Virtus Segafredo Bologna, which began as a gymnastics club in 1879, formed its first professional basketball team in the late 1920s and proceeded to consistently win championships for more than half a century. It won four consecutive Italian League titles from 1945 to 1948, then added two more in 1955 and 1956. After a 21-year drought, Virtus claimed four more Italian League crowns between 1976 and 1984, the last coming with an Italian Cup victory for the club's first double. In 1990, Virtus won its first European title, the 1990 Saporta Cup. That title came nine years after reaching the 1981 EuroLeague final. Virtus had a successful decade, topped off by its first EuroLeague title in 1998, when it beat AEK Athens 58-44 in Barcelona. Head coach Ettore Messina led Virtus to a second EuroLeague title in 2001, downing Baskonia in the best-of-five finals. Manu Ginobili was chosen as Finals MVP. Virtus lost in the 2002 EuroLeague final and soon after suffered financial troubles, slipping to the Italian second division. It won the BCL title in 2019 and despite getting 19 wins in the 2020-21 EuroCup, it lost against UNICS Kazan in the semifinals. Virtus bounced back by winning its 19th Italian League title in 2021 and added the EuroCup crown in 2022. In 2023 Virtus won the Italian Cup, and last season it was one win away from qualifying for the EuroLeague Playoffs. The "Black V" is back as a strong contender once again in 2024-25.