It was the first ever EuroCup final appearance ever of Virtus Segafredo Bologna and Frutti Extra Bursaspor, after Virtus Segafredo Bologna never reached a stage further than the semifinals in history and Frutti Extra Bursaspor never reached a stage further than the regular season in history. Virtus Segafredo Bologna also became the first Italian team to reach an EuroCup final.[1][2]
Virtus Segafredo Bologna played in their 11th European final. They previously won the Saporta Cup title in 1990, lifted the EuroLeague trophy twice in 1998 and 2001, claimed the EuroChallenge crown in 2009 and the Champions League in 2019. Virtus Segafredo Bologna also played three EuroLeague finals (1981, 1999 and 2002), and two Saporta Cup championship games (1978 and 2000).[1]
Venue
The arena was inaugurated on 10 November 2019, for the home game against Treviso Basket, won by Virtus 84–79.[3] On 25 December, for the derby against Fortitudo Bologna, 9,166 fans attended the game, achieving a new record for Virtus in LBA.[4] In January 2020, the arena was dismantled and rebuilt in September,[5] to host the Final Four of the 2020 Italian Basketball Supercup.[6] Moreover, the arena became the official home court of Virtus for the 2020–21 season of LBA and EuroCup.[7]
In April 2021, Massimo Zanetti, owner of Virtus and Segafredo, announced that the team will remain to the Segafredo Arena for at least three more seasons, with the hope of starting to build a new arena in 2022.[8] On 11 June 2021, at the Segafredo Arena, Virtus defeated its historic rival Olimpia Milano in the national finals, winning its 16th national title and the first one after twenty years.[9] In November 2021, the arena was moved to another fair pavilion with a capacity of 10,000 seats[10] and was inaugurated on 17 November for a EuroCup match against Reyer Venezia.[11]