Antwerp Giants

Antwerp Giants, named Telenet Giants Antwerp for sponsorship reasons, is a 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 basketball. The club was created from the merger of Sobabee and Racing Mechelen. Then named Racing Basket Antwerpen, it was renamed Antwerp Giants in 2005.

Telenet Giants Antwerp
Leagues	BNXT League
Founded	1995; 28 years ago (1995)
History	Racing Antwerpen 1995–2006 Antwerp Giants 2006–present
Arena	Lotto Arena
Capacity	5,500
Location	Antwerp, Belgium
Team colors	Red, White, Black, Yellow
President	Roger Roels
General manager	Eddy Faus
Head coach	Ivica Skelin
Team captain	Jean-Marc Mwema
Championships	1 Belgian Championships 4 Belgian Cups 2 Belgian Supercups
Retired numbers	1 (4)
Website	antwerpgiants.be
Home Away Third

Logo of the Antwerp Giants, without sponsor

Antwerp has won the Belgian championship once, in 2000. The team has won five Belgian Cups and two Belgian Supercups.

History

In 1995, Sobabee from Antwerp and Racing Mechelen 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 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, in the Sportpaleis.^[1] In June 2017, it was announced that Telenet would become the main sponsor of the team for three seasons.^[2] 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 (BCL) after advancing past three qualifying rounds. Antwerp was the surprise of the BCL season, as the team beat Murcia and Nizhny Novgorod in the round of 16 and quarterfinals. It qualified for the Final Four which was hosted in the city of Antwerp in the Sportpaleis. In the semi-finals, Antwerp lost to Iberostar Tenerife, and it won the third place game over Brose Bamberg.^[3] Domestically, Antwerp won the Belgian Basketball Cup for the first time in 12 years.^[4] In the PBL, Antwerp lost to Filou Oostende 1–3 in the finals.

Since the 2021–22 season, Antwerp plays in the BNXT League, in which the national leagues of Belgium and the Netherlands have been merged.^[5]

On 12 March 2023, the Giants won their fifth Belgian Cup title after beating Oostende in the final.^[6]

Trophies

 

The Port of Antwerp Giants logo (used until 2017)

Domestic competitions

• Belgian League

Champions (1): 1999–2000

• Belgian Cup

Winners (5): 1999–2000, 2006–07, 2018–19, 2019–20, 2022–23

• Belgian Supercup

Winners (2): 2007, 2016

European competitions

• Basketball Champions League
  • Third place (1): 2018–19

Names

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

• Racing Basket Antwerpen (1996–1999)
• Telindus Racing Antwerpen (1999–2004)
• Daewoo Racing Antwerpen (2005–2006)
• Sanex Antwerp Giants (2006–2008)
• Antwerp Diamond Giants (2008–2011)
• Port of Antwerp Giants (2011–2017)
• Telenet Giants Antwerp (2017–present)

Players

Retired numbers

Antwerp Giants retired numbers
N°	Nat.	Player	Position	Tenure	Retired
4		Roel Moors	PG	2000–2002, 2009–2015	October 8, 2015^[7]

Current roster

Note: Flags indicate national team eligibility at FIBA-sanctioned events. Players may hold other non-FIBA nationality not displayed.

Telenet Giants Antwerp roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. No. Nat. Name Ht. Age PG 1   Anderson, Brandon 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in) 25 – (1998-06-12)12 June 1998 SG 2   Smout, Quinten 1.95 m (6 ft 5 in) 21 – (2002-02-15)15 February 2002 SF 8   Bradford, Desonta 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in) 27 – (1996-04-12)12 April 1996 SF 9   Van Cleemput, Vince 1.98 m (6 ft 6 in) 21 – (2002-01-24)24 January 2002 SF 10   D'Espalier, Seppe 1.97 m (6 ft 6 in) 24 – (1999-03-27)27 March 1999 SF 11   De Ridder, Thijs 2.03 m (6 ft 8 in) 20 – (2003-01-31)31 January 2003 G 12   Zylka, Ferdinand 1.91 m (6 ft 3 in) 25 – (1998-09-11)11 September 1998 C 13   Marinković, Ivan 2.08 m (6 ft 10 in) 29 – (1993-11-17)17 November 1993 C 14   Rogiers, Roby 2.06 m (6 ft 9 in) 26 – (1997-06-14)14 June 1997 SG 21   Butterfield, Spencer   1.91 m (6 ft 3 in) 31 – (1992-10-11)11 October 1992 F 29   Mwema, Jean-Marc (C) 1.96 m (6 ft 5 in) 33 – (1989-12-05)5 December 1989 SF 30   Upshaw, Reggie 2.03 m (6 ft 8 in) 28 – (1995-04-07)7 April 1995	Head coach   Ivica Skelin Assistant coach(es)   Guy Muya Legend (C) Team captain   Injured Roster Updated: April 4, 2023

