Botafogo Basquete, or Botafogo Basquetebol ( English: Botafogo Basket or Botafogo Basketball) is the men's 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 ...

team of the major multi-sports club

Botafogo de Futebol e Regatas Botafogo de Futebol e Regatas (; ''Botafogo Football and Rowing'') is a Brazilian sports club based in the neighborhood of Botafogo, in the city of Rio de Janeiro. Although it competes in a number of different sports, Botafogo is mostly known ...

(Botafogo Football and Rowing), which is abbreviated as Botafogo F.R. The club is based in

Botafogo Botafogo (local/standard alternative Brazilian Portuguese pronunciation: ) is a beachfront neighborhood (''bairro'') in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is a mostly upper middle class and small commerce community, and is located between the hills of M ...

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

. The club's full name is Basquete do Botafogo de Futebol e Regatas, which is abbreviated as Botafogo F.R. Basquete.

History

The

multi-sport A multi-sport event is an organized sporting event, often held over multiple days, featuring competition in many different sports among organized teams of athletes from (mostly) Nation state, nation-states. The first major, modern, multi-sport ev ...

Club de Regatas Botafogo (Botafogo Rowing Club), abbreviated as C.R. Botafogo, was founded in 1894. The club's basketball section was founded in 1933, and were finalists of the Rio de Janeiro State Championship, in 1934 and 1937. The multi-sport club Botafogo Football Club, abbreviated as Botafogo F.C., was founded in 1904. Its basketball section won the Rio de Janeiro State Championship in 1939 and 1942. Basketball played a major role in the development of Botafogo F.R.'s multi-sports athletic club. In 1942, a basketball game was played between the two sports clubs of the

neighborhood, C.R. Botafogo and Botafogo F.C., respectively. During the game, just after halftime, Armando Albano, a player of Botafogo F.C., died on the court, after suffering a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when Ischemia, blood flow decreases or stops in one of the coronary arteries of the heart, causing infarction (tissue death) to the heart muscle. The most common symptom ...

. In his honor, the presidents of each club decided to merge their clubs, and become

(Botafogo Football and Rowing), abbreviated as Botafogo F.R. The club also took a new flag and a new crest, mixing both club's originals. After that, Botafogo F.R.'s basketball club won several local Rio de Janeiro State Championships, including the three-peat of 1943, 1944, and 1945. Botafogo F.R. also won the Brazilian Cup (Brazilian Championship) title in 1967, and became the first and only club from Rio to win the top-tier level Brazilian league. Another club from Rio did not do so until 2000. They also competed in the 1968 edition of the

FIBA Intercontinental Cup The FIBA Intercontinental Cup, previously known to as the FIBA World Cup for Champion Clubs and the FIBA Club World Cup, is an annual international men's basketball competition organised by FIBA, the sport's global governing body. The competit ...

. At the beginning of the 2000s decade, the club's basketball department became

amateur An amateur () is generally considered a person who pursues an avocation independent from their source of income. Amateurs and their pursuits are also described as popular, informal, autodidacticism, self-taught, user-generated, do it yourself, DI ...

, and only became

professional A professional is a member of a profession or any person who work (human activity), works in a specified professional activity. The term also describes the standards of education and training that prepare members of the profession with the partic ...

again in 2015. In the 2017 season, Botafogo F.R. played in the Brazilian Gold League, the second-tier level of Brazilian pro club basketball. The club finished the regular season in first place, and went on to win the league title. They beat

Blumenau Blumenau () is a city in Vale do Itajaí, Santa Catarina (Brazil), Santa Catarina state, in the South Region, Brazil, South Region of Brazil, from the state capital Florianópolis. The city was founded by the German chemist and pharmacist H ...

in the playoffs, and then won the league's finals, after beating AAB Joinville in the 5th and decisive game, at home, by a score of 90–68. The team's main star, Jamaal Smith, was named the league's Finals MVP, after a great performance during the series. In the

2018–19 NBB season The 2018–19 Novo Basquete Brasil (NBB) season is the 11th season of this top-tier level Brazilian professional basketball league. This tournament is organized by the Liga Nacional de Basquete (LNB). The NBB will also qualify teams for internat ...

