The 2025 of Virtus Bolognat has been a long, intense, at times tiring, but also profoundly identity-forming year. Twelve months that told the story of a team capable of going through changes, pressures and decisive turning points without ever losing the sense of its own history. A year that ended with one Scudetto sewn on the chest – which arrived in June – and which saw Virtus go through different sporting seasons, but united by a common thread: the ability to remain competitive, even when the context changed rapidly.
The numbers help to photograph the scope of the route. In the championship, between the tail end of the 2024/25 season and the start of 2025/26, Virtus has put together 34 wins and 8 losses overall. A performance built step by step: 14 successes and 3 knockouts in the final of the 2024/25 regular season, 9 wins and 3 defeats in the playoffs that led to the Italian championship, and an 11-2 start to the new season which confirmed continuity and ambitions. Numbers that speak of solidity, but also an ability to regenerate over time.
The European path is more complex, where the double face of 2025 emerges clearly: the 4-12 of EuroLeague 2024/25 left room for an 8-10 in the following season, for an overall result of 12 wins and 22 losses. A path made of difficulties, adaptations and constant search for balance, in an increasingly demanding technical and competitive context. To complete the picture, the two dry defeats in Italian Cup e Super Cupboth against Olimpia Milano, which marked important emotional turning points within the year.
But Virtus’ 2025 wasn’t just a sequence of results. It was a year of profound transformations: changes in the roster, new technical hierarchies, a new corporate configuration and a crucial chapter on the sponsorship front, elements that have redesigned the club’s identity on and off the pitch. A year often lived on edge, but which consolidated a certainty: Virtus Bologna continued to stay within its own history, trying to write a new page, day after day.
Our story starts from here, stage by stage, to retrace the key moments of 2025 which, for better or for worse, has left a profound mark.
• 3/01 – Virtus Bologna’s 2025 opens with a European defeat. In Oaka, against Panathinaikos, a heavy knockout was achieved (111-90), but less so in substance: Ivanovic’s team remained in the game for three quarters, raising the white flag only at the end, still showing signs of competitiveness in a very difficult context.
• 10/01 – An important victory in the Euroleague against Baskonia arrives at the Segafredo Arena. A success that is worth more than the scoreboard says, because it was achieved in the midst of an emergency: Clyburn is out due to the Achilles tendon injury sustained against Reggio Emilia on January 5, Shengelia is fighting with an ulcer, Zizic is out with an elbow problem and Tucker is not at his best. A victory of character and resilience.
• 29/01 – Watershed day at corporate level. A very harsh press conference takes place at the Hotel Savoia in which Massimo Zanetti announces the dismissal of CEO Luca Baraldi. A new management structure is born with Marco Comellini as the new CEO, while Paolo Ronci is confirmed as sporting director. On the same occasion, Zanetti announced that the current season will be the last season with the Segafredo brand: the search for a new title sponsor officially begins.
• 12/02 – In the quarter-finals of the Italian Cup there was a clear defeat against Olimpia Milano (91-77). A heavy knockout, followed by strong words from Dusko Ivanovic in the press conference, a sign of a delicate moment and of a team still searching for its definitive identity.
• 22/03 – A defeat comes in Trieste (85-78) which leads to a drastic decision by the club: reduction of rotations and deep cuts to the roster. They say goodbye to Rayjon Tucker, Andrejs Grazulis and Riccardo Visconti; a few weeks later also Justin Holiday, at the end of the three-month contract. It’s a turning point in the season.
• 26/03 – The lowest point of the year, but also the beginning of the ascent. At the Belgrade Arena, Virtus suffered a heavy 88-52 defeat against Red Star. A -36 which hurts, but which paradoxically becomes the moment from which to start again.
• 2/04 – Extraordinary press conference: the club announces that Dusko Ivanovic will remain on the Virtus bench also in the following season, regardless of the results of the current year. A choice of continuity and trust that marks a key transition.
• 11/05 – Last day of the LBA regular season, at the end of a battle against Trapani, extra time is needed to bring home the victory (101-96). Isaïa Cordinier is decisive: he equalizes in regulation time and then takes over overtime. A success that is worth the final first place in the rankings.
