BC Avtodor Saratov

BC Avtodor Saratov (Russian: бк Автодор Саратов) is a Russian professional basketball club based in Saratov.
Founded in 1960 as Spartak Saratov, the club took off when former player Vladimir Rodionov became its head coach in the 1982. The club was later renamed into Avtodorozhnik (road engineer) - shortened to Avtodor in 1996 - in reference to a late benefactor.
Saratov joined the Russian League when it was created in the early 1990s and was the first team to defeat CSKA Moscow in that competition, finishing second four times between 1994 and 1999. Saratov is well-known for bringing out young Russian talents, as players like Zakhar and Evgeny Pashutin, Victor Khryapa, Sergey Monia, Vladimir Veremeenko and, most recently, Semen Antonov and Artem Zabelin. The club also took part in European competitions, reaching the Saporta Cup eighthfinals in 1997 and competing in the 1998-99 Euroleague as its main highlights. The club went through hard times in the mid-2000s, falling to the Russian second division in 2004 and withdrawing from the third division in 2005. Saratov had to go a long way to return to the Russian elite, but won the third division in 2009 and the SuperLeague in 2014, earning an invitation to the VTB League last season. A seventh-place VTB League finish says it all about the club's power, as Saratov is on the rise and wants to prove it by being as competitive as possible.