Cholet
Leagues	Pro A FIBA Europe Cup
Founded	1975; 49 years ago (1975)
History	Cholet Basket (1975–present)
Arena	La Meilleraie
Capacity	5,191
Location	Cholet, France
Team colors	Red and white
President	Patrick Chiron
Vice-president(s)	Alain Lafat
Head coach	Laurent Vila
Championships	1 French Championship 2 French Cups 1 La Semaine des As Cup
Retired numbers	2 (4, 10)
Website	cholet-basket.com
Home Away

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.

The team debuted in the 1st division in the 1987–88 season and after managing to get to the premier league in only 12 years. The team were able to sustain themselves in the league, and were 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 most illustrious 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).

Evolution of the Logo
–2012	2012–2019	2019–present

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 six 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) and Pau-Ortez (2003).

Notable Players that have progressed through the Cholet Youth Academy (Espoirs)

Cholet Basket retired numbers
No.	Nat.	Player	Position	Tenure
4		Antoine Rigaudeau	PG	1987–1995
10		Jim Bilba	PF	1988–1992, 2002–2007

Cholet Basket roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. No. Nat. Name Ht. Age F 0 Wheeler, Aaron 2.06 m (6 ft 9 in) 26 – (1998-09-24)24 September 1998 PF 2 Melvin, Cleveland 2.03 m (6 ft 8 in) 33 – (1991-06-25)25 June 1991 G 3 Smith, Stef 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in) 25 – (1999-06-27)27 June 1999 PG 7 De Sousa, Nathan 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in) 21 – (2003-02-21)21 February 2003 C 8 McNeace, Jamuni 2.08 m (6 ft 10 in) 28 – (1996-03-25)25 March 1996 G 11 Ayayi, Gérald 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in) 23 – (2001-08-24)24 August 2001 PF 12 Diawara, Mohamed 2.03 m (6 ft 8 in) 19 – (2005-04-29)29 April 2005 F 25 Ndow, Chris-Ebou 2.00 m (6 ft 7 in) 30 – (1993-12-10)10 December 1993 C 32 Vautier, Bastien 2.10 m (6 ft 11 in) 26 – (1998-11-15)15 November 1998 PG 44 Campbell, T. J. 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in) 36 – (1988-01-23)23 January 1988	Head coach Fabrice Lefrançois Assistant coach(es) Benjamin Villeger Gaëtan Cherbonnier Gaëtan Douet Legend (C) Team captain Injured Roster Updated: November 8, 2024

Cholet Basket Hall of Famers
Players
No.	Nat.	Name	Position	Tenure	Inducted
4		Antoine Rigaudeau	G	1987–95	2015[1]

• 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

• 1970s: Dragoş Nosievici
• 1987–89: Jean Galle
• 1989–91: Jean-Paul Rebatet
• 1991–95: Laurent Buffard
• 1995–96: Alain Thinet (7 games) then Eric Girard (1 game) then Jean Galle
• 1996–2001: Eric Girard
• 2001–02: Savo Vucević
• 2002–03: Jean-François Martin
• 2003–04: Erman Kunter
• 2004–06: Ruddy Nelhomme
• 2006–10: Erman Kunter
• 2010–12: 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

• Official website
• LNB Club Profile (in French)
• Euroleague Club Profile (in English)