Johan Roijakkers (born September 15, 1980) is a Dutch basketball coach, who is the head coach of the Saudi Arabia men's national team. He coached 8 years in the German EasyCredit BBL with

BG Göttingen Basketballgemeinschaft Göttingen ( eng, Basketball Association Göttingen) is a German basketball club based in Göttingen, Germany. In 2010, the club won the EuroChallenge against Krasnye Krylya Samara from Russia. The team had played in German ...

and

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 Basketball ...

and in Italy in the

Lega Basket Serie A The Lega Basket Serie A (LBA) is a professional men's club basketball league that has been organised in Italy since 1920. Serie A is organised by Lega Basket, which is regulated by the Italian Basketball Federation (FIP). It is the highest-tie ...

with

Pallacanestro Varese Pallacanestro Varese, also called by its current sponsor's name, the Openjobmetis Varese, is an Italian professional basketball club based in Varese, Lombardy. Founded in 1945, the team plays in the Italian first division LBA. For past club spo ...

. He also competed internationally in 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 ...

. Roijakkers won 3 championships in 3 different countries and was national team coach for the Netherlands U18 4 years in a row.

Coaching career

As an assistant coach Roijakkers worked together with

Chris Finch Chris Finch may refer to: * Chris Finch (basketball) Chris Finch (born November 6, 1969) is an American professional basketball coach and former player who is the current head coach for the Minnesota Timberwolves of the National Basketball Assoc ...

for five years in Belgium with Bree B.B.C and

Dexia Mons-Hainaut Belfius Mons-Hainaut is a Belgian professional basketball club that is based in Mons, Wallonia. The club competes in the highest division of the country, the BNXT League. The club's home arena is the Mons Arena. Founded as Quaregnon in 1959, the c ...

. Together they reached 5 finals in 5 years and won the first national title in 2005 for Bree B.B.C. Roijakkers coached game 2 in the finals when coach Chris Finch was ejected after 2 technical fouls already in the 1st quarter. Bree B.B.C. won the game in overtime. During the 2006-07 season, Roijakkers competed with Bree B.B.C in the ULEB Cup. The ULEB Cup campaign included wins against

Alba Berlin Alba Berlin is a German professional basketball club that is based in Berlin, Germany. The club was founded in 1991, and is today the largest German national basketball club by membership figures. Alba Berlin hosts its home games at the Mercedes ...

Aris B.C. Aris Basketball Club ( el, Άρης K.A.E., transliterated into English Aris B.S.A.) known in European competitions as Aris Thessaloniki, is the professional basketball team of the major Thessaloniki-based Greece, Greek multi-sport club Aris Th ...

, Lukoil Academic and

BK Ventspils BK Ventspils is a professional basketball club that is located in Ventspils, Latvia. The club competes in the Latvian-Estonian Basketball League. History BK Ventspils was founded in 1994. In first years Ventspils proved themselves as relevant p ...

. In 2007, Roijakkers and Finch moved to

together, where they went to the finals of the

FIBA Europe Cup The FIBA Europe Cup (FEC) is an annual professional club basketball competition organised by FIBA for eligible European clubs. It is FIBA's European-wide second level. Clubs mainly qualify for the competition based on their performance in natio ...

in 2008. In 2010 they worked together once again in the

NBA G League The NBA G League, or simply the G League, is the National Basketball Association's (NBA) official minor league basketball organization. The league was known as the National Basketball Development League (NBDL) from 2001 to 2005, and the NBA De ...

with the

Rio Grande Valley Vipers The Rio Grande Valley Vipers are an American professional basketball team of the NBA G League based in Edinburg, Texas, and are affiliated with the Houston Rockets. The Vipers play their home games at the Bert Ogden Arena. The Vipers have won fo ...

and again they went to the finals of the

in 2011. When Finch signed in the NBA, Roijakkers started his head coach career in Europe. His first head coaching job came in 2011 with

BC Prievidza BC Prievidza is a professional basketball club based in playing in Prievidza, Slovakia. The team plays in the Slovak Extraliga. The club plays home games in the sports hall Niké Arena. History The team was founded in 1947 under the name Sokol ...

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the ...

