Ratiopharm Ulm
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Ratiopharm Ulm, officially stylized as ratiopharm ulm, is a 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
Ulm Ulm () is the sixth-largest city of the southwestern German state of Baden-Württemberg, and with around 129,000 inhabitants, it is Germany's 60th-largest city. Ulm is located on the eastern edges of the Swabian Jura mountain range, on the up ...
,
Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
. The club has two teams, one professional team, which plays in the
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 ...
(BBL), the major German professional league and one youth team, which plays in the NBBL (Nachwuchs Basketball-Bundesliga). The home arena of the team is the
Ratiopharm Arena The Arena Ulm/Neu-Ulm, known for sponsorship reasons as Ratiopharm Arena, is an indoor arena in Neu-Ulm. It is the home arena of the basketball club Ratiopharm Ulm, and provides a seating capacity of 6,100 for basketball games. The result of a c ...
, an indoor sporting arena with a capacity of approximately 6,000 spectators. The mascot of the team is a rabbit named ''Spass'' ("fun"), who somewhat resembles
Bugs Bunny Bugs Bunny is a cartoon character created in the late 1930s at Warner Bros. Cartoons (originally Leon Schlesinger, Leon Schlesinger Productions) and Voice acting, voiced originally by Mel Blanc. Bugs is best known for his featured roles in the ' ...
. The main sponsor of the team is the pharmaceutical company
Ratiopharm Ratiopharm is a German pharmaceutical company that is Europe's leading generics brand. Overview Ratiopharm was founded by Adolf Merckle and makes generic pharmaceuticals. They are based in Ulm, Germany, with products being distributed in over 3 ...
. The team colors are orange, white, and black. Ulm has played in the BBL for straight seasons since promoting in 2006, and won the national championship in 2023.


History


Early years (2001–2006)

The club was founded in 2001 after the previous professional basketball team in Ulm, run by the sports-club SSV Ulm 1846, became insolvent and had to resign from the league. Dr. Thomas Stoll and Andreas Oettel, the current CEO of the Basketball Ulm/Alb-Donau
GmbH (; ) is a type of Juridical person, legal entity in German-speaking countries. It is equivalent to a (Sàrl) in the Romandy, French-speaking region of Switzerland and to a (Sagl) in the Ticino, Italian-speaking region of Switzerland. It is a ...
, which is the owner of the club, bought the license of the former team and started a second division team with the name of Basketball Ulm GmbH. After playing in the second division for five years, the team qualified for the
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 ...
in 2006.


First Bundesliga seasons (2006–2011)

In the 2006–07 season, led by Head coach Mike Taylor and Assistant coach Rainer Bauer the team headed into their first season in the Basketball Bundesliga as the team with the smallest funds and the smallest arena in the league. With just two new players for the starting five, the team was seen by the media and many experts as the team most likely to be relegated to the second division again after the season. But due to a well-rehearsed team, with only a few players changed in the off-season, the team had some big upset wins and remained in the league with a 16–18 record. At the end of the season
point guard The point guard (PG), also called the one or the point, is one of the Basketball positions, five positions in a regulation basketball game. A point guard has perhaps the most specialized role of any position and is usually the shortest player ...
Austen Rowland had the league's best assists per game rate and
power forward The power forward (PF), also known as the four, is one of the five traditional Basketball positions, positions in a regulation basketball game. Traditionally, power forwards have played a role similar to center (basketball), centers and are typi ...
Jeff Gibbs became the best rebounder in the league and was nominated as a starting-five player for the All-Star game. Still a club with one of the smallest funds in the league, the team experienced some major changes in the pre-season of their second year in the Bundesliga because starting
point guard The point guard (PG), also called the one or the point, is one of the Basketball positions, five positions in a regulation basketball game. A point guard has perhaps the most specialized role of any position and is usually the shortest player ...
Austen Rowland and
shooting guard The shooting guard (SG), also known as the two, two guard or off guard,Shooting guards are 6'3"–6'7"BBC Sports academy URL last accessed 2006-09-09. is one of the five traditional basketball positions, positions in a regulation basketball game ...
Jonathan Levy left the team while starting
small forward The small forward (SF), also known as the three, is one of the five Basketball position, positions in a regulation basketball game. Small forwards are typically shorter, quicker, and leaner than Power forward (basketball), power forwards and Cent ...
Emeka Erege received a serious injury during an exhibition game. Nevertheless, the team was ranked twelfth in the league after 16 of 34 games with a 9–6 record. In the 2008–09 season, with a young and talented team, ratiopharm Ulm had a very successful season. At the end of the 2008–09 season ulm was ranked on position five and entered the playoffs with a 21–13 record. But in the playoff the team was eliminated early, throughout a 3–0 loss against Telekom Baskets Bonn. After a very good season in 2008–09, Ulm lost the league's best rebounder and most efficient player Jeff Gibbs to
Eisbären Bremerhaven Eisbären Bremerhaven () is a professional basketball club from Bremerhaven, Germany, that competes in the ProA. The team was established as the professional section of the club BSG Bremerhaven and played in the first-tiered Basketball Bundesliga ...
. The 2009–10 season ended on rank thirteen, which means Ulm was far away from the playoffs and away from a relegation spot, too. In the 2010–11 season, Ulm ended on the 14th place.


