BC Almaty

Basketball Club "BC" Almaty (Russian: Баскетбольный клуб "БК" Алматы) is a Kazakhstani professional basketball club based in the city of Almaty in southern Kazakhstan.

Almaty Legion
Leagues	Kazakhstan Basketball Championship
Founded	2006
History	BC Almaty (2006–2014) Almaty Legion (2014–present)
Arena	Sports complex Dostyk
Location	Almaty, Kazakhstan
Team colors	White, Blue
President	Oleg Severgin
Head coach	Alexander Chernov
Championships	1 Domestic Cups
Website	al-bclegion.kz (in Russian)

Founded in 2006, it has played under the name Almaty Legion (Russian: Алматинский легион) since 2014. The club has competed in the Kazakhstan Basketball Championship - losing twice in the championship final – and the Kazakhstan Basketball Cup, which they won in 2015.

For the 2014–15 season, the team also competed in the Russian Basketball Super League, the professional second division league in Russia.

History

BC Almaty was founded in December 2006 by the municipality of Almaty, it was managed by the Department of Physical Culture and Sports of that city.^[1] In July 2014, the club became a limited liability partnership,^[1] with the municipality selling the totality (100%) of its shares in the club as part of a privatization campaign.^[2]

In their first season in the Kazakhstan Basketball Championship in 2007–08,^[1] they reached the championship finals, losing to the Astana Tigers.^[3]

After the Tigers turned down an invitation to play in the 2008 FIBA Asia Champions Cup, Almaty replaced them.^[4] In their first international foray they reached the quarterfinal stage, losing to eventual champions Saba Battery.^[5]

In the 2014 off-season, BC Almaty went through a re-branding, changing its name to Almaty Legion (Russian: Алматинский легион), though it retained the former designation as its legal name, also changing its logo.^[6] SKA Almaty, who had played in the Soviet league in the 1980s,^[7] was merged into BC Almaty to serve as the reserve squad in the second division Higher league under the name Almaty Legion KazNU (Russian: Алматинский Легион КазНУ).^[8]

Almaty Legion were accepted into the Russian Basketball Super League, the second division of distant neighbours Russia, to play the 2014–15 season there.^[6] They finished dead last of the 16 team league with 2 wins out of 30, though they later beat MBA Moscow in the 15th place playoffs to move up a position.^[9][10]

In February 2015, Legion won their first trophy, the Kazakhstan Basketball Cup, beating Tobol Kostanay 90-86 in the final to win the tournament organised in Almaty.^[11] They also reached the final of the 2014–15 Kazakhstan Basketball Championship but were crushed 82-56 by perennial champions BC Astana.^[12][13]

Titles

• Kazakhstan Basketball Cup: winners (2015)

Current squad

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

BC Almaty roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. No. Nat. Name PG 1 Zhalgasbek Kadyr G 3 Vadim Fabrikantov G/F 4 Temirlan Dzusunov PG 5 Anuar Shakirov PG 8 Vadim Korzhov G/F 9 Andrey Litvinenko PF 10 Igor Tinyaev C 13 Vsevolod Fadeikin F 14 Vyacheslav Ostrosko C 24 Alexander Danilchenko F 31 Nikita Timofeyev C 41 Daniyel Albrant G 45 Yuriy Kozhanov G/F 47 Ruslan Aitkali	Head coach Nikolaj Tanaseychuk Legend (C) Team captain Injured Roster Updated: 14 January 2017

Notable players

To appear in this section a player must have either:

- Set a club record or won an individual award as a professional player.
- Played at least one official international match for his senior national team or one NBA game at any time.

• Amiran Amirkhanov
• Vyacheslav Bogdanov

References

1. ТОО " Баскетбольный клуб "Алматы" » г. Алматы [LLP Basketball Club Almaty, Almaty]. BC Almaty (in Russian). Retrieved 20 June 2015.
2. ТОО " Баскетбольный клуб "Алматы" » г. Алматы [List of communal property [privatisation] to be implemented in 2015] (PDF). Almaty government (in Russian). Retrieved 23 June 2015.
3. "Eurobasket news report – 5/2/2008: Tigers taste Gold". Eurobasket.com. 2 May 2008. Retrieved 20 June 2015.
4. "Eurobasket news report – 5/4/2008: Almaty will participate in Asian Championship". Eurobasket.com. 4 May 2008. Retrieved 20 June 2015.
5. "Eurobasket news report – 5/18/2008: Asia Champions Cup. Quarterfinals". Eurobasket.com. 18 May 2008. Retrieved 20 June 2015.
6. БК "Алматы": Перезагрузка [BC Almaty: Reloaded]. BC Almaty (in Russian). Retrieved 23 June 2015.
7. "Week 7. Recap". VTB United League. 2 December 2013. Archived from the original on 23 June 2015. Retrieved 23 June 2015.
8. "Almatynski Legion-2 Alma-Ata - History". Asia-Basket. Eurobasket.com. Retrieved 23 June 2015.
9. "I этап - Регулярный чемпионат" Русский [Stage I – regular season]. Russian Basketball Federation (in Russian). Archived from the original on 19 September 2014. Retrieved 23 June 2015.
10. БК "Алматинский Легион" завершил сезон на 15-м месте в Суперлиге России [BC Almatynski Legion finished the season in 15th place in the Russian Superleague]. Sport Zakon.kz (in Russian). 1 May 2015. Archived from the original on 23 June 2015. Retrieved 23 June 2015.
11. "Almatynski Legion claim Kazakh Cup title". Asia-Basket. Eurobasket.com. 23 February 2015. Retrieved 20 June 2015.
12. "BC Astana conquer fourth straight D1 trophy". Asia-Basket.com. Eurobasket.com. 10 April 2015. Retrieved 20 June 2015.
13. "Astana wins Kazakh championship". VTB United League. 11 April 2015. Archived from the original on 20 June 2015. Retrieved 19 June 2015.

External links

• FIBA game center profile Retrieved 23 June 2015
• AsiaBasket.com profile Retrieved 23 June 2015
• Russian Basketball Federation profile Retrieved 23 June 2015 (in Russian)