Basketball Academie Limburg, commonly known as BAL, is a Dutch
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 ...
club based in
Weert
Weert (; li, Wieërt ) is a municipality and city in the southeastern Netherlands located in the western part of the province of Limburg. It lies on the Eindhoven–Maastricht railway line, and is also astride the Zuid-Willemsvaart canal.
Pop ...
in the province of
Limburg
Limburg or Limbourg may refer to:
Regions
* Limburg (Belgium), a province since 1839 in the Flanders region of Belgium
* Limburg (Netherlands), a province since 1839 in the south of the Netherlands
* Diocese of Limburg, Roman Catholic Diocese in ...
. The club was founded in 2013 as an academy to develop youth players from the province of Limburg. The club entered the
Dutch Basketball League for the 2017–18 season after the dissolution of the professional team
BSW
British Standard Whitworth (BSW) is an imperial-unit-based screw thread standard, devised and specified by Joseph Whitworth in 1841 and later adopted as a British Standard. It was the world's first national screw thread standard, and is the basis ...
. Currently, the team plays in the
BNXT League.
In 2021, BAL won its first-ever trophy when it won the
DBL Cup in surprising fashion as the team was ranked eight in the DBL that season.
History
Foundation
The club was established on 9 April 2013 to function as a club for regional talent from the province of
Limburg
Limburg or Limbourg may refer to:
Regions
* Limburg (Belgium), a province since 1839 in the Flanders region of Belgium
* Limburg (Netherlands), a province since 1839 in the south of the Netherlands
* Diocese of Limburg, Roman Catholic Diocese in ...
. In its first years, the team played with several youth teams in domestic competitions.
In the 2017 offseason the professional club
BSW
British Standard Whitworth (BSW) is an imperial-unit-based screw thread standard, devised and specified by Joseph Whitworth in 1841 and later adopted as a British Standard. It was the world's first national screw thread standard, and is the basis ...
from Weert and BAL intended a merger, which would integrate BSW into BAL. Following BSW going defunct during this offseason, BAL decided to take its place in the DBL. As BAL played in the same home arena and the team consisted of several of the same players, the team can be considered a
phoenix club.
Radenko Varagić
Radenko Varagić (born 23 September 1973) is a Serbian-Dutch basketball coach. He currently serves as a head coach for BAL Weert of the BNXT League.
Coaching career
Born in Serbia, Varagić started his coaching career in 2015 with Ribnica ...
coached the team.
First DBL seasons
In its debut season, BAL finished in the ninth and last place in the DBL, winning 4 out of its 32 games. The team consisted of a selection of young promising players, such as guard
Sam van Dijk who was named the
DBL Most Improved Player
The Dutch Basketball League Most Improved Player is an award that is yearly given to the most improved player in the DBL, the highest professional basketball league in the Netherlands
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in the club's debut season. On 1 August 2018, BAL signed its first ever foreign player when American center Tony Washington signed for one year. In its second season, BAL once again finished last in the DBL with this time five wins in 2018–19.
In the 2020–21 season, BAL reached the playoffs for the first time after finishing in the eight seed. This season the team also won the
2021 DBL Cup
The 2020–21 DBL Cup was the 53rd edition of the Netherlands' national basketball cup tournament. This season the format was changed due to the compressed playing schedule caused by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Only teams from the Dutch Basketb ...
, the club's first-ever trophy.
In the semi-finals, BAL upset first-seeded
ZZ Leiden
ZZ Leiden Basketball, also known as Zorg en Zekerheid Leiden, is a basketball club based in Leiden, Netherlands. The club plays in the BNXT League, the domestic first tier league. Their home games are played at Vijf Meihal, which has 2,000 seats.
...
and in the final the team was too strong for
Yoast United.
Trevor Jasinsky led the team in scoring in the final with 27 points.
Since the
2021–22 season, BAL plays in the
BNXT League, in which the national leagues of Belgium and the Netherlands have been merged.
Honours
DBL Cup[
*Champions (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 ...
Dutch Supercup
*Runners-up (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 ...
Season by season
Players
Current roster
Individual awards
; BNXT League Rising Star of the Year
* Sander Hollanders – 2022
;DBL Most Improved Player
The Dutch Basketball League Most Improved Player is an award that is yearly given to the most improved player in the DBL, the highest professional basketball league in the Netherlands
)
, anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau")
, image_map =
...
* Sam van Dijk – 2018
;DBL All-Rookie Team
The DBL All-Rookie Team is a team constituted by the best rookies in a season of the Dutch Basketball League
The Dutch Basketball League (DBL), formerly the Eredivisie, was the highest professional basketball league in the Netherlands, run by th ...
*Jacco Fritz – 2018
*Nino Gorissen – 2018
*Ivan Simic – 2019
Top scorers by seasons
The following players led BAL in scoring in each DBL season:
Club records
Bold denotes still active with team. As of 14 April 2021:
Notes
References
External links
Eurobasket.com BAL Page
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Basketball teams established in 2013
2013 establishments in the Netherlands
Dutch Basketball League teams
Basketball teams in the Netherlands
Sports clubs in Weert