Climbing the ranks (2011–present)

In the 2011–12 season Ulm reached the
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 ...
Finals, after finishing second in the regular season. In the Playoffs Ulm had beaten
Phantoms Braunschweig Phantom, phantoms, or the phantom may refer to: * Spirit (metaphysics), the vital principle or animating force within all living things ** Ghost, the soul or spirit of a dead person or animal that can appear to the living Aircraft * Boeing Phantom ...
and S.Oliver Baskets and had a Playoff record of 6–0 coming into the Finals. In the Finals Ulm, lost 0–3 to
Brose Baskets 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 ...
. In the 2012–13 season Ulm entered a European competition for the first time, in the 2012–13 Eurocup, the team reached the quarterfinals. Ulm reached the BBL semi-finals and lost in the
German Cup The DFB-Pokal (), also known as the German Cup in English, is a German knockout football cup competition held annually by the German Football Association (DFB). Sixty-four teams participate in the competition, including all clubs from the Bundes ...
Final, 67–85 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 ...
, as well that season. In the 2016–17 season, the club had a historically successful season as the team started the
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 27 consecutive wins. The club ended in the first place of the regular season with 30 wins and just 2 losses, but could not achieve the title as it lost in the semi-finals of the
playoffs The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...
by
EWE Baskets Oldenburg Baskets Oldenburg, for sponsorship reasons EWE Baskets Oldenburg, is a professional basketball club that is based in the city of Oldenburg, Germany. The club plays in the Bundesliga. The club's name is derived from the team's main sponsor EWE AG ...
. In June 2019,
Jaka Lakovič Jaka Lakovič (born 9 July 1978) is a Slovenian professional basketball coach and former player. He currently serves as a head coach for Gran Canaria of the Liga ACB, as well as an assistant coach of the senior Slovenia national team. Standin ...
signed a three-year contract as head coach of Ulm. His appointment meant the end of the
Thorsten Leibenath Thorsten Leibenath (born 7 April 1975) is a German former basketball coach and basketball player. He is the Sports Director of ratiopharm Ulm in the German Basketball Bundesliga. Leibenath coached the Ulm basketball team for eight years, spanning ...
era, who coached the club for eight seasons. Leibenath stepped down as head coach and started working as
sporting director A sporting director, or director of sport, is an executive management position in a sports club. The role is well known as a manager role for European football clubs, which are sometime also "sports clubs", offering many types of sports. The ...
of the club. On 16 June 2023, Ulm won their first-ever national championship after winning the
2022–23 Basketball Bundesliga The 2022–23 Basketball Bundesliga, known as the easyCredit BBL for sponsorship reasons, was the 57th season of the Basketball Bundesliga (BBL), the top-tier level of professional club basketball in Germany. It ran from 28 September 2022 to 16 J ...
season. They defeated
Telekom Baskets Bonn Telekom Baskets Bonn is a German professional basketball club that is based in Bonn, Germany. The club plays in the Basketball Bundesliga, which is German basketball league system, the highest level pro basketball league in Germany. The club's s ...
in the finals, 3–1, behind Finals MVP
Yago dos Santos Yago Mateus dos Santos (born March 9, 1999), known simply as Yago, is a Brazilian professional basketball player for KK Crvena zvezda, Crvena zvezda of the Serbian Basketball League of Serbia, KLS, the ABA League and the EuroLeague. Dos Santos wa ...
. As the seventh seed, they were the lowest seed ever to win the national championship in league history.


Players


Current roster


Depth chart


Season by season


Games against NBA teams


Honors and awards

*
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 ...
** Winners:
2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...
**Runners-up: 1997–98, 2011–12, 2015–16 *
BBL-Pokal Basketball Bundesliga-Pokal, commonly known as the BBL-Pokal, is the annual national basketball cup competition in Germany. Since 2009, the competition has been conducted only between the top-ranked clubs of each Basketball Bundesliga (BBL). His ...
**Winners: 1996 **Runners-up: 1994, 1995,
2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...
,
2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...
,
2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...
*
BBL Champions Cup The Basketball Bundesliga (BBL) Champions Cup is an inactive men's professional basketball game in Germany, which is comparable to other super cup games. The Basketball Bundesliga champion plays the game against the BBL-Pokal winner. Usually, the ...
**Runners-up:
2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...
*
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 ...
**Champions: 2005–06 * Stechert Cup **Winners: 2011


Team


Award winners


Notable players

*
Ian Vougioukas Ian Vougioukas (alternate spelling: Ian Vouyoukas) (Greek: Ίαν Βουγιούκας; born May 31, 1985) is a Greek former professional basketball player. Standing at , he plays at the center position. He played college basketball in the United ...


Head coaches


References


External links

*
Eurobasket.com Team ProfileBasketball Bundesliga Team Profile
{{Authority control Basketball teams established in 2001 2001 establishments in Germany Sport in Ulm Basketball clubs in Baden-Württemberg Basketball teams in Germany Basketball Bundesliga teams