BC Mgzavrebi ( ka, საკალათბურთო კლუბი არმია), also known as Mgzavrebi Tbilisi, 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

Tbilisi Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი, ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), ( ka, ტფილისი, tr ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Georgia (country), largest city of Georgia ( ...

, that plays in the

Georgian Super Liga The Georgian Basketball Super League ( ka, საკალათბურთო სუპერლიგა, Sakalatburto Superliga), also known as the Georgian Top League, is the highest professional basketball league in Georgia. The first season ...

. The club was affiliated to the Georgian Ministry of Defense.

History

Armia traces its roots to the first army sports club of

, which was formed in 1937 and went on to win the USSR basketball championship twice, in 1944 and 1946. A reformed Army Sports Club (ASK) then participated in the Georgian national championship for three seasons, between 1996 and 1999. The current club was re-established in 2010, and made its debut in the Superliga on November 6 of that year. Coached by

Levan Moseshvili Levan Georgievich Moseshvili ( ka, ლევან მოსეშვილი; ; 23 May 1940 – 5 March 2020) was a Georgian basketball player. Playing for the Soviet team he won a silver medal at the 1964 Summer Olympics The , officially t ...

, they established themselves as the strongest team in the country straight away, winning the championship title by defeating

TSU Tbilisi TSU Tbilisi is a Georgian association football club based in Tbilisi. The club played in Umaglesi Liga from 1996 until 2001, and withdrew from Pirveli Liga in 2004. The club represent Tbilisi State University Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi Stat ...

3-1 in the play-off finals. They also won the Georgian Cup, and the

Georgian Super Cup The Georgian Super Cup is a super cup tournament in Georgian football. Founded in 1996 as a two-team competition, the current version has been contested since 2023 by four teams, those being the first, second, and third placed teams in the Erovnul ...

that year. For the 2011–12 season, the coaching role was taken up by former player and club captain

Kote Tugushi Kote Tugushi ( Georgian: კოტე ტუღუში), (born June 3, 1983) is a Georgian professional basketball coach and former player. Since 2015, he has coached BC Kutaisi 2010 in Georgia. Also he was an assistant coach of Georgia's n ...

. The club signed a number of high-profile foreign players, including some with

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

experience, such as

Sundiata Gaines Sundiata Kofi Gaines (born April 18, 1986) is an American professional basketball player who is a free agent. He played college basketball for the Georgia Bulldogs. High school career Gaines attended Archbishop Molloy High School in Queens, New ...

Jeremy Richardson Jeremy Terrell Richardson (born March 1, 1984) is an American professional basketball player. He is a 6'7", 210 lb. swingman and he has played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) with the Atlanta Hawks, Portland Trail Blazers, M ...

and Guillermo Diaz. Armia competed on international stage in

EuroChallenge FIBA EuroChallenge (called the FIBA Europe League in 2003–05, and FIBA EuroCup in 2005–08) was the 3rd-tier continental club basketball competition in Europe, from 2003 to 2015. It was organized and run by FIBA Europe. It is not to be confus ...

competition, where they were narrowly eliminated at the group stage. However, they convincingly retained the Superliga title by finishing the regular season without a loss, and defeating BC Olimpi 3-1 in the play-off finals. They once again completed a clean sweep of trophies by winning the Cup and the Super Cup. The club went into the 2012-13 season with a strong squad that included experienced international players such as

Curtis Millage Curtis Millage (born May 4, 1981) is an American professional basketball player for who last played for AZS Koszalin of the Polish Basketball League. He played college basketball for Arizona State. At and , he usually plays as a point guard, but ...

, Marcus Faison and Lamayne Wilson. Nevertheless, Armia were once again eliminated at the group stage of EuroChallenge. A decision by the Ministry of Defence to reduce its funding of the club led to the departure of all foreign players in December. With an all-Georgian squad, Armia still managed to finish in a respectable 3rd position in the Superliga play-offs. However, the club ended the season without a major domestic trophy for the first time since its reformation in 2010.

Season by season

Roster

{{Basketball roster footer , head_coach = * {{player, , Georgia , Anatoli Berishvili , asst_coach = * {{player, , GEO, Nikoloz Tsintsadze

External links

Official websiteTeam Profile
Basketball teams in Georgia (country) Sport in Tbilisi Basketball teams in the Soviet Union