• 14/05 – On the eve of the playoffs, Virtus lands a fundamental coup: Brandon Taylor arrives, taken from the Liga ACB where he played in Coruña. A connection that immediately proved to be central and decisive, perhaps the most successful of the entire season.
• 27/05 – Game 5 of the playoff quarter-finals against Venezia is an epic battle. The match seems to get out of hand, but Virtus takes it back with heart and pride. Toko Shengelia, recovering from a head injury suffered in game 3 and absent in game 4, came on in the last five minutes and decided the match, dragging the Bianconeri into the semi-final.
• 31/05 – In Game 1 of the semifinals comes a thrilling victory against Milan: 68-67. Once again Shengelia is the man of providence, author of the decisive basket. It is the beginning of a series that will establish him as an absolute leader.
• 7/06 – Virtus conquers the Forum in game 4, after having also won game 3 two days earlier. Two away successes that were missing from the 2021 playoffs and which open the doors to the Scudetto final against Brescia.
• 14/06 – A few hours before game 2 of the final, another very serious news arrives: Carlo Gherardi sells 49% of the company shares, returning entire control to Massimo Zanetti. A complex relationship, but always marked by respect between two great entrepreneurs.
• 16/06 – On the eve of game 3 of the championship final, the hardest news arrives: Achille Polonara is diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia. The big man from Ancona enters his most important battle, away from the pitch.
• 17/06 – Virtus overwhelms Brescia in game 3 at PalaLeonessa and wins its 17th Scudetto. A title dedicated to Achille Polonara, to whom the trophy will be taken to hospital in the following days. The MVP of the finals is Tornike Shengelia, destined to then fly to Barcelona.
• 25/06 – The project for the new arena is officially presented at the Fair, with the symbolic laying of the first stone. On the same day Massimo Zanetti announces – distorting his name – the first transfer coup: Luca Vildoza, Dusko Ivanovic’s loyalist.
• 11/07 – Virtus enters a new dimension: in the afternoon, the surprise announcement of the hiring of Carsen Edwards, best scorer of the last EuroLeague and member of the best quintet of the competition, arrived.
• 16/07 – After the experience in the Summer League with the Cleveland Cavaliers, the official announcement arrives: Saliou Niang is a new player for Virtus Bologna. An investment in the future that a few months later will also find confirmation in the blue jersey at EuroBasket 2025.
• 18/07 – The name on the shirt changes: after ten years the Segafredo era ends. The new title sponsor for the championship is Olidata, a company active in the cyber-security and technological innovation sectors.
• 18/08 – Last August, an announcement arrived that marked an era: Marco Belinelli retired from playing basketball. A fundamental page in the history of Virtus and Italian basketball closes.
• 27/09 – Virtus comes close to reaching the LBA Super Cup final, but falls to Olimpia Milano in extra time. A bitter defeat, which however leaves encouraging signs to be seen in terms of the game.
• 30/09 – Dream European debut: Virtus beats Real Madrid 74-68 at the PalaDozza. Saliou Niang shines, in an evening that smells of a turning point and ignites enthusiasm for the new season.
• 17/10 – The first away victory in the EuroLeague arrives, on the parquet of Asvel Villeurbanne (90-83). Historic evening for Carsen Edwards, who signs his European career-high with 36 points.
• 24/10 – Perhaps the most complete performance of the season: at the sold out PalaDozza, Virtus beat Panathinaikos 92-75 with a dominant game on both sides of the pitch.
• 21/11 – Last match at PalaDozza: 99-89 victory against Maccabi. Five victories out of five in the EuroLeague in the Piazza Azzarita facility, even if the climate around the match is not the most serene.
• 5/12 – Virtus inaugurates its new home at the Fair, the Virtus Arena. The debut was positive: a hard-fought 79-78 victory against Dubai, at the end of a match fought until the last possession.
• 22/12 – Before Christmas comes the direct clash with Brescia, a remake of the Scudetto final. Virtus wins and reaches the top of the LBA rankings, confirming itself as the absolute protagonist also in this new season.
• 29/12 – Virtus Bologna’s 2025 ends at the PalaTrieste with the victory against Israel Gonzalez’s team, sealing an intense year, full of changes, emotions and key passages that have profoundly marked the Juventus journey.
Eugenio Petrillo
