Associazione Sportiva Vicenza is an Italian

women's basketball Women's basketball is the team sport of basketball played by women. It was first played in 1892, one year after men's basketball, at Smith College in Massachusetts. It spread across the United States, in large parts via women's college compet ...

team from

Vicenza Vicenza ( , ; or , archaically ) is a city in northeastern Italy. It is in the Veneto region, at the northern base of the Monte Berico, where it straddles the Bacchiglione, River Bacchiglione. Vicenza is approximately west of Venice and e ...

. Founded in 1958, the team reached

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

in 1963 and two years later it won the first of its twelve Italian Championships. The team dominated the championship in the second half of the 1960s. The 1970s were unsuccessful, but the following decade marked the club's golden era, with Vicenza appearing in seven European Cup finals in a row between 1983 and 1989. The team defeated twice Agon 08 Düsseldorf and Dynamo Novosibirsk and once 18-times champion Daugava Riga to win five European Cups, including four consecutive titles. As of 2012 Vicenza remains the competition's most successful team from

Western Europe Western Europe is the western region of Europe. The region's extent varies depending on context. The concept of "the West" appeared in Europe in juxtaposition to "the East" and originally applied to the Western half of the ancient Mediterranean ...

.List of finals
in

FIBA Europe FIBA Europe is the administrative body for basketball in Europe, within the FIBA, International Basketball Federation (FIBA), which includes all List of men's national basketball teams#FIBA Europe, 50 national European basketball federations. ...

's website The 1989 lost final to Jedinstvo Tuzla was Vicenza's last appearance in the European Cup, but the team still enjoyed a last European success in 1992, winning the

Ronchetti Cup The Ronchetti Cup (called till 1996 ''European Cup Liliana Ronchetti'' and ''European Cup Winners' Cup'' till 1974) was an annual women's basketball European club competition held by FIBA between the years 1972 and 2002. It was the second competit ...

. However, the team declined throughout the 1990s and became a

yo-yo club A yo-yo club is a sporting side that is regularly promoted and relegated. The phrase is most typically used in association football in the United Kingdom, especially in reference to promotion to and relegation from the Premier League. The name ...

, being relegated to Serie A1 in 1996, 2000, 2003 and 2006. The situation worsened critically in 2007 with the team being relegated to 4th-tier

Serie C The Serie C (), officially known as Serie C NOW for sponsorship purposes, is the third-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie B and Serie A. The Lega Italiana Calcio Professionistico (Lega Pro) is the governing ...

after ending last and receiving an additional relegation for financial trouble. Since 2009 the team has played in 3rd-tier

Serie B The Serie B (), officially known as Serie BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 season. It had b ...

, most recently ending 7th.

Titles

* 5 European Cups (1983, 1985 — 1988) * 1

(1992) * 12 Italian Championships (1965 — 1969, 1982 — 1988)

References

{{reflist

Basketball teams established in 1958 A.S. Vicenza EuroLeague Women Champions