Levanga Hokkaido is a Japanese 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 ...

team based in the city of

Sapporo ( ain, サッ・ポロ・ペッ, Satporopet, lit=Dry, Great River) is a city in Japan. It is the largest city north of Tokyo and the largest city on Hokkaido, the northernmost main island of the country. It ranks as the fifth most populous city ...

on the island of

Hokkaido is Japan's second largest island and comprises the largest and northernmost prefecture, making up its own region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō from Honshu; the two islands are connected by the undersea railway Seikan Tunnel. The la ...

. The club was founded in 2006 as ''Rera Kamuy Hokkaido'', this name comes from the language of the

Ainu Ainu or Aynu may refer to: *Ainu people, an East Asian ethnic group of Japan and the Russian Far East *Ainu languages, a family of languages **Ainu language of Hokkaido **Kuril Ainu language, extinct language of the Kuril Islands **Sakhalin Ainu la ...

, an ethnic group indigenous to Hokkaido, and means "god of the winds". The franchise changed its name twice in 2011; the first when the club's parent company was kicked out of the league due to financial woes in the season. The team ended the season with a league-backed management group and a new moniker, calling itself ''Basketball Club Hokkaido''. And finally, took its current name ''Levanga Hokkaido'', in August 2011. The team debuted in the

Japan Basketball League The Japan Basketball League (JBL) was a professional basketball league in Japan. It made up the top-tier of basketball in Japan alongside the bj league, Japan's other basketball competition, with no promotion and relegation between bj and the JBL. ...

in the 2007–2008 season and is one of only three teams in the league not owned by a major Japanese manufacturing company. ''Levanga'' plays its home games mainly at the

Hokkai Kitayell is an indoor sporting arena located in Toyohira-ku, Sapporo, Japan. Sometimes called Kitayell, the capacity of the main arena is 8,000. It hosted some of the group games for the 2006 FIBA World Championship and also for the 2006 Women's Volley ...

, but, as the team represents the entire Hokkaido Prefecture, also plays some home-games at the '' Asahikawa City General Gymnasium'', ''Otaru City Gymnasium'', ''

Hakodate Arena Hakodate Arena is an arena in Hakodate, Hokkaido, Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Ja ...

'', '' Obihiro City General Gymnasium'' & ''Kushiro Shitsugen no Kaze Arena''. The club was 200 million yen in debt in March 2017, but has since paid it off.

Honours

Continental

ABA Club Championship The ABA Club Championship was an Asian basketball tournament for professional clubs, organised by the Asian Basketball Association (ABA) under Dr. Carl Men Ky Ching. The ABA is not to be confused with FIBA Asia which Dr. Ching had also once preside ...

**Runner-up: 2008

Roster

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Notable players

:To appear in this section a player must have either: - Set a club record or won an individual award as a professional player.
- Played at least one official international match for his senior national team or one

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...

game at any time.

Coaches

Tomoya Higashino is the former Head coach of the Hamamatsu Higashimikawa Phoenix in the Japanese Bj League. Head coaching record , - , style="text-align:left;", Tokorozawa Broncos , style="text-align:left;", 1999 , -, , -, , -, , , , style="text-align ...

Joe Bryant Joseph Washington Bryant (born October 19, 1954), nicknamed "Jellybean", is an American former professional basketball player and coach. He played for the Philadelphia 76ers, San Diego Clippers, and Houston Rockets of the National Basketball Ass ...

(2010–11) * Yoshinori Kaneta *

Torsten Loibl is the Head coach of the Japan national 3x3 teams. On October 6, 2019, he celebrated the greater success of his career by winning the FIBA 3x3 Under-23 World Cup, 3x3 U23 World Championship, the Japan's first-ever World championship, world titl ...

Scott Berry Scott Berry (born July 20, 1962) is an American baseball coach and former catcher, who is the former head baseball coach of the Southern Miss Golden Eagles. He played college baseball at Crowder College from 1983 to 1984. He then served as the ...

* Juan Manuel Hurtado Pérez (2013–14) * Kota Mizuno * José Neto *

Tomohide Utsumi is a Japanese basketball coach. He coached the Japanese women's national team at the 2016 Summer Olympics, where the team finished eighth. Personal His son, Shingo Utsumi is a professional basketball player for the Kyoto Hannaryz. Head coaching ...

* Yuta Miyanaga *

Kenichi Sako Kenichi Sako (佐古賢一, born 17 July 1970) is a Japanese former basketball player. Head coaching record , - , style="text-align:left;", Hiroshima Dragonflies , style="text-align:left;", 2014-15 , 54, , 21, , 33, , , , style="text- ...

Average regular season home game attendance

Practice facilities

Sapporo Shinyo High School Gymnasium

Kaminishi Village Court
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References

External links

Official WebsiteTeam Profile
{{Japanese B.League Basketball teams in Japan Basketball teams established in 2006 Sports teams in Sapporo 2006 establishments in Japan