, with Léo Figueiró already as head coach, the team reached the semifinals, losing to

Flamengo Basketball The Flamengo Basketball team is a professional Brazilian basketball team based in Rio de Janeiro. It is a part of the Clube de Regatas do Flamengo multi-sports club family. The club's full name is Basquetebol do Clube de Regatas do Flamengo. The ...

that would go to win the league's title. Coach Léo Figueiró was named NBB's Coach of the Year. With this campaign, Botafogo finished 4th and secured a place at the

Liga Sudamericana de Básquetbol The Liga Sudamericana de Baloncesto (LSB), or FIBA Liga Sudamericana de Baloncesto ( Portuguese: ''Liga Sul-Americana de Basquete'', English: ''South American Basketball League''), also commonly known as FIBA South American League, is the secon ...

's next season. At the beginning of the 2019–20 season, the team debuted at the

, in a group hosted in San Andres, Colombia, that had the home team Warriors de San Andrés,

Nacional de Montevideo Club Nacional de Football (, ''National Football Club'') is a Uruguayan professional sports club based in La Blanqueada, La Blanqueada, Montevideo. The club was founded on 14 May 1899 as a result of the merger between ''Uruguay Athletic Club'' an ...

and Salta Basket. After finishing 2–1, the team advanced to the semifinals stage. The next stage was played in

La Banda La Banda is a city in the province of Santiago del Estero, Argentina. It has about 95,000 inhabitants as per the , making it the second largest in the province. It is the head town of the Banda Department. La Banda is located only 8 km away ...

, and Botafogo faced, once again, Salta and Nacional, and the home team

Ciclista Olímpico Club Ciclista Olímpico La Banda, also known as simply Ciclista Olímpico, is an Argentine sports club based in La Banda, Santiago del Estero. The club is mostly known for its basketball team, which currently plays in the Liga Nacional de Básque ...

. At the first game, Botafogo beat Salta 62–61 with a buzzer-beater shot from Arthur Bernardi. The next day the team beat Nacional by a 10 points margin and, at the final and decisive game, Jamaal Smith put on a show and helped Botafogo come from a 17 point deficit against

to advance to the Finals to face

Corinthians The First Epistle to the Corinthians () is one of the Pauline epistles, part of the New Testament of the Christian Bible. The epistle is attributed to Paul the Apostle and a co-author, Sosthenes, and is addressed to the Christian church in C ...

. After losing the first game of the finals in Rio, the team counted with amazing performances of Jamaal Smith and Cauê Borges in game 2 and 3 respectively to win back to back games in

São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

to conquer its first international trophy. The next day, a huge crowd of fans showed up to receive the players and celebrate the title at the club's Ginásio Oscar Zelaya.

Players

Current roster

Depth chart

Honours and titles

International

* South American League **Champions (1): 2019

National

* Brazilian Championship **Champions (1): 1967 * Brazilian second division **Champions (1): 2017

Regional

* Rio de Janeiro State Championship **Champions (10): 1939, 1942 (as Botafogo F.C.), 1943, 1944, 1945, 1947, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1991 (as Botafogo F.R.) **Runners-up (10): 1934, 1937 (as C.R. Botafogo), 1941 (as Botafogo F.C.), 1946, 1951, 1965, 1973, 1999, 2000, 2018, 2019 (as Botafogo F.R.)

Individual awards

Brazilian 2nd Division Season MVP: * Jamaal Smith - 2017 Brazilian 2nd Division Finals MVP: * Jamaal Smith - 2017 NBB Coach of The Year: * Léo Figueiró - 2019 South American League MVP: * Cauê Borges - 2019

Head coaches

* Togo "Kanela" Renan Soares

Women's team

Botafogo's women's basketball team has won the most state championships, with seven titles. They won the state championship in 1955, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1995, and 2006.

References

External links

Official website

New Basketball Brazil's Team Profile

Latinbasket.com Team Profile
{{Authority control Basketball teams in Brazil