Basketball has the fame as sport No. 1 in the history of ACADEMIC sports club. Basketball club ACADEMIC /Sofia/ was founded in 1947 as a part of the students' sports association ACADEMIC and during its history of more than half a century it has won a place among the best teams in Bulgaria and Europe. In the year 2000 the club changed its name to LUKOIL Academic. Under the guidance of some of the most experienced coaches in Bulgarian basketball - Bozhidar Takev, Veselin Temkov, Neycho Neychev, Tzvetan Zheliazkov, Petko Marinov, and many more, BC ACADEMIC has been a republic champion 18 times, and eight times winner of the Bulgarian Cup. Along with titles in the domestic championship and tournaments, naturally comes the international recognition. In 1957 in Paris, France, the team of ACADEMIC became the world student’s champion. The team successfully played in the tournaments for the Cup of the European champions. With coach Bozhidar Takev they were twice finalists against ASK /Riga/ in 1958 and 1959. During its entire existence, ACADEMIC has always been a school for professional improvement and constructive contribution for some of the best Bulgarian basketball players. Stars like Liubomir Panov, Georgi Panov, Viktor Radev, Nikola Ilov, Mihail Semov. Petar Lazarov, Dimitar Sahanikov, Georgi Barzakov, Nikola Atanasov, Atanas Golomeev, Temelaki Dimitrov, Stefan Filipov, Slavei Raychev, Vladimir Boyanov have left their eternal marks in the history of the Bulgarian basketball. The excellent training of BC ACADEMIC players and their complete devotion to the game have always been highly evaluated by Bulgarian national basketball coaches. Direct participants in the glorious moments of the Bulgarian basketball - the fifth place at the Olympic Games in Melbourne - 1956 and the vice-champion's title at the European Championship - Sofia'57 - are the national players Liubomir Panov, Georgi Panov, Viktor Radev, Nikola Ilov, Mihail Semov, Petar Lazarov.The glorious tradition of the club was revived again in 2000 when LUKOIL Bulgaria became the main sponsor of the team. The selection of LUKOIL Academic was oriented towards young and talented players, who under the clever guidance of the senior coach Petko Marinov and his assistants built the youngest team in the republican basketball. Also the work at the adolescent’s school of the club was renewed. From there some players have already shown considerable success at the home championship. The long-term strategy of LUKOIL Academic showed its first results in 2001-2002 season. The talented players of Petko Marinov won the Cup of the country and played the most attractive final in the play-offs in the championship for the last ten years. Today the name of LUKOIL Academic is again a symbol of good basketball. The ambitions of the club are the republican champion's title and the good presentation at the European club tournaments.
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