, where he won the national title in the Slovakian ExtraLiga his first year. It was exactly 17 years ago that BC Prievidza made it to the finals and 18 years since they won a national title. He was named Coach of the Year in Slovakia for the 2011-12 season by the Slovakian ExtraLiga and Eurobasket.com. Roijakkers was inducted into the BC Prievidza hall of fame. In June 2012, Roijakkers signed for

in the German

ProA Proas are various types of multi-hull outrigger sailboats of the Austronesian peoples. The terms were used for native Austronesian ships in European records during the Colonial era indiscriminately, and thus can confusingly refer to the do ...

. In the 2013-14 season, Roijakkers guided the team to promotion to Germany's first tier, EasyCredit BBL.

went undefeated during the 2013-14 season at home (21-0). In the finals they beat

Crailsheim Merlins The Crailsheim Merlins, for sponsorships reasons named Hakro Merlins Crailsheim, is a professional basketball club based in Crailsheim, Germany. Established in 1986, the club plays in the Basketball Bundesliga (BBL), the highest professional leag ...

to capture the ProA championship title. In his first year as Bundesliga head coach, Roijakkers came in second in the Coach of the Year vote behind

Saša Obradović Saša Obradović (Anglicized: Sasha Obradovic; sr-Cyrl, Саша Обрадовић, ; born 29 January 1969) is a Serbian professional basketball coach and former player. He is currently the head coach for AS Monaco of the French LNB Pro A Stand ...

. In his final season with

, he coached the team to the play offs, reaching the final 8 at the bubble in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...

. On July 1, 2020, Roijakkers signed a three-year contract as the head coach of

who competed in the German BBL and the

did not loose a single game in

at home in the 20-21 season. Roijakkers was released of his duties in November 2021 after the team lost 3 games in a row. Roijakkers coached a total of 253 games in the EasyCredit BBL and 13 games in the

. On January 12, 2022, he replaced Adriano Vertemati as the head coach of

in the Italian

. Roijakkers was the only foreign coach in the

. Before Roijakkers joined the team in January 2022, the team had won a total of three games. He guided the team to seven wins out of the first eight games. He managed to move Varese from last to tenth place in the Serie A standings. Roijakkers changed the face of the team, relying on young Italian players. On April 14, 2022,

announced to have released Roijakkers for actions "not in line with the club's values". The case was sent to the conciliation and arbitration board of the league. On July 4, 2022, it was announced that an amicably settlement has been found between both parties. The settlement included the club revoking Roijakkers' dismissal and a termination of the contract by mutual consent. On June 14, 2022, he was announced as the new coach of Belgium 2de Landelijke side Bree B.B.C, returning to old stomping grounds. He left Bree in October 2022 to assume the head coaching reins of the Saudi Arabia men's national team, representing the Kingdom of

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries by area, fifth-largest country in Asia ...

. On October 13, 2022, Roijakkers signed a one-year contract with the Saudi Basketball Federation. The Saudi Arabia men's national team is competing in the Asian Qualifiers for the

2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup The 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup will be the 19th tournament of the FIBA Basketball World Cup for men's national basketball teams. The tournament will be the second to feature 32 teams. For the first time in its history, the World Cup will be h ...

Career highlights and awards

As coach

* 2022 Brought Pallacanestro Varese from last place to 10th place * 2020 & 2021 German BBL Playoffs * 2015 German BBL Runner Up Coach of the Year * 2014 German Pro A Champion * 2012 Slovakian Champion * 2012 Slovakian Coach of the Year * 2011 NBA G-League Finalist * 2009 Belgian League Finalist * 2008 FIBA EuroCup Finalist * 2008 Belgian Cup Finalist * 2007 Belgian League Finalist * 2006 Belgian Super Cup Winner * 2005 Belgian League Champion

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Roijakkers, Johan 1980 births Living people BC Prievidza coaches BG Göttingen coaches Brose Baskets coaches Bree BBC players Dutch basketball coaches Dutch expatriate basketball people in Belgium Dutch men's basketball players People from Deurne, Netherlands Pallacanestro Varese coaches Sportspeople from North Brabant Dutch expatriate basketball people in Germany Dutch expatriate basketball people in Slovakia Dutch expatriate basketball people in Italy