| Unicaja | |
| Leagues: | Liga ACB Champions League |
| History: | Caja de Ronda (1977–1992) Unicaja Mayoral (1992–1993) Unicaja Polti (1993–1994) Unicaja (1994–present) |
| Arena: | Martín Carpena |
| Capacity: | 10,699[1] |
| Location: | Málaga, Spain |
| Colors: | Forest green, white, purple and lime |
| President: | Antonio López Nieto |
| Coach: | Ibon Navarro |
| Captain: | Alberto Díaz |
| Ownership: | Unicaja |
| Championships: | 1 Spanish Championship 2 Spanish Cup 1 EuroCup 1 Champions League 1 Korać Cup |
| Retired Numbers: | 1 (5) |
| H Body: | 279854 |
| H Pattern B: | _basket_with_purple |
| H Shorts: | 279854 |
| H Pattern S: | _purple_bottom |
| A Body: | FEFEFE |
| A Pattern B: | _basket_with_purple |
| A Shorts: | FEFEFE |
| A Pattern S: | _purple_bottom |
| 3 Body: | 981454 |
| 3 Pattern B: | _greenshoulders |
| 3 Shorts: | 981454 |
| 3 Pattern S: | _green_bottom |
Baloncesto Málaga S.A.D.,[2] also known as Unicaja for sponsorship reasons, is a professional basketball club based in Málaga, Spain. The team plays in the Liga ACB and the Champions League. The team is sponsored by the Spanish bank Unicaja.
Unicaja was originally founded in 1977, as CB Caja de Ronda.[3] [4] In 1992, the club merged another ACB team in the city of Málaga, CB Maristas de Málaga, which was originally founded in 1953 as Ademar Basket Club. Over the years, the club has featured players like: Nacho Rodríguez, Berni Rodríguez, Carlos Cabezas, Jorge Garbajosa, Marcus Brown, Sergei Babkov, Michael Ansley, Louis Bullock, and Kenny Miller, as well as numerous other well-known players. The club won its first title, when it won the European-wide third tier level FIBA Korać Cup in the 2000–01 season. They then won the Spanish King's Cup title in 2005. The next year, in the 2005–06 season, Unicaja won its first-ever Spanish League championship.
The club finished its best years to date, by qualifying for the 2007 Euroleague Final Four, where it was defeated in the semifinals by CSKA Moscow, and thus finished in third place in the EuroLeague. In October 2007, Unicaja faced the NBA's Memphis Grizzlies in a friendly match, and they defeated the Grizzlies, by a score of 102–99. That was one of the 17 times that an NBA team has lost to a foreign club. Pau Gasol and Juan Carlos Navarro, two of the greatest Spanish basketball players of all time, played for Memphis in that historical game.[5]
Málaga participated in the European-wide top-tier level league, the EuroLeague, for 15 consecutive seasons (2001–02 season to 2015–16 season). However, in the summer of 2015, it lost its EuroLeague A-licence. Therefore, in the 2016–17 season, Unicaja participated in the second tier level EuroCup. The club immediately won the EuroCup title, in its first season in the league, after winning over Valencia Basket in the league's Finals.[6]
Since 1999, Unicaja Málaga has played its home games at the Palacio de Deportes José María Martín Carpena arena. The arena originally seated 9,743 spectators for basketball games, and was expanded in the year 2010, to a current seating capacity of 11,300 people for basketball games.[7]
1987–88
1999–03
2003–08
2008–2011
2011–12
2012
2012–13
2013–2018
2018–2021
2021–2022
2022–present
| Season | Tier | Division | Pos. | Copa del Rey | Other cups | European competitions | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1978–79 | 2 | 1ª División B | 10th | 6–16 | ||||||
| 1979–80 | 2 | 1ª División B | 9th | 13–17 | ||||||
| 1980–81 | 2 | 1ª División B | 1st | 19–2–5 | ||||||
| 1981–82 | 1 | 1ª División | 10th | 10–1–15 | Round of 16 | |||||
| 1982–83 | 1 | 1ª División | 12th | 6–20 | Quarterfinalist | |||||
| 1983–84 | 1 | Liga ACB | 10th | 14–16 | ||||||
| 1984–85 | 1 | Liga ACB | 14th | 13–19 | ||||||
| 1985–86 | 2 | 1ª División B | 4th | 18–15 | ||||||
| 1986–87 | 2 | 1ª División B | 1st | 24–10 | ||||||
| 1987–88 | 1 | Liga ACB | 14th | 3–30 | Copa Príncipe | |||||
| 1988–89 | 1 | Liga ACB | 5th | 23–15 | Quarterfinalist | |||||
| 1989–90 | 1 | Liga ACB | 5th | 21–17 | Round of 16 | 3 Korać Cup | 1–1 | |||
| 1990–91 | 1 | Liga ACB | 10th | 19–21 | Third round | 3 Korać Cup | 0–2 | |||
| 1991–92 | 1 | Liga ACB | 14th | 16–23 | Second round | |||||
| Season | Tier | Division | Pos. | Copa del Rey | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1981–82 | 3 | 2ª División | 1st | ||
| 1982–83 | 3 | 2ª División | 2nd | ||
| 1983–84 | 3 | 2ª División | 2nd | ||
| 1984–85 | 2 | 1ª División B | 16th | 6–20 | |
| 1985–86 | 3 | 2ª División | 2nd | ||
| 1986–87 | 2 | 1ª División B | 18th | 12–22 | |
| 1987–88 | 2 | 1ª División B | 4th | 32–13 | |
| 1988–89 | 1 | Liga ACB | 15th | 22–17 | First round |
| 1989–90 | 1 | Liga ACB | 13th | 18–22 | Round of 16 |
| 1990–91 | 1 | Liga ACB | 14th | 18–22 | Second round |
| 1991–92 | 1 | Liga ACB | 15th | 15–22 | First round |
National:
(16)
International:
(1)
(1)
2007Other competitions:
Spanish Cup MVP
ACB Three Point Shootout Champion
Basketball Champions League Final Four MVP
Baloncesto Málaga B is the reserve team of Unicaja, basketball based in Málaga.
From 2007 to 2016, Baloncesto Málaga had an agreement with CB Axarquía, for them to play as the club's main farm team, while Baloncesto Málaga B, which currently plays also under the name Unicaja, was the club's third team until the end of this contract.
On 14 July 2017, the club announced the creation of a women's team.[11]
Just in its second season, Unicaja promoted to Liga Femenina 2.[12]
| Season | Tier | Division | Pos. | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| style=background:#efefef | 2017–18 | 3 | 1ª División | 2nd | ||
| style=background:#efefef | 2018–19 | 3 | 1ª División | align=center bgcolor=#BBF3BB | 1st |