredo Pérez was the league's top scorer in both 1970-71 and 1972–73 seasons. Alfredo Pérez Gómez Breogán coexisted with another team from Lugo called La Casera for a while, and even though La Casera had more local players, Breogán was the whole city's preferred team because Lugo's population felt a lot more identified with the club. La Casera disappeared and a few of their players signed for Breogán afterwards. Breogán had a bit of a rollercoaster journey between the top division and the lower leagues, and got promoted back to the now named

in the 1983–84 season, and qualified for the Korać Cup after finishing in the sixth position in 1984-85, playing against

Red Star Belgrade Fudbalski klub Crvena zvezda ( sr-cyrl, Фудбалски клуб Црвена звезда, lit=Red Star Football Club), commonly referred to as Crvena zvezda () and colloquially referred to as Red Star Belgrade in anglophone media, is a ...

Pallacanestro Varese Pallacanestro Varese, also called by its current sponsor's name, the Openjobmetis Varese, is an Italian professional basketball club based in Varese, Lombardy. Founded in 1945, the team plays in the Italian basketball league system, Italian first ...

and

ASVEL Basket ASVEL Basket, currently known as LDLC ASVEL for sponsorship reasons, is a French professional basketball team located in the commune of Villeurbanne, a suburb of Lyon, France. The club, which is the basketball section of the ASVEL multi-sports ...

. Manel Sánchez, from

, was the star of this team. The club got relegated in the 1986–87 season after the referees allowed Oximesa Granada to score the winning free throws despite the clock having run out of time before the foul. The incidents caused the closure of Breogán's arena and ''Breo'' had to play the remaining games in

A Coruña A Coruña (; ; also informally called just Coruña; historical English: Corunna or The Groyne) is a city and municipality in Galicia, Spain. It is Galicia's second largest city, behind Vigo. The city is the provincial capital of the province ...

, where it got relegated despite

population's massive support filling up an arena 100 km away from home and Manel Sánchez being the league's top scorer. Season 1988-89 saw the club's return to

once again, where they stayed until 1995, when it lost to against Valvi Girona and became relegated to Liga EBA. During this time, Manel Sánchez left the club for good, and Olympic medallist

was brought as his substitute for the 1992–93 season, its first in the new arena, Pazo dos Deportes. In

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

the club returned once again to

, an era which would last seven years. Great players like Anthony Bonner, former EuroLeague champion Nikola Lončar or Devin Davis played for the club during that time. They earned a European spot in the 2003–04 season, but ULEB Cup organisers decided to invite

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...

instead, even though they finished in a lower position than Breogán. 2004–05 season was defined by the arrival of one of

's most talented players in the 21st century, Charlie Bell. His impressive performances for Breo earned him a move to the NBA for the following season. In the 2005–06 season, Breogán was the last qualified in the table despite having players such as Pete Mickeal or Alfonso Reyes and was relegated to LEB Oro in which would become the club's biggest absence from the top tier - 12 years -. The club got in a very bad financial state, and was close to disappearing in the early 2010s. This became aggravated by the exit of former chairman Raúl López to become chairman at Obradoiro CAB, a move which kickstarted the rivalry between the two Galician sides. Obradoiro had only been at the

for two season in their entire history when that happened. After failing to get promotion for many years, a playoff final loss against Club Ourense Baloncesto in 2015 the club went up by winning the LEB Oro in 2017-18. Breogán signing Ray McCallum Jr. mid-season wasn't enough to secure safety and were relegated with only 9 games out of 34 games. In 2021, Breogán were promoted to the top tier of Spanish basketball once again after beating Granada in the final. Breogán lost away from home in the first game but managed to win the second one at home and the final one in the Andalusian city. Breogán made a brilliant start to the 2021/22 season. After winning the Galician Cup against rivals Obradoiro CAB, they won their first two

games and visited FC Barcelona Bàsquet as leaders. Although a defeat there would mean they were no longer at the top of the table, they completed a tremendous first half of the league, qualifying for the

Copa del Rey de Baloncesto The Copa del Rey de Baloncesto ( English: ''Basketball King's Cup'') is an annual cup competition for Spanish basketball teams organized by Spain's top professional league, the Liga ACB. History Originally known as the ''Copa de España de Bal ...

for the first time in over 30 years, in which they suffered a narrow defeat against finalists

Real Madrid Baloncesto Real Madrid Baloncesto (English: Royal Madrid Basketball) is a Spanish professional basketball club that was founded in 1931, as a division of Real Madrid CF. They play domestically in the Liga ACB, and internationally in the EuroLeague. They a ...

