Cholet Basket is a professional basketball club that is based in Cholet, France. The club plays in the LNB Pro A. Their home arena is La Meilleraie. Established in 1975, Cholet won its first French championship in the 2009–10 season. In 1998 and 1999, Cholet won the French Cup.
History
Establishment The team debuted in the 1st division in the 1987–88 season and managed to get to the premier league in 12 years. The team was able to sustain itself in the league, and was consistently in the top 10 teams, having a highly successful youth system. This youth system has allowed the club to produce professional players season after season. After winning the National Cup in 1999, Cholet got automatically qualified for its first participation to the Euroleague (3 victories – 13 defeats). During the 2004–05 season 10 of the 12 players in the first team derived from the youth system. Some of the players who had their debut in the team are Antoine Rigaudeau, Jim Bilba and Mickaël Gelabale.
During the 2008–2009 season, Cholet was defeated by Virtus Bologna in the EuroChallenge's Final (75–77).
In 2010, Cholet finished 1st of the 2009–2010 Pro A League regular season and won the championship after defeating Le Mans in the Play-Offs Final (81–65). Thanks to its national champion title, Cholet is automatically qualified for the 2010–2011 Euroleague season. Cholet was eliminated during the first round (4 victories – 6 defeats) of the 2010–2011 Euroleague after defeating prestigious (and at the time unbeaten) Fenerbahçe Ülker (82–78).
In 2011, Cholet, defending its title finished 1st again of the 2011-12 Pro A League regular season and was only defeated during the finals by SLUC Nancy (74-76).
Logos Evolution of the Logo–20122012–20192019–present
Youth academy Cholet Basket is intensively focusing on its Youth Academy to provide players to its professional squad. During the 2004–05 season, 10 of the 12 players of the Pro squad have progressed through the club Youth Academy. It is also one of the only seven European clubs to have provided two players to the same NBA draft in 2009, with Rodrigues Beaubois and Nando De Colo beside Real Madrid (2005), Joventut Badalona (2009), Fenerbahçe Ülker (2008), KK Partizan (2002) ,Pau-Ortez (2003) and most recently, Ratiopharm Ulm (2024 and 2025).
Notable Players that have progressed through the Cholet Youth Academy (Espoirs) Antoine Rigaudeau Jim Bilba David Gautier Aymeric Jeanneau Charles Kahudi Cédric Ferchaud Claude Marquis Mickaël Gelabale Rudy Gobert Nando de Colo Rodrigue Beaubois Kévin Séraphin Killian Hayes Tidjane Salaün
Players Retired numbers Cholet Basket retired numbersNo.PlayerPositionTenure 4 Antoine Rigaudeau PG 1987–1995 10 Jim Bilba PF 1988–1992, 2002–2007
Current roster
FIBA Hall of Famers Cholet Basket Hall of FamersPlayers No. Nat. Name Position Tenure Inducted 4 Antoine Rigaudeau G 1987–95 2015
Season by season SeasonTierLeagueFrench CupLeaders CupEuropean competitions2006–071 Pro A 7th 2007–081 Pro A 8thRunner-upChampion 3 FIBA EuroCup 2008–091Pro A 9thRound of 16 2 Eurocup 3 EuroChallenge 2009–101 Pro A 1st Round of 32 Quarterfinalist 2 Eurocup 2010–111 Pro A 2nd Round of 16 Quarterfinalist 1 Euroleague 2011–121Pro A 4thSemifinalistQuarterfinalist 1 Euroleague 2 Eurocup 2012–131 Pro A 10th Round of 16 2 Eurocup 2013–141 Pro A 13th Round of 16 3 EuroChallenge 2014–151 Pro A 14th Round of 162015–161 Pro A 13th Round of 322016–171 Pro A 11th Round of 162017–181 Pro A 15th 2018–191 Pro A 15th 2019–201 Pro A 6th* 2020–211 Pro A 14th 3 Champions League2021–221 Pro A 8th 2022–231 Pro A 7th 4 Europe Cup2023–241 Pro A 7th Round of 16 3 Champions League 2024–251Pro A 4thQuarterfinalist 3 Champions League 4 FIBA Europe Cup
Achievements French Championship Pro A: 2010 La Semaine des As Cup: 2008 French Cup: 1998, 1999 Match des Champions (French Pro A Champion vs French Cup winner): 2010 Finalist of Pro A: 1988, 2011 French Cup Finalist: 2005, 2008 Finalist of the Tournoi des As Cup: 1988, 1989, 1990 and 1993. Champion of Division 2 (now Pro B): 1986
Notable players
France :fr:Valéry Demory Bruno Coqueran Stéphane Ostrowski Patrick Cham Antoine Rigaudeau Jim Bilba David Albert :fr:David Gautier :fr:Éric Micoud Aymeric Jeanneau Fabien Dubos :fr:Cédric Ferchaud :fr:Claude Marquis Mickaël Gelabale Cyril Akpomedah Steed Tchicamboud Nando de Colo Rodrigue Beaubois Fabien Causeur Rudy Gobert Killian Hayes Charles Kahudi Tidjane Salaün :fr:Jimmal Ball Scooter Barry Corey Crowder :fr:Paul Fortier :fr:DeRon Hayes Mike Jones Micheal Ray Richardson James Blackwell :fr:Graylin Warner K'Zell Wesson Terrell Lyday Lamayn Wilson Taj Gray John Linehan London Perrantes Antywane Robinson Randal Falker :fr:Tony Stanley Chandler Parsons Michael Wright Other countries
Junior Etou Samuel Mejia John Amaechi Tony Dorsey Artūras Karnišovas Arvydas Eitutavičius / Moon Tae-jong
Head coaches
1970s: Dragoş Nosievici 1987–89: Jean Galle 1989–91: Jean-Paul Rebatet 1991–95: Laurent Buffard 1995–96: Alain Thinet (7 games) Eric Girard (1 game) Jean Galle 1996–2001: Eric Girard 2001–02: Savo Vucević 2002–03: Jean-François Martin 2003–04: Erman Kunter 2006–12: Erman Kunter 2012–14: Jean-Manuel Sousa 2014–15: Laurent Buffard 2015–16: Jérôme Navier 2016–18: Philippe Hervé 2018: Régis Boissié 2018–21: Erman Kunter 2021–24: Laurent Vila 2024–present: Fabrice Lefrançois
References
External links Official website LNB Club Profile Euroleague Club Profile