Club Baloncesto Breogán, S.A.D.,[2] also known as Río Breogán for sponsorship reasons, is a professional basketball club based in Lugo, Spain. The team plays in the Liga ACB. The club was founded in 1966 by the Varela-Portas brothers. The team played for the first time in the Spanish top league in 1970. The name of the club is a reference to legendary GalicianKing Breogán. It is the most popular basketball club in Galicia, and it is also the Galician club with the most seasons and games in the top top tier of Spanish basketball[3] - Liga ACB - and European and Copa del Rey appearances in addition to that. Because of that, Breogán fans proudly nickname their team as ''O equipo de Galicia'' (in English: Galicia's team).
Breogán fans celebrating the promotion to Liga ACB in April 2018.
Founded in 1966, CB Breogán only needed five years to promote for the first time in its history to the Liga Nacional. It played in it from 1971 to 1977, except in the 1974–75 season, before dropping down again to lower divisions. Alfredo Pérez was the league's top scorer in both 1970-71 and 1972–73 seasons.Alfredo Pérez Gómez Breogán coexisted with another team from Lugo called La Casera for a while, and even though La Casera had more local players, Breogán was the whole city's preferred team because Lugo's population felt a lot more identified with the club. La Casera disappeared and a few of their players signed for Breogán afterwards.
Breogán had a bit of a rollercoaster journey between the top division and the lower leagues, and got promoted back to the now named Liga ACB in the 1983–84 season, and qualified for the Korać Cup after finishing in the sixth position in 1984-85, playing against Red Star Belgrade, Pallacanestro Varese and ASVEL Basket. Manel Sánchez, from Lugo, was the star of this team. The club got relegated in the 1986–87 season after the referees allowed Oximesa Granada to score the winning free throws despite the clock having run out of time before the foul. The incidents caused the closure of Breogán's arena and Breo had to play the remaining games in A Coruña, where it got relegated despite Lugo population's massive support filling up an arena 100 km away from home and Manel Sánchez being the league's top scorer. Season 1988-89 saw the club's return to Liga ACB once again, where they stayed until 1995, when it lost to against Valvi Girona and became relegated to Liga EBA. During this time, Manel Sánchez left the club for good, and Olympic medallistVelimir Perasović was brought as his substitute for the 1992–93 season, its first in the new arena, Pazo dos Deportes.
In 1999 the club returned once again to Liga ACB, an era which would last seven years. Great players like Anthony Bonner, former EuroLeague champion Nikola Lončar or Devin Davis played for the club during that time. They earned a European spot in the 2003–04 season, but ULEB Cup organisers decided to invite Real Madrid instead, even though they finished in a lower position than Breogán. 2004–05 season was defined by the arrival of one of Liga ACB's most talented players in the 21st century, Charlie Bell. His impressive performances for Breo earned him a move to the NBA for the following season. In the 2005–06 season, Breogán was the last qualified in the table despite having players such as Pete Mickeal or Alfonso Reyes and was relegated to LEB Oro in which would become the club's biggest absence from the top tier - 12 years -.
The club got in a very bad financial state, and was close to disappearing in the early 2010s. This became aggravated by the exit of former chairman Raúl López to become chairman at Obradoiro CAB, a move which kickstarted the rivalry between the two Galician sides. Obradoiro had only been at the Liga ACB for two season in their entire history when that happened. After failing to get promotion for many years, a playoff final loss against Club Ourense Baloncesto in 2015 the club went up by winning the LEB Oro in 2017-18.[4] Breogán signing Ray McCallum Jr. mid-season wasn't enough to secure safety and were relegated with only 9 games out of 34 games. In 2021, Breogán were promoted to the top tier of Spanish basketball once again after beating Granada in the final. Breogán lost away from home in the first game but managed to win the second one at home and the final one in the Andalusian city.
Breogán made a brilliant start to the 2021/22 season. After winning the Galician Cup against rivals Obradoiro CAB, they won their first two Liga ACB games and visited FC Barcelona Bàsquet as leaders. Although a defeat there would mean they were no longer at the top of the table, they completed a tremendous first half of the league, qualifying for the Copa del Rey de Baloncesto for the first time in over 30 years, in which they suffered a narrow defeat against finalists Real Madrid Baloncesto. In January, head coach Paco Olmos decided to leave the club following an offer from relegation-bound CB San Pablo Burgos and was substituted by Veljko Mršić. Breogán's push to make it to the play-offs was hampered by star-man Džanan Musa's injury against Bàsquet Manresa. Trae Bell-Haynes got injured one week later as well, which resulted in Breogán being out of Play-off contention, although they were always far from being involved in a relegation battle. Džanan Musa became one of Breogán's most legendary players in the 2021–22 season and won Liga ACB's MVP award for the season,[5] earning a move to Real Madrid.
Bursaspor Basketbol, Hapoel Holon B.C. and current Champions Telekom Baskets Bonn were Breogán's rivals in Group F of the Basketball Champions League, in which the Galician club won all three home games and lost their three away games, finishing the group in 3rd place after all the teams finished with a 3–3 record, advancing to the play-in stage, in which they will face Turkish outfit Pinar Karsiyaka. On May, 10, 2024, they secured safety in the Liga ACB by defeating MoraBanc Andorra.
Sponsorship naming
Club Baloncesto Breogán has several denominations through the years due to its sponsorship:
Breogán has had different rivals throughout its history. Breogán's biggest rival during its first decades of existence was CB OAR Ferrol, which disappeared in 1996. Club Ourense Baloncesto was a rival as well, especially during the 2014–15 season in which they eliminated Breogán in the playoff finals to go back to the Liga ACB[6] - although they couldn't materialise their promotion due to - as well as Básquet Coruña, a team they faced quite a lot of times during Breogán's tenures in the 2nd tier during the 2010s.
That being said, Obradoiro CAB - based in Santiago de Compostela, Galicia's capital - have become Breogán's fiercest rivals since the beginning of the 2010s. They were brought from the bottom leagues to the Liga ACB after a long judicial process[7] in 2009, and Raúl López, former Breogán chairman, left the club in a very bad financial state to become Obradoiro's chairman in 2010, which Breogán fans saw as treason and started the rivalry, which had been non-existent before because Breogán had a much bigger and better history up until that point.[8] Nowadays, with Breogán fully up and running after overcoming a very difficult financial situation, both of them are in Liga ACB and face each other in the Galician Derby in what is considered one of the biggest - if not the biggest - rivalries in Spanish basketball.
Former Breogán's head coach Paco Olmos' departure to San Pablo Burgos in January 2022[9] also kicked off a bit of a rivalry between both fanbases, although it soon went away after San Pablo Burgos' relegation in May 2022 and Paco Olmos being sacked later that year.
^A homegrown player is a player that played for at least three years before the age of 20 on a Spanish team. In Liga ACB, the team must register at least four homegrown players in rosters of 10–12 players or at least three homegrown players in rosters of 8–9 players.
^A overseas player is a player from outside EEA, FIBA Europe or ACP states. In Liga ACB, the team may register at most two overseas players.