. In January, head coach Paco Olmos decided to leave the club following an offer from relegation-bound CB San Pablo Burgos and was substituted by

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 ...

. Breogán's push to make it to the play-offs was hampered by star-man Džanan Musa's injury against Bàsquet Manresa. Trae Bell-Haynes got injured one week later as well, which resulted in Breogán being out of Play-off contention, although they were always far from being involved in a relegation battle. Džanan Musa became one of Breogán's most legendary players in the 2021–22 season and won

's MVP award for the season, earning a move to

. Despite not being able to win the

Basketball Champions League The Basketball Champions League (BCL), also commonly known as the FIBA Champions League, is an annual professional basketball competition for European sports club, clubs, organised by FIBA. It is the European professional club basketball system ...

qualifiers at the beginning of the 2022–23 season, the Galicians managed to have another successful season, led by coach

, despite maintaining only three players from the successful 2021–22 season, Erik Quintela, Sergi Quintela and Marko Luković. Key additions like Ethan Happ, Scott Bamforth, Toni Nakić and Justus Hollatz, who would later become a World Champion with

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

helped them to achieve a 10th-place finish in the

and direct qualification to the 2023-24 edition of the

, including a sweep against Galician rivals Obradoiro CAB and a 96–72 win against

, led by former Breogán player Džanan Musa.

Current season (2023-24).

Breogán has had to face a massive rebuild again for the 2023–24 season, even though this time it was the club who chose not to offer some players a new deal.

extended his contract as head coach, and club captains and local players Erik Quintela and Sergi Quintela stayed, alongside Sergi García, Toni Nakić and Stefan Momirov. New signings included former Bayern players Zan Mark Sisko and Matej Rudan, former ASVEL player Anthony Polite, the Italian rising star Mouhamet Diouf,

Lithuanians Lithuanians () are a Balts, Baltic ethnic group. They are native to Lithuania, where they number around 2,378,118 people. Another two million make up the Lithuanian diaspora, largely found in countries such as the Lithuanian Americans, United Sta ...

Matas Jogėla and Martynas Sajus, the Argentinian center Juan Fernández and former Joventut captain Albert Ventura, but a lot of setbacks quickly started to happen. Toni Nakić got seriously injured in pre-season, and his replacement Dimitrios Agravanis left the club injured having played just two games, Zan Mark Sisko decided to leave for personal reasons after the first

game against Baskonia and got replaced by Conner Frankamp and Anthony Polite suffered an adductor injury which also got him sidelined for a few weeks. Their ACB League struggles kept going for the rest of 2023 despite the improvement given by Justin Anderson's two-month stint in

before leaving for Valencia Basket. On December 22, 2023, the club announced the signing of 9-year NBA veteran Ben McLemore, who had left Greek side

AEK B.C. AEK Basketball Club ( ; Αθλητική Ένωσις Κωνσταντινουπόλεως ''Athlitikí Énosis Konstantinoupóleos'', "Athletic Union of Constantinople"), officially AEK Betsson BC for sponsorship reasons, and also known as AEK ...

a few days before. Bursaspor Basketbol, Hapoel Holon B.C. and current Champions Telekom Baskets Bonn were Breogán's rivals in Group F of the

, in which the Galician club won all three home games and lost their three away games, finishing the group in 3rd place after all the teams finished with a 3–3 record, advancing to the play-in stage, in which they will face Turkish outfit Pinar Karsiyaka. On May, 10, 2024, they secured safety in the

by defeating MoraBanc Andorra.

Sponsorship naming

Club Baloncesto Breogán has several denominations through the years due to its sponsorship: *Breogán Lugo 1966–69 *Breogán Fontecelta 1969–73 *Breogán Lugo 1973–75 *Breogán La Casera 1975–76 *Breogán Lugo 1976–79 *Breogán Deportes Bourio 1979–80 *Breogán Stilton 1980–81 *Breogán Internacional de Seguros 1981–82 *Breogán Caixa Galicia 1982–86 *Leche Río Breogán 1986–89 * DYC Breogán 1989–94 * DYC Lugo 1994–95 *Leche Río Breogán 1995–98 *Breogán Universidade 1998–2001 *Leche Río Breogán 2001–12 *CB Breogán Lugo 2011–13 *Ribeira Sacra Breogán 2014–2015 *Cafés Candelas Breogán 2015–2019 *Leche Río Breogán 2019–21 *Río Breogán 2021–present