Season by season

Season	Tier	League	Pos.	W–L	Belgian Cup	European competitions
2010–11	1	Division I	5th	18–17	Semifinalist	3 EuroChallenge	L16	4–1–3
2011–12	1	Division I	3rd	23–11	Runner-up	3 EuroChallenge	T16	6–6
2012–13	1	Division I	5th	17–13	Last 16	3 EuroChallenge	RS	4–2
2013–14	1	Division I	4th	21–21	Runner-up	3 EuroChallenge	T16	7–5
2014–15	1	Division I	6th	16–17	Semifinalist	3 EuroChallenge	T16	6–6
2015–16	1	Division I	5th	14–16	Runner-up	3 FIBA Europe Cup	QF	13–4
2016–17	1	Division I	3rd	25–17	Quarterfinalist	4 FIBA Europe Cup	R2	8–4
2017–18	1	Division I	2nd	31–12	Quarterfinalist	3 Champions League	QR3	5–1
						4 FIBA Europe Cup	RS	3–3
2018–19	1	Division I	2nd	35–9	Champion	3 Champions League	3rd	15–9
2019–20	1	Division I	3rd^[a]	11–6	Champion	3 Champions League	RS	4–10
2020–21	1	Division I	3rd	20–11	Quarterfinals	2 EuroCup	RS	1–9

1. The 2019–20 PBL season was cancelled early because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Head coaches

Name	Nat.	Tenure
Arik Shivek		2005–2007
Sven van Camp		2007–2008
Eddy Casteels		2008–2013
Paul Vervaeck		2013–2015
Roel Moors		2015–2019
Christophe Beghin		2019–2022
Luc Smout		2022
Ivica Skelin		2022–present

Notable former players

A list of former players of Antwerp Giants since 2000

•   Jordan Callahan (2014)
•   Maxime De Zeeuw (2012–14)
•   Yannick Driesen (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 (2011–12)
•   Christophe Beghin (2008–10)
•   Thomas Gardner (2009–10)
•   Nick Oudendag (2007–09)
•   Brian Lynch (2008–09)
•   Mladen Sekularac (2005–08)
•   Ryan Sears (2007–08)
•   Ian Hanavan (2007–08)
•   Ayinde Ubaka (2007–08)
•   Len Matela (2003–07)
•   Gur Shelef (2005–07)
•   Domien Loubry (2001–06)
•   Sebastien Bellin (2003–06)
•   Peter Lorant (2005–06)
•   Ron Ellis (2004–05)
•    Shaun Stonerook (2000–01)
•   Otis Hill (2000–01)
•   Speedy Smith (2020)
•   Milos Babic (2000–01)
•   Andy Van Vliet (2014-15)

References

1. "Roundup: Magical 'Night of the Giants'". Retrieved February 3, 2015.^{[permanent dead link]}
2. Telenet komende drie jaar hoofdsponsor van Antwerp Giants
3. "Antwerp use home support to stun Bamberg for third place". Basketball Champions League. 5 May 2019. Retrieved 25 December 2020.
4. "Antwerp Giants troeven Charleroi af in spannende bekerfinale". Sporza.be (in Dutch). 8 March 2020. Retrieved 25 December 2020.
5. "Licenties BNXT League 2021-2022 toegekend". Basketball League (in Dutch). Retrieved 10 July 2021.
6. "Antwerp Giants kloppen favoriet Oostende in spannende bekerfinale". sporza.be (in Dutch). 2023-03-12. Retrieved 2023-03-12.
7. . Archived from the original on 2015-10-10. Retrieved 2015-10-08.

External links

• Antwerp Giants official Web site (in Dutch)