Pallacanestro Varese

Pallacanestro Varese, currently competing as Openjobmetis Varese due to a sponsorship deal, is a professional basketball club from Varese, Lombardy, Italy. Founded in 1945, it now plays in the LBA, Italy’s top division.

The club’s history began with the introduction of basketball to Varese in 1945. Sponsors first appeared in 1954, with names including Storm, Ignis, Emerson, Turisanda, Cagiva, Star, Ciaocrem, Divarese, Ranger, Metis, Whirlpool, and Cimberio. In the mid-1990s, Varese notably played without a main sponsor—an unusual situation in Italian basketball—and adopted the franchise name Varese Roosters.

Varese has won ten Italian League titles (1961, 1964, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1973, 1974, 1977, 1978, and 1999), placing it third all-time behind Olimpia Milano and Virtus Bologna. The 1999 title came 21 years after the previous one. The club was especially dominant in the 1970s, reaching ten consecutive FIBA European Champions Cup finals and winning five (1970, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1976).

Known as Ignis Varese from 1956 to 1975, the golden age began earlier with a FIBA Intercontinental Cup win in 1966, repeated in 1970 and 1973. In 1973, under legendary coach Aca Nikolić, Varese achieved a Triple Crown by winning every available trophy. The club also won two FIBA European Cup Winners’ Cups (1967, 1980) and four Italian Cups (1969, 1970, 1971, 1973).

The great era ended in the early 1990s when the team dropped to the second division. It quickly returned to the top tier and, five years later, won its tenth Italian League title in 1999 under head coach Carlo Recalcati, who later coached the Italian national team. That remains Varese’s last league triumph, though the club has since aimed to return to the top of Italian and European competition.