Avtodor Saratov
League	VTB United League
Founded	1960; 64 years ago (1960)
History	List Spartak Saratov (1960–1972) Avtodorozhnik Saratov (1972–1996) Avtodor Saratov (1996–present)
Arena	Sports Palace Kristall
Capacity	6,100
Location	Saratov, Russia
President	Vladimir Rodionov
Head coach	Milenko Bogićević
Championships	2 Russian Super League
Website	www.avtodor.ru
Home Away

BC Avtodor (Russian: БК «Автодор» Саратов), commonly known as simply Avtodor and internationally as Avtodor Saratov, is a Russian professional basketball club based in Saratov. It plays in the VTB United League, the highest level of Russian basketball. In early 2022, after the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Americans D. J. Funderburk and Grant Jerrett and Canadians Kenny Chery and Philip Scrubb left the team.^[1]

Founded in 1960 as Spartak Saratov, 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.^[2][3]

Joining the Russian League at its creation in 1992, the club competed with CSKA Moscow (being the first club to defeat them in the league) for national supremacy during the rest of the decade, finishing in second place four times between 1994 and 1999.^[4] It would win the regular season in both 1997 and 1998,^[5] but lost both finals series against CSKA 2–3,^[6] and 1–3 respectively.^[7]

The Russian outfit regularly took part in European competitions during that period, reaching the semifinals of the 1998 second-tier EuroCup and playing in the 1999 top-tier EuroLeague (exiting at the first group stage).^[8] Avtodor defeated CSKA in the 2001–02 playoff quarterfinals,^[9] the only team to have prevented the Army men from reaching the top four in Russian basketball history.^[10]

After threatening to do so for years because of disputes with the local administration, especially regarding the lack of a convenient arena,^[11] Rodionov moved the organisation to Saint Petersburg during the 2004 summer. He would form Dynamo Saint Petersburg, transferring some of Avtodor's best players such as Vladimir Veremeenko,^[12] and its place in the Super League.^[13]

Meanwhile, a cash-strapped Avtodor voluntarily relegated itself to the second division for 2004–05, fielding an noncompetitive side made of youngsters,^[13] before moving down to the third division in 2005.^[4] Avtodor would win the second division in 2009 but did not have the financial means to return to the Super League. It did return to the Super League in 2012 but by that time the league had become the domestic second division. Winning that league in 2014, in large part thanks to the play of league MVP Courtney Fortson and promising youngster Artem Klimenko, the club received an invitation to play in the top-tier VTB United League and the European third-tier EuroChallenge for 2014-15.^[9]

The club was able to fund its participation thanks to increased support from the local administration, who reduced the funding of the city's ice hockey club Kristall Saratov to compensate.^[14]

After losing seven of its first nine VTB League games, Avtodor regrouped with the help of November acquisition Kyrylo Fesenko and the play of December league MVP Fortson.^[10] Despite three coaching changes, with Vladimir Antsiferov replaced by his assistant Sergey Mokin in late October before Rodionov fired Mokin and took the coaching reins himself on 3 March 2015, the club reached the EuroChallenge quarterfinals where they lost to Trabzonspor.^[15]

In the league, Avtodor beat sides CSKA Moscow, Khimki Moscow Region, Lokomotiv Kuban Krasnodar and Unics Kazan to reach the playoffs,^[4] but lost three contested games against Khimki to exit at the quarterfinal stage.^[16]

In early 2022, after the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Americans D. J. Funderburk and Grant Jerrett and Canadians Kenny Chery and Philip Scrubb left the team.^[1]

Avtodor formerly played in the Yunost arena, seating only a few hundred and unable to accommodate television broadcasts,^[17] which meant the side had to play its European games in Moscow.^[11] During the 1997–98 season, the club played its regular-season games in the Yunost arena before moving for its playoffs games to an indoor-football arena whilst a new arena was being refurbished.^[6]

It moved to the newly reopened 1,500 seat Zvezdny Sports Palace in May of that year,^[18] though this arena also proved too small as 2,000 fans packed the venue during a 21 May 1998 game against CSKA (albeit the league title decisive game), with some hanging from the balcony.^[7]

Calls for the club to move in the larger Kristall Arena (an ice hockey arena built in 1969),^[17] were finally heeded in 2014. Avtodor remodeled the arena for basketball play, which also raised the capacity from 5,450 to 6,100 seats,^[14] playing their first game there on November 11.^[19]

• Russian First Division
  • Runners-up (4): 1994, 1997, 1998, 1999
  • Regular season champions (2): 1997, 1998
• Russian Second Division
  • Champions (2): 2009, 2014

Avtodor Saratov roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. No. Nat. Name Ht. Wt. Age G 1 Pranauskis, Vytalius 1.94 m (6 ft 4 in) 78 kg (172 lb) 21 – (2002-12-08)8 December 2002 G/F 9 Petenev, Aleksandr 1.97 m (6 ft 6 in) 92 kg (203 lb) 24 – (2000-11-24)24 November 2000 G/F 11 Ivanov, Andrey 2.00 m (6 ft 7 in) 85 kg (187 lb) 21 – (2003-07-23)23 July 2003 SF 12 Fedorov, Andrey 2.00 m (6 ft 7 in) 86 kg (190 lb) 21 – (2003-08-19)19 August 2003 PF 15 Garrett, Brandon 2.06 m (6 ft 9 in) 100 kg (220 lb) 34 – (1990-08-30)30 August 1990 PF 23 Pechkin, Andrei 2.06 m (6 ft 9 in) 97 kg (214 lb) 22 – (2002-02-12)12 February 2002 C 33 Tsybikov, Marat 2.15 m (7 ft 1 in) 104 kg (229 lb) 23 – (2001-07-18)18 July 2001 PF 47 Reish, Stanislav 2.02 m (6 ft 8 in) 93 kg (205 lb) 21 – (2003-04-17)17 April 2003 PF Beslać, Dušan 2.06 m (6 ft 9 in) 103 kg (227 lb) 26 – (1998-10-06)6 October 1998 SG Mavra, Dominik 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in) 92 kg (203 lb) 30 – (1994-06-15)15 June 1994	Head coach Milenko Bogićević Assistant coach(es) Petar Zlatanović Vladislav Melnikov Legend (C) Team captain Injured Roster Updated: July 10, 2023

• 2014  Vladimir Antsiferov
• 2014—2015 Sergei Mokin
• 2015  Vladimir Rodionov
• 2015  Brad Greenberg
• 2015—2016  Alexei Vasilyev [ru]
• 2016  Vladimir Antsiferov
• 2016  Nikolajs Mazurs
• 2016  Sergei Mokin
• 2016—2017 Vladimir Antsiferov
• 2017 Andrea Mazzon [it]
• 2017—2018  Evgeniy Pashutin
• 2018  Sergei Mokin
• 2018—2019 Dušan Alimpijević
• 2019 Evgeniy Pashutin
• 2019—2020 Predrag Krunić^[20]
• 2020 Donaldas Kairys^[21]
• 2020—2021 Gordon Herbert^[22]
• 2021 Vladislav Konovalov [it] (interim)
• 2021—2022 Emil Rajković^[23]
• 2022 Vladislav Konovalov [it] (interim)
• 2022 Nebojša Vidić^[24]
• 2022 Miloš Pavićević [ru]^[25]
• 2022—2023 Darko Ruso^[26]
• 2023—present Branislav Vićentić^[27]

• Official website (in Russian and English)
• VTB United League profile Retrieved 25 August 2015
• Eurocup profile Retrieved 25 August 2015
• Eurobasket.com profile Retrieved 25 August 2015