Budivelnyk Kyiv is the first club from Ukraine to play in the European North Basketball league.
Kyiv team was founded in 1945. It was named SKIF (СКІФ) – an acronym of Physical Culture Institute of Kyiv.
SKIF played for 13 seasons in the Soviet Union`s second league but made a jump to the elite division in 1958.
Four years later SKIF was renamed to Budivelnyk, thanks to a sponsorship by the State-owned building company.
Budivelnyk registered 14 medal finishes in the Soviet Union top league, including the gold medal in 1989.
Kyivites added six silver (1965, 1966, 1977, 1979, 1981, 1982) and seven bronze medals (1962, 1964, 1970, 1974, 1983, 1984, 1990).
Independence Declaration of Ukraine was proclaimed on August 24, 1991 – three days after a failed coup attempt in Moscow.
First years of independence marked Budivelnyk`s reign in Ukraine`s league. The Builders won six straight national titles – from 1991 to 1996!
The second golden era followed 15 years later – from 2011 to 2017, despite the fateful events of 2014 when the league saw the exodus of its foreign players.
Budivelnyk won four Ukrainian titles (2011, 2013, 2014, 2017) and three National Cups (2012, 2014, 2015) during that time.
The Builders reached the EuroCup quarterfinals in 2011 and 2014, as well as a EuroCup semifinal in 2013.
Budivelnyk is the second ENBL club – and the only from Ukraine – with ULEB Euroleague experience.
Kyiv team`s debut took place in 2013-2014, at the same time with Zielona Gora (the Polish club returned to competition in 2015-2016).
Budivelnyk was not allowed to play in the Ukrainian Superleague on June 2018 due to financial problems.
The club resumed its activities in the summer of 2020 and signed up for the 2020-2021 Superleague season.
Budivelnyk won the Ukraine Cup in March 2021, by beating Cherkasy Mavpy in the final.
The Superleague was suspended in February 2022 due to a full scale Russian invasion.
Budivelnyk finished season in the second place.
The club parted ways with the head coach Igors Miglinieks.
Valeriy Plekhanov became the new head coach of Budivelnyk on July 29, 2022.
He was one of the co-founders of the basketball club Donetsk.
Plekhanov worked in the Donbas city from 2008 to 2014.
Donetsk reached the Ukraine Cup final in 2014 to fell at the hands of Budivelnyk.
Plekhanov moved on to coach Dnipro AZOT (2014-2015), Kryvbas (bronze 2016), Zaporizhia (silver 2021) and Kharkiv Sokols (2021-2022).
He is the assistant of Ainars Bagatskis at the National team and the head coach of U18 team.
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