Telenet Giants Antwerp has returned to the 7DAYS EuroCup looking to further establish its name in Europe after becoming a real force in its native Belgium.
The Club Scene: Telenet Giants Antwerp
Club Scene
5 mins read
Telenet Giants Antwerp has returned to the 7DAYS EuroCup looking to further establish its name in Europe after becoming a real force in its native Belgium.
The journey to its second EuroCup season started back in 1995 when Sobabee merged with Racing Mechelen to bring a top-division Belgian League team to Antwerp for the first time in years. Belgium's second-largest city, located in the north of the country, has seen other basketball clubs call it home, including eight-time league champion Antwerpse, Zaziko, Brabo, Oxaco and Tunnel.
Racing Mechelen dominated Belgian basketball for large portions of four decades. Founded in 1940, it captured seven Belgian League titles between 1965 and 1976 and was runner-up in the 1973 Korac Cup. Mechelen's glory days came in the late 1980s when it became a EuroLeague regular. The club won its eighth domestic title in 1987 and then added six consecutive trophies from 1989 to 1994. The team's biggest stars included Bill Varner, Eric Struelens, Martin Haws, Daniel Herman, Jacques Stas, Kurt Portmann, Dirk Snyders and Marc Deheneffe. Those players guided the club to EuroLeague victories over big names such as FC Barcelona, Aris Thessaloniki, Partizan Belgrade, Benetton Treviso and Real Madrid, among others.
Racing Basket Antwerpen was born ahead of the 1995-96 season and reached Belgium's first division in 1998 under the guidance of future long-time Belgian national team coach Eddy Casteels. Arguably the club's greatest season came in 1999-2000 with the quintet of Michael Huger, Louis Rowe, Roger Huggins, Yves Dupont and Herbert Baert winning the Belgian League and Belgian Cup.
Casteels left the club after that season – as did all five of those players – and the momentum that had been built up faded. Antwerp failed to reach the Belgian League semifinals for six consecutive years until a new era started in 2006. Current club president Roger Roels became club chairman that year, when the team's name was changed Antwerp Giants. In its second season with Arik Shivek as head coach, Antwerp finally returned to the Belgian League semifinals and also won the 2007 Belgian Cup, earning its debut in the EuroCup (then, the ULEB Cup). The team, which also won the 2007 Belgian Supercup, featured Len Matela, Ed Norvell, David Toya, Gur Shelef, David Toya and returnee Dupont.
Casteels returned to the Antwerp sidelines as coach in 2008 and brought the club to the Belgian League semifinals in 2009, 2010 and 2012, as well as to the 2012 Belgian Cup final and the EuroChallenge quarterfinals in 2010. Helping Casteels were players such as Roel Moors, Jean-Marc Mwema, Tim Black, Bryan Hopkins, Darnell Wilson, Salah Mejri and Christophe Beghin.
Casteels departed in 2013 with Paul Vervaeck taking over and guiding Antwerp to the 2014 Belgian League semifinals and Belgian Cup final. Roel Moors retired following the 2014-15 season, ending his storied history as he played with the club from 2000 to 2002 and 2009 to 2015. Antwerp retired Moors' No. 4 jersey in October 2015 and Moors stayed on with the club as Vervaeck's assistant coach starting in the 2015-16 season.
Vervaeck was released in November 2015 with Moors taking over as head coach. Antwerp reached the Belgian Cup final as well as the FIBA Europe Cup quarterfinals and won the 2016 Belgian Supercup, earning Moors Belgian Coach of the Year honors.
Antwerp returned to the Belgian League semifinals in 2017 and saw Jason Clark win the league MVP award. A year later, Antwerp advanced to the Belgian League finals for the first time since winning the crown in 2000, but lost to Oostende. Hans Vanwijn was the runner up for the Player of the Year in Belgium and Thomas Akyazili took home the country's Rising Star of the Year award.
If the 1999-2000 season wasn't the best in the Antwerp Giants history then the 2018-19 campaign would be the choice. In March 2019, Antwerp defeated Oostende to win the Belgian Cup title, ending Oostende's run of six straight crowns. In mid-May, Antwerp locked up first place in the Belgian League regular season. And in between, Antwerp reached the Final Four of the Basketball Champions League and was named as host club. At the Sportpaleis, Antwerp lost in the semifinals but ended up collecting third place. Back in the Belgian League finals, Antwerp was again unable to beat Oostende, which won its eighth straight title. Antwerp guard Paris Lee was named league MVP while Ismael Bako was Belgian Player of the Year and Moors once again won the Coach of the Year award.
After that magical season, Moors was hired away by Brose Bamberg in Germany and was replaced by former long-time Belgian national team player Christophe Beghin, who played with Antwerp from 2008 to 2010 and 2016-17 before retiring and joining Moors as assistant coach in 2017. The club also saw a number of its star players depart after the 2018-19 season, leaving management the task of reforming the team also with a first-time head coach for the 2019-20 season. Still, Antwerp defended its Belgian Cup title, defeating Spirou for the 2020 trophy. Antwerp slumped to a 4-10 record in the Basketball Champions League group stage and managed only an 11-6 record in the Belgian League for third place when the COVID-19 pandemic caused the season to be canceled.
The 2020-21 season now brings Antwerp back to the EuroCup for the first time since 2007-08 with the hopes of finding European success similar to what it achieved two years ago.