Antwerp Giants, named Telenet Giants Antwerp for sponsorship reasons, are 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 Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

club based in

Antwerp Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504,

. Their home arena is

Lotto Arena Lotto Arena is an arena in Antwerp, Belgium. It has a seating capacity for 8,050 people for concerts and 5,218 for sporting events. The arena opened on March 10, 2007, after nine months of construction.

. The club plays in the

BNXT League The BNXT League, for sponsorship reasons the betFirst BNXT League, is a professional basketball league in Belgium and the Netherlands. The league is the first tier in both the Dutch and Belgian system, replacing the DBL and PBL. The inaugural s ...

, the highest tier of Belgian basketball. The club was created from the merger of Sobabee and

Racing Mechelen K.R.C. Mechelen is a Belgian association football club from Mechelen in the Antwerp province. It is a long-time rival of KV Mechelen. The club's best position ever is a second place in the first division 1951–52. KRC Mechelen also reached th ...

. Then named Racing Basket Antwerpen, it was renamed Antwerp Giants in 2005. Antwerp has won the Belgian championship once, in 2000. The team has won four

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, in 2000, 2007, 2019 and 2020.

History

In 1995, Sobabee from

Antwerp Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504,

and

merged into ''Racing Basket Antwerpen''. The club made its debut on the highest stage in Belgium in the 1998–99 season. Antwerp was one of the top 3 teams until 2001. In the 1999–2000 season the club won its first national championship as ''Telindus Antwerpen'', by beating Oostende 3–1 in the Finals. The team had a setback after the championship year and ended on the 6th, 7th or 8th place for five seasons in a row. In 2007 the club won its third trophy, by winning 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 ...

for the second time. The second team of the club plays in the Belgian Second Division, while the women's team participates in the regional competition. The team holds the attendance record for a basketball game in Belgium, with 17,135 spectators, on 31 January 2015, during their game against

Spirou Charleroi Spirou Charleroi, commonly known simply as Spirou, is a Belgian professional basketball club that is located in Charleroi. The club competes in the BNXT League, the highest tier of basketball in Belgium. The club's home arena is the Spiroudome wh ...

, in the

Sportpaleis The Antwerps Sportpaleis ( eng, Antwerp's Sport Palace), also called Sportpaleis Antwerpen, Sportpaleis Merksem or simply the Sportpaleis, is an arena in Antwerp, Belgium. It is a multipurpose hall where concerts, sporting events, festivals and f ...

. In June 2017, it was announced that

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 ...

would become the main sponsor of the team for three seasons. The signing of this sponsor, previously main sponsor of Oostende, made the Giants one of the favorites in Belgian basketball. In the 2018–19 season, Antwerp had its most successful season in club history. In Europe, it qualified for 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 Interconti ...

(BCL) after advancing past three qualifying rounds. Antwerp was the surprise of the BCL season, as the team beat

Murcia Murcia (, , ) is a city in south-eastern Spain, the capital and most populous city of the autonomous community of the Region of Murcia, and the seventh largest city in the country. It has a population of 460,349 inhabitants in 2021 (about one ...

and

Nizhny Novgorod Nizhny Novgorod ( ; rus, links=no, Нижний Новгород, a=Ru-Nizhny Novgorod.ogg, p=ˈnʲiʐnʲɪj ˈnovɡərət ), colloquially shortened to Nizhny, from the 13th to the 17th century Novgorod of the Lower Land, formerly known as Gork ...

in the round of 16 and quarterfinals. It qualified for the Final Four which was hosted in the city of Antwerp in the

. In the semi-finals, Antwerp lost to

Iberostar Tenerife Club Cantera Base 1939 Canarias S.A.D., also known as Lenovo Tenerife for sponsorship reasons, is a professional basketball team that is based in San Cristóbal de La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain. Domestically, the team plays in the top level league i ...

, and it won the third place game over

Brose Bamberg Brose Bamberg is a German professional basketball team from Bamberg, Franconia / North Bavaria. The club has won the German Championship title nine times and the German Cup five times. The club currently plays in the German top tier Basketbal ...

. Domestically, Antwerp won the

for the first time in 12 years. In the PBL, Antwerp lost to Filou Oostende 1–3 in the finals. Since the 2021–22 season, Antwerp plays in the

, in which the national leagues of Belgium and the Netherlands have been merged.