Rivalries

Breogán has had different rivals throughout its history. Breogán's biggest rival during its first decades of existence was CB OAR Ferrol, which disappeared in

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

. Club Ourense Baloncesto was a rival as well, especially during the 2014–15 season in which they eliminated Breogán in the playoff finals to go back to the

- although they couldn't materialise their promotion due to - as well as Básquet Coruña, a team they faced quite a lot of times during Breogán's tenures in the 2nd tier during the 2010s. That being said, Obradoiro CAB - based in

Santiago de Compostela Santiago de Compostela, simply Santiago, or Compostela, in the province of Province of A Coruña, A Coruña, is the capital of the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Galicia (Spain), Galicia, in northwestern Spain. The city ...

, Galicia's capital - have become Breogán's fiercest rivals since the beginning of the 2010s. They were brought from the bottom leagues to the

after a long judicial process in 2009, and Raúl López, former Breogán chairman, left the club in a very bad financial state to become Obradoiro's chairman in 2010, which Breogán fans saw as treason and started the rivalry, which had been non-existent before because Breogán had a much bigger and better history up until that point. Nowadays, with Breogán fully up and running after overcoming a very difficult financial situation, both of them are in

and face each other in the ''Galician Derby'' in what is considered one of the biggest - if not the biggest - rivalries in Spanish basketball. Former Breogán's head coach Paco Olmos' departure to San Pablo Burgos in January 2022 also kicked off a bit of a rivalry between both fanbases, although it soon went away after San Pablo Burgos' relegation in May 2022 and Paco Olmos being sacked later that year.

Players

Current roster

Depth chart

Season by season

Trophies and awards

Trophies

*2nd division championships: (4) ** 2ª División: (1) 1975 ** LEB Oro: (3)

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

* Copa Princesa: (3) **2008, 2018, 2021 * Copa Galicia: (14) **1986, 1987, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2018, 2021, 2022

Records

*23 seasons in the top division **6 in Primera División **17 in

*1 participation in Korać Cup **1985–86 season: eliminated in quarterfinals group stage *2 participations in

**2022–23 season: eliminated in the qualifying rounds **2023–24 season: group stages.

Individual awards

ACB MVP * Džanan Musa – 2021–22 All-ACB Team * Charlie Bell – 2004–05 * Džanan Musa – 2021–22 ACB Top Scorer * Alfredo Pérez – 1971 (27,1) * Alfredo Pérez – 1973 (23,2) * Bob Fullarton – 1976 (30,3) *

– 1993 (24,5) * Charlie Bell – 2005 (27,0) * Džanan Musa – 2022 (20,1) ACB Three Point Shootout Champion * Jacobo Odriozola – 2002 * Nebojša Bogavac – 2005 All-LEB Oro Team *Anthony Winchester – 2013 * Álex Llorca – 2015 * Jeff Xavier – 2016

Notable players

* Sergi Quintela * Sergi García * Santi Abad * Alfonso Albert * Alfons Alzamora * José Miguel Antúnez * Manuel Bosch * Óscar Cervantes * Pedro Cifré * Alfonso Martínez * Alfredo Pérez * Alfonso Reyes * Manel Sánchez * Ángel Serrano * Sergi Vidal * Salva Arco * Jorge Racca * Džanan Musa * Sabahudin Bilalović * Trae Bell-Haynes *

* Toni Nakić * Betinho * Kevin Larsen * James Feldeine * Roope Ahonen * Joseph Gomis * Justus Hollatz *

Marco Carraretto Marco Carraretto (born October 27, 1977) is an Italian former professional basketball player for Fortitudo Bologna and other teams in Italy. He is a 1.97 m (6 ft 5¾ in) tall, 95 kg shooting guard-small forward. Professional career Car ...

* Andrea Pecile * Adam Sollazzo * Nebojša Bogavac * Đuro Ostojić * Roeland Schaftenaar * Torgeir Bryn * Rubén Garcés * Nikola Lončar * Volodymyr Gerun * Jeff Adrien * Tanoka Beard * Charlie Bell * Anthony Bonner * Devin Davis * James Donaldson * Greg Foster * Claude Gregory * Tharon Mayes * Pete Mickeal * Sam Pellom * Linton Townes * Tyler Kalinoski * Ethan Happ

Notes

References

External links

Official websiteEurobasket.com presentation
{{DEFAULTSORT:Breogan Basketball teams in Galicia (Spain) Former LEB Oro teams Rio Breogan Basketball teams established in 1966 Sport in Lugo