Not only does Spain have many sports halls, but also many sport achievements. Spanish athletes have won many medals, titles and cups in various disciplines. This country is mainly associated with football. Everyone has heard of the two most popular football clubs in Spain, such as Real Madrid and FC Barcelona at least once in their life. However, not everyone knows that Malaga has a basketball team – Unicaja Baloncesto Málaga which does well on the basketball court.
The basketball team – Unicaja Baloncesto Málaga was founded in 1977 as Caja de Ronda. It took just four years for the team to rise to the highest category in Spanish basketball, with promotion to the first division in the 1980-81 season. The team qualified to the ACB League in the 1987-88 season. During the league games, the team achieved their top league positions and took part twice in the Korec Cup. Mayoral Marestas, which was founded in 1953 as Ademar Basket Club, became part of Baloncesto Malaga. The team returned to the ACB League in 1988 and played there four seasons until the moment they merged with Caja de Ronda.
Today, the name of the team is Unicaja Baloncesto Malaga. One of its biggest achievements was to have beaten Real Madrid and have taken the first place during the tournament Copa del Rey in the season 2004/2005. When they beat Tau Cerámica in the final, they also won the league title, what is one of Andalusia’s greatest sporting achievements. Moreover, they took part for the first time in the Final Four in the season 2006/2007. They played successfully against Tau Cerámica and won the third place. Furthermore, Unicaja Baloncesto Malaga is the winner of the Eurocup of the season 2016/2017.
The current line-up of Unicaja Baloncesto Malaga consists of Brian Roberts, Dragan Milosavljević, Mathias Lessort, Kyle Wiltjer, Giorgi Shermadini, Adam Waczyński, Sasu Salin, Dani Díez, Jaime Fernández, Carlos Suárez, Alberto Díaz, Ryan Boatright, Viny Okouo, Morgan Stilma, Pablo Sánchez, Rubén Guerrero, Lucas Muñoz.
The Spanish bank Unicaja has been the main sponsor of Unicaja Baloncesto Malaga for 40 years. That is why the name “Unicaja” appears in the name of the basketball team form Costa del Sol.
The main colours of the team are dark green, light green, white and purple. The head coach is Luis Casimiro.
The main sport hall, where basketball matches take place in Malaga, is Palacio de Deportess José Maria Martin Carpena. When the basketball players have a match in this sport arena they wear a green sport outfit, but when they have an away match, they wear a white sport outfit.
After the Spanish lessons in our school CILE, it is worth taking part in sport events, for example seeing a live basketball match. It is a chance for you to observe how Spanish supporters express their emotions and comment what is happening in the basketball court.
