Cholet Basket 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 court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

club that is based in

Cholet Cholet (, , probably from Latin ''cauletum'', "cabbage") is a commune of western France in the Maine-et-Loire department. With 54,307 inhabitants (2019), it is the second most populous commune of Maine-et-Loire, after the prefecture Angers. G ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...

. The club plays in the

French League The French League (: "French League for purging, mutual aid and European collaboration") was a collaborationist French movement founded by Pierre Costantini in September 1940. Its journal was entitled ''L'Appel''. Bibliography * Pierre Philip ...

. Their home arena is

La Meilleraie La Meilleraie () is an indoor sporting arena located in the city of Cholet, Maine-et-Loire, France. The arena is part of a larger expo and events center called Le Parc des Expositions de la Meilleraie, which is divided into several sections. The ...

. Established in 1975, Cholet won its first French championship in the 2009–10 season. In 1998 and 1999, Cholet won the

French Cup The Coupe de France, formerly known as the Coupe Charles Simon, is the premier knockout cup competition in French football organized by the French Football Federation (FFF). It was first held in 1917 and is open to all amateur and professional ...

History

Establishment

The team debuted in the 1st division in the 1987–88 season and after managing to get to the premier league in only 12 years. The team were able to sustain themselves in the league, and were consistently in the top 10 teams having a highly successful youth system. This youth system has allowed the club to produce professional players season after season. After winning the National Cup in 1999, Cholet got automatically qualified for its first participation to the Euroleague (3 victories – 13 defeats). During the 2004–05 season 10 of the 12 players in the first team derived from the youth system. Some of the most illustrious players who had their debut in the team are

Antoine Rigaudeau Antoine Roger Rigaudeau (born 17 December 1971) is a French former professional basketball player and professional basketball coach. During his playing days, he played at the point guard, shooting guard, and small forward positions. Also during ...

Jim Bilba Jim Ruddy Anicet Bilba (born April 17, 1968 in Pointe-à-Pitre) is a former professional basketball player and coach, from France. Professional career Bilba won the EuroLeague championship with Limoges CSP in 1993. National team career Bilb ...

and

Mickaël Gelabale Mickaël Gelabale (born May 22, 1983) is a French professional basketball player for Élan Chalon of the Pro B. He also represents the France national basketball team internationally. Standing at , he plays either at the small forward position or ...

. During the 2008–2009 season, Cholet was defeated by

Virtus Bologna Virtus Pallacanestro Bologna, known for sponsorship reasons as Virtus Segafredo Bologna, is an Italian professional basketball club based in Bologna, Emilia-Romagna. The club was founded in 1929, which makes it the oldest club in Italy and one ...

in the

EuroChallenge FIBA EuroChallenge (called the FIBA Europe League in 2003–05, and FIBA EuroCup in 2005–08) was the 3rd-tier level transnational men's professional continental club basketball competition in Europe, from 2003 to 2015. It was organized and run ...

's Final (75–77). In 2010, Cholet finished 1st of the 2009–2010 Pro A League regular season and won the championship after defeating

Le Mans Le Mans (, ) is a city in northwestern France on the Sarthe River where it meets the Huisne. Traditionally the capital of the province of Maine, it is now the capital of the Sarthe department and the seat of the Roman Catholic diocese of Le ...

in the Play-Offs Final (81–65). Thanks to its national champion title, Cholet is automatically qualified for the 2010–2011 Euroleague season. Cholet was eliminated during the first round (4 victories – 6 defeats) of the 2010–2011 Euroleague after defeating prestigious (and at the time unbeaten) Fenerbahçe Ülker (82–78). In 2011, Cholet, defending its title finished 1st again of the 2011-12 Pro A League regular season and was only defeated during the finals by

SLUC Nancy Stade Lorrain Université Club Nancy Basket, commonly referred to as SLUC Nancy Basket, is a French professional basketball club based in Nancy. The club currently competes in the LNB Pro A, the top league in France, and holds two league titles. S ...

(74-76).

Logos

Youth academy

Cholet Basket is intensively focusing on its Youth Academy to provide players to its professional squad. During the 2004–05 season, 10 of the 12 players of the Pro squad have progressed through the club Youth Academy. It is also one of the only six European clubs to have provided two players to the same NBA draft in

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

, with Rodrigues Beaubois and Nando De Colo beside

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid. Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...

(

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris (dwarf planet), Er ...

Joventut Badalona Club Joventut Badalona, S.A.D. () is a Spanish professional basketball club based in Badalona, Catalonia, Spain, playing in the Liga ACB and the EuroCup. Known to their fans as ''La Penya'' (in English, ''The Club''), it is one of only two team ...

(

), Fenerbahçe Ülker (

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing ...

KK Partizan Košarkaški klub Partizan ( sr-Cyrl, Кошаркашки клуб Партизан, English: Partizan Basketball Club), commonly referred to as KK Partizan or simply Partizan, is a professional basketball team based in Belgrade, Belgrade, Ser ...

(

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains independence from Indonesia and ...

) and Pau-Ortez (

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia Space Shuttle Columbia disaster, disintegrated during reentry into Atmosphere of Earth, Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an 2002– ...

). ;Notable Players that have progressed through the Cholet Youth Academy (''Espoirs'')

Players

Retired numbers

Current roster

FIBA Hall of Famers

Season by season

Achievements

* French Championship Pro A:

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

* La Semaine des As Cup: 2008 *

: 1998, 1999 * Match des Champions (French Pro A Champion vs

winner): 2010 * Finalist of Pro A: 1988, 2011 *

Finalist: 2005, 2008 * Finalist of the

Tournoi des As Cup The LNB Pro A Leaders Cup, or French Basketball League Cup, is the annual national league cup competition for teams from the top-tier level of French professional basketball, the LNB Pro A. It was created in its current form in 2003 (after origi ...

: 1988, 1989, 1990 and 1993. * Champion of Division 2 (now

Pro B The LNB Pro B, commonly known as Pro B, is the French basketball league system, 2nd-tier level men's professional basketball league in France. It is the second division of the Ligue Nationale de Basket (LNB), which has organized the league since t ...

): 1986

Notable players

Head coaches

* 1970s: Dragoş Nosievici * 1987–89: Jean Galle * 1989–91: Jean-Paul Rebatet * 1991–95: Laurent Buffard * 1995–96: Alain Thinet (7 games) then Eric Girard (1 game) then Jean Galle * 1996–2001: Eric Girard * 2001–02: Savo Vucević * 2002–03: Jean-François Martin * 2003–04:

Erman Kunter Erman Kunter (born 8 October 1956) is a Turkish-French former professional basketball player and coach. He most recently served as head coach of Galatasaray, of the Turkish Basketball Super League (BSL). He is well-known for being the player tha ...

* 2004–06:

Ruddy Nelhomme Ruddy Nelhomme (born March 15, 1972) is a Guadeloupean- French former professional basketball player and coach. Coaching career Club coaching career Since 2007, Nelhomme has coached Poitiers Basket 86. National team coaching career Since 2010, ...

* 2006–10:

* 2010–12:

* 2012–14: Jean-Manuel Sousa * 2014–15: Laurent Buffard * 2015–16: Jérôme Navier * 2016–18: Philippe Hervé * 2018: Régis Boissié * 2018–21:

* 2021–present: Laurent Vila

References

External links

Official website

LNB Club Profile

Euroleague Club Profile
{{FIBA Europe Cup 2022–23 Cholet Basket