Antwerp Giants, named Windrose Giants Antwerp for sponsorship reasons, is a Belgian 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 (appro ...

club based in

Antwerp Antwerp (; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of Antwerp Province, and the third-largest city in Belgium by area at , after ...

. Their home arena is Lotto Arena. The club plays in the

BNXT League The 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 and Pro Basketball League, PBL. The inaugural season ...

, 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. Antwerp has won the Belgian championship once, in 2000. The team has won five

Belgian Cup The Belgian Cup (; ; ) is the main knockout football competition in Belgium, run by the Royal Belgian FA. The competition started in 1908 with provincial selections as the "Belgian Provinces Cup". Starting from 1912 only actual clubs were allowed ...

s and two Belgian Supercups.

History

In 1995, Sobabee from

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 in 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. 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 the 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), also commonly known as the FIBA Champions League, is an annual professional basketball competition for European sports club, clubs, organised by FIBA. It is the European professional club basketball system ...

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

Nizhny Novgorod Nizhny Novgorod ( ; rus, links=no, Нижний Новгород, a=Ru-Nizhny Novgorod.ogg, p=ˈnʲiʐnʲɪj ˈnovɡərət, t=Lower Newtown; colloquially shortened to Nizhny) is a city and the administrative centre of Nizhny Novgorod Oblast an ...

in the round of 16 and quarterfinals. It qualified for the

Final Four In sports, the final four is the last four teams remaining in a playoffs, playoff tournament. Usually the final four compete in the two games of a single-elimination tournament's semi-final (penultimate) round. Of these teams, the two who win in ...

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. Domestically, Antwerp won the Belgian Basketball Cup 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. On 12 March 2023, the Giants won their fifth Belgian Cup title after beating Oostende in the final. On 8 July, 2024 Antwerp got a new name sponsor. The company Windrose Technology, which is located in electronic trucks are the new name sponsor. The new team name is Windrose Giants Antwerp.

Trophies

Domestic competitions

* Belgian League :Champions (1): 1999–2000 *

:Winners (5): 1999–2000, 2006–07, 2018–19, 2019–20, 2022–23 * Belgian Supercup :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 * Kevin Punter (2017) * Jordan Callahan (2014) * Maxime De Zeeuw (2012–14) * Yannick Driesen (2012–14) * Marko Špica (2013–14) *

Frank Turner Francis Edward Turner (born 28 December 1981) is an English Punk rock, punk and Folk music, folk singer-songwriter from Meonstoke, Hampshire. He began his career as the vocalist of post-hardcore band Million Dead, then embarked upon a primaril ...

(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) * Hans Vanwijn (2017–20) * Jean-Marc Nwema (2009–16, 2021–24)

References

External links

Antwerp Giants official Web site
{{BNXT League Basketball teams established in 1995 Basketball teams in Belgium Sports clubs and teams in Antwerp Pro Basketball League teams