CB Canarias explained

La Laguna Tenerife
Leagues:	Liga ACB Champions League
Founded:
History:	CB Canarias (1939–1994) CB 1939 Canarias (1994–present)
Arena:	Santiago Martín
Capacity:	5,100
Location:	La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain
Colors:	Gold, Black
President:	Félix Hernández
Coach:	Txus Vidorreta
Championships:	2 Champions League 3 Intercontinental Cup
Website:	Official website
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Club Cantera Base 1939 Canarias S.A.D.,^[1] commonly known as CB Canarias and known as La Laguna Tenerife for sponsorship reasons, is a professional basketball team that is based in La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain. Domestically, the team plays in the top level league in Spain, the Liga ACB and in European-wide competitions, the team plays in FIBA's Champions League (BCL). Their home arena is the Santiago Martín.

Canarias became a prominent club on the domestic scene during the 2010s, after securing promotion to the Liga ACB in 2014. Under the FIBA system, Canarias won two BCL championships (in 2017 and 2023) as well as three Intercontinental Cups (2017, 2020, 2023).

History

The team was founded in 1994, after the old CB Canarias club, that huge financial problems at that time, merged with other teams of the Spanish island of Tenerife, to create the new Tenerife Canarias club, which only played two seasons in the Liga EBA competition, at the time when that league was the second tier level of Spanish club basketball.

People who were in disagreement with that merger then created the new CB 1939 Canarias club, which inherited the colors and the logo of the club. In 2012, Iberostar Canarias was promoted to Spain's top-tier level Liga ACB competition, after the team won the championship of the LEB Oro. However, the club couldn't actually promote, due to the club's inability to fulfill the requirements needed to join the league that are requested by the league's organizer, the ACB.^[2] One month later, on 20 July 2012, CB 1939 Canarias finally achieved the league promotion, after Lucentum Alicante's vacated place in the league was granted to CB 1939 Canarias.^[3]

Alejandro Martínez, became the team's head coach in 2003, and he managed to lead the team to multiple league promotions, going up from the LEB Plata (Spanish third tier), to the top-tier level Liga ACB. He resigned from the team's head coaching position in 2015.^[4]

Golden era and international championships

In the 2016–17 season, Canarias returned to the European scene after 28 years. On 29 March 2017, Canarias qualified for the 2017 Final Four of FIBA's Basketball Champions League (BCL), which happened 36 years after the club's first league promotion up to Spain's previous top level competition, the Liga Nacional, in 1981.^[5] ^[6] The 2017 Champions League Final Four was played at Canaria's home arena, the Pabellón Insular Santiago Martín. Canarias won the BCL championship, after beating the Turkish Super League club Banvit in the Final. The championship marked the first major title in the club's history.

On 24 September 2017, Canarias participated in the 2017 FIBA Intercontinental Cup, as the defending champions of the Basketball Champions League. The club won the FIBA Intercontinental Cup title, after beating the defending champions of the FIBA Americas League, the Venezuelan club Guaros de Lara, by a score of 76–71.^[7] Three years later, Canarias also won the 2020 FIBA Intercontinental Cup title, after they defeated the defending champions of the Basketball Champions League, the Italian club Virtus Bologna, by a score of 80–72.^[8]

In March 2020, the club stopped the 2019–20 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Spain.^[9] The following season, the 2020–21 season, was the most successful season in the ACB in the team's history. After finishing third in the regular season, Canarias beat San Pablo Burgos before being eliminated in the semi-finals by Barcelona. In the 2021–22 season, Canarias won their second BCL championship after defeating fellow Spanish team Manresa in the final in Bilbao.^[10]

Sponsorship naming

Partly due to sponsorship reasons, the team has been known by several names over the years:

Home arena

CB Canarias 1939 plays its home games at the Pabellón Insular Santiago Martín arena, which is located in San Cristóbal de La Laguna, on the Spanish island of Tenerife. The arena was opened in 1999, and it has a seating capacity of 5,100 people for basketball games. CB Canarias 1939 has used Pabellón Insular Santiago Martín as its home arena, since 2010.

