Johan Roijakkers (born 15 September 1980) is a Dutch basketball coach, who is the head coach of the Kortrijk Spurs. He coached eight years in the German

Basketball Bundesliga The Basketball Bundesliga (BBL) (English language: ''Federal Basketball League''), for sponsorship reasons named easyCredit BBL, is the German basketball league system, highest level Sports league, league of professional club basketball in German ...

with

BG Göttingen Basketballgemeinschaft 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 plays in Germany's second division, the ProA. History Once ...

and

Brose Bamberg Bamberg Baskets 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 six 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 (sport), club basketball list of basketball leagues, league that has been organised in Italy since 1920. Serie A is organised by Lega Basket, which is regulated by the Italian Basketball ...

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 basketball league system, Italian first ...

. He also competed internationally in 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 ...

. 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 for five years in Belgium with Bree B.B.C and Dexia Mons-Hainaut. 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 EuroCup Basketball, commonly known as the EuroCup and currently called BKT EuroCup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual professional basketball club competition organized by Euroleague Basketball. The league is regarded as Euroleague Basketbal ...

. The ULEB Cup campaign included wins against

Alba Berlin Alba Berlin is a 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 Uber Arena and c ...

, Aris B.C., Lukoil Academic and BK Ventspils. In 2007, Roijakkers and Finch moved to Dexia Mons-Hainaut 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 Europe's second level competition. Clubs mainly qualify based on their performance in national leagues an ...

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

NBA G League The NBA G League, or simply the G League, is a professional basketball league in North America that serves as the Minor league#Basketball, developmental league of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The league comprises 31 teams; as of ...

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 f ...

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, officially the Slovak Republic, 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 west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

, 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 The ProA is the German basketball league system, second-tier Sports league, league of professional club basketball in Germany. The league comprises 16 teams. Officially the ProA is part of the ''2. Basketball Bundesliga'', which consists of the t ...

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

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...

(BBL).

went undefeated during the 2013-14 season at home (21-0). In the finals they beat Crailsheim Merlins 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. Standing at , he played in the guard position for Crvena zvezda, Limoges, ...

. In his final season with

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

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

. On 1 July 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

and 13 games in the

. On 12 January 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 14 April 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 4 July 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 14 June 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 West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...

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

2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup The 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup was the 19th tournament of the FIBA Basketball World Cup for men's national basketball teams, held from 25 August to 10 September 2023. The tournament was the second to feature 32 teams and was hosted by multipl ...

. Roijakkers' contract expired in 2023. He then joined the

Heroes Den Bosch Heroes Den Bosch is a Dutch professional basketball club based in 's-Hertogenbosch. The club plays in the BNXT League since 2021 and in the top basketball division in the Netherlands since 1972. Founded as EBBC in 1951, the club had several sponso ...

to serve as the general manager in 2023-24. On 16 March 2024, Roijakkers was announced as head coach of the Kortrijk Spurs with the beginning of the 2024-25 season. He was handed a four-year contract. In the 2024-25 season, Roijakkers took home 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 ...

Coach of the Year award, after finishing the season with his team as runners-up.

Career highlights and awards

As coach

* 2025 BNXT League Coach of the Year * 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 Basketball players from North Brabant BC Prievidza coaches BG Göttingen coaches Bree BBC players Brose Baskets coaches Dutch basketball coaches Dutch expatriate basketball people in Belgium Dutch expatriate basketball people in Germany Dutch expatriate basketball people in Italy Dutch expatriate basketball people in Slovakia Dutch men's basketball players Kortrijk Spurs coaches Pallacanestro Varese coaches People from Deurne, Netherlands