Bakken Bears is a

Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish a ...

professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

club based in

Aarhus Aarhus (, , ; officially spelled Århus from 1948 until 1 January 2011) is the second-largest city in Denmark and the seat of Aarhus Municipality. It is located on the eastern shore of Jutland in the Kattegat sea and approximately northwest ...

. The club plays in the

Basketligaen The Basketligaen ( en, The Basketball League) is the highest professional basketball league in Denmark. The original men's first division was founded in 1957 and the current league was founded in 1998. All-time record holder in league titles is B ...

, the top tier basketball league in Denmark. Founded in 1953, the club has won the Basketligaen 20 times and holds the record for the most championships and has won 11 Danish Cups. Along with their domestic play, the club is a regular in European competitions. The Bears are a three-time semifinalist of the

FIBA Europe Cup The FIBA Europe Cup (FEC) is an annual professional club basketball competition organised by FIBA for eligible European clubs. It is FIBA's European-wide second level. Clubs mainly qualify for the competition based on their performance in nation ...

History

Bakken Bears was formed in 1953 under the name of Aarhus Basketball Forening, or simply ABF. From 1962, the club was known as Skovbakken Basketball. Bears has been in the top Danish league almost every year since then and won its first title in 1958. Since then, the club has won a number of domestic titles and is now the most winning sports team in the history of the city of Aarhus. In the years 2005 to 2009, Bakken Bears was a part of Aarhus Elite A/S, an elite sports organization in Aarhus that includes ia. AGF Football (soccer). In the last months of 2009 a group of local businessmen, sponsors and fans bought the team. When Bakken Bears hosted Team FOG Næstved in Game 1 of the league semifinals in March 2009, 4,816 spectators watched the game in Aarhus Arena, which set an all-time attendance record for basketball in Denmark. In the summer of 2018, the Bears' development team EBAA entered the Basketligaen as well. On 27 March 2018, Bakken Bears qualified for the first time ever for a semifinal of a European competition, by eliminating

ESSM Le Portel Étoile Sportive Saint-Michel Le Portel Côte d'Opale, commonly known as ESSM Le Portel or simply Le Portel, is a professional basketball team based in Le Portel, France. The team currently plays in the LNB Pro A, Pro A, the first tier in France. ...

in the quarterfinals of the

Players

Current roster

Notable players

Individual awards

; Basketligaen MVP *Eric Bell – 2003 * DeVaughn Akoon-Purcell – 2017 * Ryan Evans – 2019 ; Basketligaen Finals MVP *

Chris Christoffersen Chris Christoffersen (born 13 August 1979) is a retired Danish professional basketball player. He played the majority of his career with Bakken Bears of the Danish Basketligaen. He is a ten-time Danish League champion, having been a stalwart with ...

– 2013 *Kenny Barker – 2014 * DeVaughn Akoon-Purcell – 2017 * Jeffrey Crockett – 2018 *

Tobin Carberry Tobin may refer to: Name *Tobin (surname) *Tobin (given name) Places in the United States * Tobin, California * Tobin Bridge, near Boston, Massachusetts * Tobin Range, a mountain range in Nevada * Tobin Township, Perry County, Indiana * Tobin, Wi ...

– 2019 *

Michel Diouf Michel Diogoye Diouf (born 19 April 1989) is a Senegalese basketball player for Bakken Bears and . Diouf is a four-time winner of the Basketligaen Defender of the Year award. He is the current all-time leader in points, rebounds and blocks in the ...

– 2021 *

Marvelle Harris Marvelle Martray Harris (born December 16, 1993) is an American professional basketball player for Bakken Bears of the Basketligaen. He played college basketball for Fresno State, where he was named the Mountain West Player of the Year as a senio ...

– 2022

Honours

Domestic competitions

** Winners (20) : 1957–58, 1996–97, 1998–99, 1999–00, 2000–01, 2003–04, 2004–05, 2006–07, 2007–08, 2008–09, 2010–11, 2011–12, 2012–13, 2013–14, 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 ***Runners-up (8) : 1962–63, 1964–65, 1989–90, 1997–98, 2002–03, 2005–2006, 2009–10, 2014–15 *

Danish Cup The Danish Cup ( da, Landspokalturneringen; often referred to as Pokalen) is the official "knockout" cup competition in Danish football, run by the Danish Football Association. The cup has been contested annually since 1955. The winner will quali ...

**Winners (12): 1999, 2000, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2016, 2018, 2019–20, 2020–21 *** Runners-up (7) : 1980, 1995, 2002, 2005, 2012, 2014, 2021–22

European competitions

**Semi-finalist (3): 2017–18, 2019–20, 2021–22

Season by season

Head coaches

* Steffen Wich

References

External links

Official Website

Eurobasket.com Bakken Bears Page
{{coord, 56.1924, N, 10.2103, E, source:wikidata, display=title Sport in Aarhus Basketball teams in Denmark Basketball teams established in 1954