Basketball Club Oostende, for sponsorship reasons Filou Oostende, is a
Belgian
Belgian may refer to:
* Something of, or related to, Belgium
* Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent
* Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German
*Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...
professional
basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...
team. The club is based in
Ostend
Ostend ( nl, Oostende, ; french: link=no, Ostende ; german: link=no, Ostende ; vls, Ostende) is a coastal city and municipality, located in the province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It comprises the boroughs of Mariakerk ...
and was founded in 1970. The club competes domestically in the
BNXT League and internationally in the
Basketball Champions League
The Basketball Champions League (BCL) is an annual professional basketball competition for European clubs, organised by FIBA. It is the top-level competition organised by FIBA Europe, therefore the champion participates in the FIBA Intercont ...
. Oostende is the most successful basketball club in Belgian history, as the club's honour list includes a record twenty-two
Belgian League
The Belgian Pro League,(officially the Jupiler Pro League due to sponsorship reasons with Jupiler), is the top league competition for association football clubs in Belgium. Contested by 18 clubs since the 2020–21 Belgian First Division A, 2020 ...
championships, a record nineteen
Belgian Cup
The Belgian Cup (french: link=no, Coupe de Belgique; nl, Beker van België []; german: link=no, Belgischer Fußballpokal) is the main Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in Belgium, run by the Belgia ...
s and eleven
Belgian Supercups.
History
The club was founded on 25 May 1970 and started playing as ''Sunair Oostende''. The team colors were blue and yellow. ''BCO'' – a nickname of the club – started in the Belgian Second Division but promoted in its first season after it took the title. But in the
First Division the team relegated immediately. But BCO bounced back and promoted once again and got its final spot in the First Division, as they never relegated since.
In the 1974–75 season the club made its first appearance in
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...
, when it played 10 games in the
Korać Cup Korać is a surname. Notable persons with that name include:
* Dušan Korać (disambiguation), multiple people
* Milorad Korać (born 1969), Serbian football player and manager
* Radivoj Korać (1938–1969), Serbian basketball player
* Vitomir ...
. In 1979 the first trophy was won by Oostende: the
Belgian Basketball Cup
The Belgian Basketball Cup (Dutch: Beker van België), for sponsorship reasons the EuroMillions Cup, is the top tier national basketball cup competition in Belgium
Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom o ...
with Ron Adams as head coach. In 1981 the first national title became a fact for BC Oostende, Roger Dutremble was head coach. The club eventually won 6th straight titles in a row in Belgium. In 1988 the club won the first and only
BeNeLux Cup.
Before the 1999–2000 season the club got its first name change, as the name of the club became ''Telindus Oostende'', which referred to the new main sponsor. After the club won some more trophies to add to its honour list, the club got a new arena in the
Sea'rena – that was named the Sleuyter Arena after one season and had a capacity of 5,000 people – in 2005.
Ten consecutive championships (2011–2021)
Before the start of the 2010–11 season the club name was changed in ''Telenet (BC) Oostende''. In the second Telenet season
Jean-Marc Jaumin was fired by the club and the Croatian coach
Dario Gjergja
Dario Gjergja (born 21 August 1975) is a Croatian-Belgian professional basketball coach who currently serves as the head coach for Oostende and the Belgium national team.
Coaching career
Gjergja signed with Telenet BC Oostende in December 2011 ...
took over his tasks. After that the club won the national title, by beating
Spirou Charleroi 3–2 in the Finals, Game 5 ended in 75–74 after
overtime
Overtime is the amount of time someone works beyond normal working hours. The term is also used for the pay received for this time. Normal hours may be determined in several ways:
*by custom (what is considered healthy or reasonable by society) ...
.
The championship in 2011 was the start of a nice streak for Gjergja, as BCO won the double in 2012–13.
Star player of the team was
Matt Lojeski
Matt may refer to:
*Matt (name), people with the given name ''Matt'' or Matthew, meaning "gift from God", or the surname Matt
*In British English, of a surface: having a non-glossy finish, see gloss (material appearance)
*Matt, Switzerland, a mu ...
, who was named
League MVP.
In 2013–14, the club won the double once again, as BCO beat
Okapi Aalstar
Okapi Aalst is a Belgian professional basketball club from Aalst, Belgium. The club competes in the top tier BNXT League and plays its home games in the Okapi Forum, which has a seating capacity of 2,800 people.
Okapi is a long-time participant o ...
3–2 in the Finals. Oostende earlier beat
Antwerp Giants
Antwerp Giants, named Telenet Giants Antwerp for sponsorship reasons, are a Belgians, Belgian professional basketball club based in Antwerp. Their home arena is Lotto Arena. The club plays in the BNXT League, the highest tier of Belgian basketbal ...
in the Cup Final. The Serbian point guard
Dušan Đorđević
Dušan Đorđević (; born 29 March 1983) is a Serbian professional basketball player for Oostende of the BNXT League.
Đorđević plays the point guard and is well known for his play making and leadership abilities. During his career he has wo ...
shined for Oostende, as he was the
Belgian Cup MVP and the league MVP.