It has hosted major sporting events, such as the 2017 Basketball Champions League Final Four,^[11] the 2017 FIBA Intercontinental Cup,^[12] the 2018 FIBA Women's World Cup, and the 2020 FIBA Intercontinental Cup.

Players

Depth chart

Head coaches

Alejandro Martínez: 2003–2015
Txus Vidorreta

2015–2017, 2018–present

Nenad Marković

2017

Fotios Katsikaris

2017–2018

Season by season

Season	Tier	Division	Pos.		Copa del Rey	Other cups		European competitions
CB Canarias
1974–75	2	2ª División		14–2
1975–76	2	2ª División	7th	12–2–10
1976–77	2	2ª División	4th	16–1–11
1977–78	2	2ª División	8th	14–2–14						0–2
1978–79	2	1ª División B	5th	12–10
1979–80	2	1ª División B	6th	21–1–8
1980–81	2	1ª División B	3rd	16–1–9
1981–82	1	1ª División	12th	4–2–20	Round of 16
1982–83	2	1ª División B	3rd	20–1–5
1983–84	1	Liga ACB	11th	12–18
1984–85	2	Liga ACB	15th	10–18
1985–86	2	1ª División B	1st	24–4
1986–87	1	Liga ACB	6th	15–18	Quarterfinalist
1987–88	1	Liga ACB	6th	15–18	Quarterfinalist		QF
1988–89	1	Liga ACB	19th	12–29	Round of 16					3–1
1989–90	1	Liga ACB	16th	12–19	First round
1990–91	1	Liga ACB	24th	10–26	Second round
1991–92	2	1ª División	5th	22–22
1992–93	2	1ª División	5th	20–20
1993–94	2	1ª División	3rd	27–11
CB 1939 Canarias
1994–95	4	2ª División	5th	5–7
1995–96	4	2ª División	3rd	22–7
1996–97	4	2ª División	3rd	16–6
1997–98	4	2ª División	1st	23–4
1998–99	3	Liga EBA		19–11
1999–00	3	Liga EBA		17–9
2000–01	4	Liga EBA		24–7
2001–02	4	Liga EBA		33–4
2002–03	3	LEB 2	10th	13–17
2003–04	3	LEB 2	13th	11–19
2004–05	3	LEB 2	4th	22–16
2005–06	3	LEB 2	14th	13–21
2006–07	3	LEB 2	2nd	35–8			bgcolor=silver	RU
2007–08	2	LEB Oro	7th	17–19
2008–09	2	LEB Oro	13th	15–19
2009–10	2	LEB Oro	5th	26–16
2010–11	2	LEB Oro	7th	20–19
2011–12	2	LEB Oro	1st	26–8			bgcolor=gold	C
2012–13	1	Liga ACB	10th	17–17
2013–14	1	Liga ACB	11th	14–21	Quarterfinalist
2014–15	1	Liga ACB	11th	16–18
2015–16	1	Liga ACB	9th	16–18
2016–17	1	Liga ACB	5th	23–12	Quarterfinalist				bgcolor=gold	C	15–1–4
2017–18	1	Liga ACB	8th	19–17	Semifinalist		bgcolor=gold	C			13–3
2018–19	1	Liga ACB	9th	17–17	Semifinalist				bgcolor=silver	RU	15–5
2019–20	1	Liga ACB	7th	16–11	Quarterfinalist		bgcolor=gold	C			13-5
2020–21	1	Liga ACB	3rd	30–11	Semifinalist		SF			9-4
2021–22	1	Liga ACB	6th	22–15	Semifinalist		SF		bgcolor=gold	C	16–3
2022–23	1	Liga ACB	6th	24–12	align=left bgcolor=silver	Runner-up		bgcolor=gold	C		3rd	12–5
2023–24	1	Liga ACB	6th	21–15	Semifinalist				bgcolor=silver	RU	11–6