Trophies

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 (1): 1999–2000 *

:Winners (4): 1999–2000, 2006–07, 2018–19, 2019–20 *

Belgian Supercup The Belgian Super Cup ( nl, Belgische Supercup, ; french: Supercoupe de Belgique; german: Belgischer Fußball-Super Cup), ''Pro League Supercup'', is a Belgian club competition played as a single match between the Belgian First Division A champi ...

:Winners (2): 2007, 2016

European competitions

**Third place (1): 2018–19

Names

Due to sponsorship reasons, the name of the club has frequently changed:

Players

Retired numbers

Current roster

Season by season

Head coaches

Notable former players

A list of former players of Antwerp Giants since 2000. * Jordan Callahan (2014) *

Maxime De Zeeuw Maxime De Zeeuw (born 26 April 1987) is a Belgian professional basketball player for Limburg United of the BNXT League. De Zeeuw usually plays at the power forward position. He has also been a member of the Belgian national basketball team, whom ...

(2012–14) *

Yannick Driesen Yannick Driesen (born November 2, 1988) is a Belgian basketball player. Driesen usually plays as center. Driesen played with the Belgium national basketball team at EuroBasket 2013 EuroBasket 2013 was the 38th edition of the EuroBasket champio ...

(2012–14) * Marko Špica (2013–14) * Frank Turner (2013–14) * Clayton Vette (2013–14) * Ralph Biggs (2010–13) * Jason Love (2012–13) * Salah Mejri (2010–12) * Michael Roll (2010–12) *

Julian Vaughn Julian Vaughn (born December 16, 1988) is an American professional basketball player who last played for Indios de San Francisco de Macorís of the Liga Nacional de Baloncesto. He is a 2.08 m (6 ft 10 in) tall power forward-center. College ...

(2011–12) *

Christophe Beghin Christophe Beghin (born 2 January 1980) is a Belgian retired basketball player and current coach. Born in Schaerbeek, Beghin had a long and successful professional career in which he was elected Belgium's Player of the Year three times. Beghin h ...

(2008–10) * Thomas Gardner (2009–10) *

Nick Oudendag Nick Oudendag (born 23 April 1987) is a Dutch former basketball player. Standing at , he played as center. During his career, Oudendag was a member of the Netherlands national team. Professional career He has played most of his career with the Du ...

(2007–09) * Brian Lynch (2008–09) *

Mladen Sekularac Mladen () is a South Slavic masculine given name, derived from the Slavic root ''mlad'' (, ), meaning "young". It is present in Bulgarian, Serbian, and Croatian society since the Middle Ages. Notable people with the name include: * Mladen (vojv ...

(2005–08) * Ryan Sears (2007–08) *

Ian Hanavan Ian Hanavan (born August 15, 1980) is an American-born Belgian retired basketball player and current coach. He last coached Phoenix Brussels. Standing at , Hanavan played as power forward. Professional career In October 2007, Hanavan signed with ...

(2007–08) * Ayinde Ubaka (2007–08) *

Len Matela Len Matela (born January 27, 1980) is a retired American professional basketball player. He played the center position. Career Matela played college basketball at Bowling Green State University. He went undrafted in the 2002 NBA draft. He arriv ...

(2003–07) * Gur Shelef (2005–07) *

Domien Loubry Domien Loubry (born 3 March 1985) is a Belgian professional basketball player for Kangoeroes Mechelen of the BNXT League. Loubry plays as point guard. Professional career On 3 March 2020, Loubry signed with Kangoeroes Mechelen for the 2020–21 s ...

(2001–06) * Sebastien Bellin (2003–06) *

Peter Lorant Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a sur ...

(2005–06) * Ron Ellis (2004–05) *

Shaun Stonerook Shaun Andrew Stonerook (born August 19, 1977) is a retired Italian-American professional basketball player. At a height of 2.01 m (6'7") tall, he played mainly at the power forward position, but he could also play as a small forward, if needed. ...

(2000–01) * Otis Hill (2000–01) *

Speedy Smith Kenneth J. "Speedy" Smith Jr. (born January 28, 1993) is an American professional basketball player for Hapoel Jerusalem of the Israeli Basketball Premier League. He was named Conference USA Men's Basketball Player of the Year in 2015. Early li ...

(2020) * Milos Babic (2000–01) *

Andy Van Vliet Andy Van Vliet (born July 27, 1995) is a Belgian basketball player who plays power forward and center for Bnei Herzliya Basket in the Israeli Basketball Premier League. He played college basketball for the University of Wisconsin and the Coll ...

(2014-15)

References

External links

Antwerp Giants official Web site
{{BNXT League Basketball teams established in 1995 Basketball teams in Belgium Sport in Antwerp Pro Basketball League