Asociación Deportiva Atenas

Argentine sports club

Asociación Deportiva Atenas, mostly known as Atenas de Córdoba, is a sports club based in Córdoba, Argentina. It was founded in 1938, and is mostly known for its achievements in basketball. The club is the most successful team in Argentina holding 20 titles. The club's home arena is Polideportivo Carlos Cerutti. Until 2020, Atenas hosted some high attendance games at the Orfeo Superdomo. Apart from basketball, other sports practised at Atenas are rhythmic gymnastics and volleyball.

The club was founded on March 7, 1938, mainly by former members of the New Tennis Club. Before the creation of the Liga Nacional de Básquet (first Argentine nationwide professional league), Atenas was successful at the Cordobese basketball league, winning the championship consecutively between 1948 and 1957 (exception made of 1953). Since the creation of the Liga Nacional in 1984, Atenas has become the most successful team in the league, winning the championship 9 times: 1987, 1988, 1990, 1991–92, 1997–98, 1998–99, 2001–02, 2002–03 and 2008–09. Moreover, the Córdoba outfit has won the Liga Sudamericana (South American League) in 1997, 1998 and 2004, and the former Campeonato Sudamericano de Clubes (South American Clubs Championship) in 1993, 1994, and 1996. Many Argentine internationals have played in Atenas, namely Fabricio Oberto, Walter Herrmann, Marcelo Milanesio, Héctor Campana, Patricio Prato, Gabriel Mikulas, Diego Lo Grippo, Fernando Prato, Bruno Lábaque, Leonardo Gutiérrez, Juan Manuel Locatelli, Diego Osella, Carlos Cerutti and Juan Espil, among others. In May 2023, Atenas was relegated to La Liga Argentina, the second division of Argentine basketball, for the first time in their history. Atenas lost to San Lorenzo 73–61 in the 5th. game of promotion/relegation playoffs.

Atenas has retired a total of four numbers, being Marcelo Milanesio's n° 9 the first number to be retired in the history of LNB, when the club put it out of circulation in 2002. Atenas retired numbers N° PlayerPos. Seasons with the teamNo. ret. (Year when the number was retired)Ref. 5 Héctor Campana SG 1987–88, 1991–92, 1996–2000, 2002–04 2005 7 Bruno Lábaque PG 1994–2003, 2006–09, 2010–17 2017 9 Marcelo Milanesio PG 1982–2002 2002