Antwerp Giants, named Telenet Giants Antwerp for sponsorship reasons, are a Belgian professional basketball 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. 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 Dutch Basketball League, DBL a ...

, 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 ...

. 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 Cups, 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 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 whi ...

, in the Sportpaleis. In June 2017, it was announced that Telenet 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 (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 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. Domestically, Antwerp won the Belgian Basketball Cup for the first time in 12 years. In the PBL, Antwerp lost to

Filou Oostende Basketball Club Oostende, for sponsorship reasons Filou Oostende, is a Belgian professional basketball team. The club is based in Ostend and was founded in 1970. The club competes domestically in the BNXT League and internationally in the Baske ...

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 :Champions (1): 1999–2000 * Belgian Cup :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 champion ...

: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:

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 Jordan Alexander Callahan (born October 21, 1990) is an American professional basketball player who plays for Esgueira of the Portuguese Basketball League. Standing at 1.84 m (6 ft in), he mainly plays at the point guard position. College caree ...

(2014) * Maxime De Zeeuw (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 Marko Špica ( sr-cyrl, Марко Шпица; born June 9, 1986) is a retired Serbian professional basketball player. He is a 2.05 m tall power forward who last played for Kaposvári KK of the Hungarian League. Career Špica grew up with juniors ...

(2013–14) * Frank Turner (2013–14) *

Clayton Vette Clayton Vette (born September 5, 1988) is an American professional basketball player, who last played for Okapi Aalstar, Okapi Aalst of the Pro Basketball League (PBL). Standing at , Vette plays as power forward (basketball), power forward. Profe ...

(2013–14) *

Ralph Biggs Ralph Biggs (born February 2, 1976) is an American-born naturalized Belgian former professional basketball player. Biggs is 2.01 m tall and played the small forward position. Career He played for PBC Ural Great in the Russian Super League. He pla ...

(2010–13) * Jason Love (2012–13) * Salah Mejri (2010–12) * Michael Roll (2010–12) * Julian Vaughn (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 D ...

(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 (vojvo ...

(2005–08) * Ryan Sears (2007–08) * Ian Hanavan (2007–08) *

Ayinde Ubaka Ayinde X. Ubaka (born February 9, 1985) is an American former professional basketball player. He played college basketball for the California Golden Bears and spent seven seasons playing professionally overseas. High school career Ubaka attende ...

(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 arr ...

(2003–07) *

Gur Shelef Gur Shelef ( he, גור שלף; born January 10, 1974) is an Israeli former professional basketball player. Standing at 201 cm (6' 7") he played at the small forward and power forward The power forward (PF), also known as the four, is on ...

(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 Sebastien Bellin (born May 14, 1978) is a Brazilian-Belgian former professional basketball player. He has also been a part of the Belgian national basketball team in his career, he made his last appearance in 2010. He was seriously injured at Bru ...

(2003–06) * Peter Lorant (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. H ...

(2000–01) * Otis Hill (2000–01) * Speedy Smith (2020) *

Milos Babic Milos or Melos (; el, label=Modern Greek, Μήλος, Mílos, ; grc, Μῆλος, Mêlos) is a volcanic Greek island in the Aegean Sea, just north of the Sea of Crete. Milos is the southwesternmost island in the Cyclades group. The ''Venus d ...

(2000–01) * Andy Van Vliet (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