On September 23 (2014), the club retired
Veselin Petrović
Veselin Petrović (6 September 1929 – 8 November 1995) was a Serbian cyclist.
Career
Veselin Petrović-Vesa was born 6 September 1929 in Vlasenica, Kingdom of Yugoslavia (today Bosnia and Herzegovina). He was a Yugoslavian ( Serbian) cham ...
's number 10.
In 2017, the club won its sixth-consecutive championship. After the 2016–17 season, main sponsor Telenet left the club in order to sponsor
Antwerp Giants
Antwerp Giants, named Telenet Giants Antwerp for sponsorship reasons, are a Belgians, Belgian professional basketball club based in Antwerp. Their home arena is Lotto Arena. The club plays in the BNXT League, the highest tier of Belgian basketbal ...
instead.
In 2018, the club set a new record by winning its seventh consecutive championship
In the 2018–19 season, the team was named Filou Oostende after a sponsorship agreement with beer brand Filou, brewed by
Van Honsebrouck Brewery
Van Honsebrouck is a Belgian brewery in Ingelmunster, Belgium. Founded in 1865 as Sint-Jozef Brewery, it was renamed to Brewery Van Honsebrouck in 1953. It is one of two breweries outside of Pajottenland to produce lambic beer.
History
The loc ...
.
In 2019 Ostend became champions again, for the eighth time in a row. They beat Antwerp in the finals.
In 2020 Ostend was declared champions when the 2019–20 season was cancelled due to the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...
. They were leading the standings at that time. On July 2nd 2020, head coach
Dario Gjergja
Dario Gjergja (born 21 August 1975) is a Croatian-Belgian professional basketball coach who currently serves as the head coach for Oostende and the Belgium national team.
Coaching career
Gjergja signed with Telenet BC Oostende in December 2011 ...
extended his contract for five more year. On July 7th, team captain Đorđević extended his contract for two more years until 2022.
On 9 June 2021, Ostend secured their 10th consecutive domestic title. By beating Mons-Hainaut in the final series (3-1) Ostend brought home the 7th double in 10 years, as they beat
Mechelen in the cupfinal earlier in the season.
Since the
2021–22 season, Oostende plays in the
BNXT League, in which the national leagues of Belgium and the Netherlands have been merged.
Sponsorship names
For sponsorship reasons, the name of the club has been frequently changed.
*Sunair Oostende: (1970–1999)
*Orange Oostende: (1999–2000)
*
Telindus
Telindus was a legal entity based in Belgium that offered ICT services and solutions to the corporate and public sector, both in Belgium and internationally. These solutions also contained management and support services in relation to their ICT ...
Oostende: (2000–2008)
*Base Oostende: (2008–2010)
*
Telenet
Telenet was an American commercial packet-switched network which went into service in 1975. It was the first FCC-licensed public data network in the United States. Various commercial and government interests paid monthly fees for dedicated lines ...
Oostende: (2010–2017)
*
Filou Oostende:
[ (2018–present)
]
Honours
Domestic competitions
*Belgian League
The Belgian Pro League,(officially the Jupiler Pro League due to sponsorship reasons with Jupiler), is the top league competition for association football clubs in Belgium. Contested by 18 clubs since the 2020–21 Belgian First Division A, 2020 ...
:Champions (23): 1980–81, 1981–82, 1982–83, 1983–84, 1984–85, 1985–86, 1987–88, 1994–95, 2000–01, 2001–02, 2005–06, 2006–07, 2011–12, 2012–13
1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...
, 2013–14, 2014–15, 2015–16, 2016–17, 2017–18, 2018-19, 2019–20, 2020–21
The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...
, 2021–22
*Belgian Cup
The Belgian Cup (french: link=no, Coupe de Belgique; nl, Beker van België []; german: link=no, Belgischer Fußballpokal) is the main Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in Belgium, run by the Belgia ...
:Winners (20): 1961–62, 1978–79, 1980–81, 1981–82, 1982–83, 1984–85, 1988–89, 1990–91, 1996–97, 1997–98, 2000–01, 2007–08, 2009–10, 2012–13
1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...
, 2013–14, 2014–15, 2015–16, 2016–17, 2017–18, 2020–21
The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...
* Belgian Supercup
:Winners (12): 1981, 1982, 1988, 1989, 1998, 2000, 2006, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2021
Regional competitions
* BNXT Supercup
:Winners (1): 2021
File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October 2021 coup in Sudan; Crowd shortly after t ...
* BeNeLux Cup
:Winners (1): 1987–88
European competitions
*EuroChallenge
FIBA EuroChallenge (called the FIBA Europe League in 2003–05, and FIBA EuroCup in 2005–08) was the 3rd-tier level transnational men's professional continental club basketball competition in Europe, from 2003 to 2015. It was organized and run ...
:Third place (1): 2010–11
1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. ...
Players
Current roster
Retired numbers
Season by season
Notable players
References
Notes
External links
*
Eurobasket.com profile
EuroCup profile
Basketball Champions League 2019-20 profile
{{Basketball Champions League 2022–23
Oostende
Sport in Ostend
Pro Basketball League