BC Nizhny Novgorod

BC Nizhny Novgorod (Russian: БК «Нижний Новгород»), commonly known as simply Nizhny Novgorod, also known as Pari Nizhny Novgorod for sponsorship reasons, is a Russian professional basketball club from the city of Nizhny Novgorod. It participates in the VTB United League.

Pari Nizhny Novgorod
League	VTB United League
Founded	2000 (2000)
History	NBA Nizhny Novgorod 2001–2009 BC Nizhny Novgorod 2009–2022 BC Pari Nizhny Novgorod 2022–present
Arena	CEC Nagorny
Capacity	5,600
Location	Nizhny Novgorod, Russia
Team colors	Black, White
Head coach	Zoran Lukić
Website	nn-basket.ru
Home Away

History

Basketball club Nizhny Novgorod is the only professional men's basketball team in Nizhny Novgorod and the region. It was founded in 2000. It played in the Russian Third Division. In the 2001–02 season the club was named Nizhegorodsky Basketball Academy, or NBA. Since then it had changed several names: NBA (2001–2002), NBA-Seti-NN (2002–2004), NBA-Telma (2004–2006). After the 2005–06 season the team entered the Superleague B and was called NBA-Nizhny Novgorod.

Two seasons in the Superleague B were successful for NBA-NN, with the 5th and the 6th places. In 2008–09 the team finished only the 7th. In October 2008 there were changes in the management. The new Minister for Investment Policies of Nizhny Novgorod region, Olympic champion Dmitri Svatkovskiy became the President of the club. Sergei Panov – the twelve times champion of Russia, Euroleague champion, silver medallist of the World and European championships – became the general manager.

Before the season 2009–10 the management worked on the players selection ending with the entire changes to the team roster. Beside this the club changed its name to BC Nizhny Novgorod (BCNN). By the end of the 2010 season the team took the first place in the Superleague B which respectively granted them the right to play in the elite division of the Russian basketball.

During the 2010–11 season BCNN was among those clubs who had founded the new Russian Professional Basketball League. Also the team played in the EuroChallenge in 2010–11, not having much success though getting new international cup experience. In the Cup of Russia 2010–11 season, for the first time in its history BCNN took part in the Final of the Four winning silver medals.

During its first year in the Russian basketball elite division, Nizhny Novgorod took the final fifth place in the Russian championship. In the 2011–12 season the team failed to enter the play-off of the Russian championship, finishing the season at #9.

In the 2013–14 season Nizhny Novgorod reached the Finals of the VTB United League, in which it lost 0–3 to CSKA Moscow. Therefore, the team qualified for the 2014–15 EuroLeague regular season. The team reached the Top 16 over the likes of UNICS and Sassari. In 2015, Israeli NBA player Gal Mekel played for the team.

Honours

Total titles: 2

Domestic competition

• VTB United League
  • Runners-up (1): 2013–14
• Russian Cup
  • Winner (1): 2023
  • Runner-up (4): 2011, 2018, 2019, 2024
• Russian Basketball Super League 1
  • Winner (1): 2010

European competition

• EuroCup
  • Semi-finalist (1): 2013–14

Other competitions

• Nesterov Cup
  • Winner (1): 2014
• Godella, Spain Invitational Game
  • Winner (1): 2014

Logos

Before the start of the 2016–17 season, Nizhny Novgorod changed its primary logo.

• 
  Logo used until 2016
• 
  Logo (2016–2022)
• 
  Logo (2022–present)

Season by season

Season	Tier	League	Pos.	Russian Cup	European competitions
2000–01	3	Higher League	16th
2001–02	3	Higher League	4th
2002–03	3	Higher League	3rd	First round
2003–04	3	Higher League	9th	Round of 64
2004–05	3	Higher League	6th	First round
2005–06	3	Higher League	3rd	First round
2006–07	2	Superliga B	5th	Round of 16
2007–08	2	Superliga B	6th	Round of 16
2008–09	2	Superliga B	7th	Round of 32
2009–10	2	Superliga B	1st	Round of 16
2010–11	1	PBL	5th	Runner-up	3 EuroChallenge	RS
2011–12	1	PBL	9th	QF	3 EuroChallenge	L16
		VTB United	R16
2012–13	1	PBL	8th	QF
		VTB United	QF
2013–14	1	VTB United	RU		2 Eurocup	SF
2014–15	1	VTB United	4th		1 Euroleague	T16
2015–16	1	VTB United	7th		2 Eurocup	QF
2016–17	1	VTB United	9th		2 EuroCup	T16
2017–18	1	VTB United	7th	Runner-up	3 Champions League	QR2
					4 FIBA Europe Cup	QF
2018–19	1	VTB United	6th	Runner-up	3 Champions League	QF
2019–20	1	VTB United	8th	QF	3 Champions League	L16
2020–21	1	VTB United	5th		3 Champions League	QF
2021–22	1	VTB United	8th		3 Champions League	GR
2022–23	1	VTB United	5th	Winner

Roster

Note: Flags indicate national team eligibility at FIBA-sanctioned events. Players may hold other non-FIBA nationalities not displayed.

BC Nizhny Novgorod roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. No. Nat. Name Ht. Wt. Age PF 5 Gankevich, Alexander 2.01 m (6 ft 7 in) 101 kg (223 lb) 29 – (1995-08-05)5 August 1995 F/C 8 Apić, Dragan 2.06 m (6 ft 9 in) 105 kg (231 lb) 29 – (1995-10-03)3 October 1995 SG 9 Liutych, Vitali 1.98 m (6 ft 6 in) 97 kg (214 lb) 32 – (1992-05-09)9 May 1992 PF 10 Chadov, Aleksandr 2.02 m (6 ft 8 in) 99 kg (218 lb) 22 – (2001-11-20)20 November 2001 G 13 Khvostov, Dmitry 1.91 m (6 ft 3 in) 84 kg (185 lb) 35 – (1989-08-21)21 August 1989 F 17 Karvanen, Maksim 2.04 m (6 ft 8 in) 94 kg (207 lb) 25 – (1999-10-30)30 October 1999 G 22 Belenitskiy, Mikhail 2.01 m (6 ft 7 in) 22 – (2002-09-12)12 September 2002 PG 23 Lichutin, Maxim 1.90 m (6 ft 3 in) 82 kg (181 lb) 24 – (2000-06-14)14 June 2000 SG 44 Baburin, Evgeny (C) 1.90 m (6 ft 3 in) 94 kg (207 lb) 37 – (1987-07-04)4 July 1987 SF Babushkin, Alexey (C) 1.97 m (6 ft 6 in) 107 kg (236 lb) 30 – (1994-04-04)4 April 1994	Head coach Zoran Lukić Assistant coach(es) Alexey Zhukov Sergey Kozin Sergey Sidnev Legend (C) Team captain Injured Roster Updated: June 8, 2024

External links

• Media related to BС Nizhny Novgorod at Wikimedia Commons
• Official site (in Russian)
• The history of the club (in Russian)
• Eurobasket.com Team Info