Liège Basket was a Belgian professional basketball club from Liège. The club competed in the BNXT League. Founded in 1967, the team played at 5,600 seat Country Hall Ethias Liège.[1]
| Liège Basket | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 | |||
| Leagues | BNXT League | ||
| Founded | 1967 | ||
| Dissolved | 2024 | ||
| History | Fléron Basket Club 1967–2000 Liège Basket 2000–2024 | ||
| Arena | Country Hall Liège | ||
| Capacity | 5,000 | ||
| Location | Liège, Belgium | ||
| Team colors | Black, White, Red | ||
| Main sponsor | VOO | ||
| President | Ernie Cambo | ||
| Head coach | Alex Zampier | ||
| Ownership | Ernie Cambo | ||
| Championships | 1 Belgian Cup 2 Belgian Supercups 1 ENBL | ||
| Website | liegebasket.be | ||
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The club was one of the traditional clubs in Belgian basketball, having played in the top flight division since 2001. Liège Basket's accolades include one Belgian Cup (in 2004) and two Belgian Supercups (in 2004 and 2009).
History
editThe club was founded in Fléron as the Fléron Basket Club in 1967. After being an amateur league for its first years, the team hired its first professional coach in 1975. In 1977 and 1981, the Fléron promoted to the first regional league. In 1983, the club made its debut on the national level as it promoted to the Fourth National Division. In 2000, the club decided to merge with BC Hannut and Essor Hannut, relocating to the city of Liège.
After the move to Lìege, the club quickly promoted to the First National League. In 2001, the club's debut in Europe was made after it qualified as 7th in the previous season. In the 2001–02 FIBA Korać Cup, the team lost to French side Racing Paris in the first round. Three years later, in 2004, the team wins its first silverware when it captures the Belgian Basketball Cup for the first time.
In the 2008–09 season, the team had its best European campaign when it reached the Top 16 of the 2008–09 FIBA EuroChallenge. In 2010, Liège played in the championship playoffs for the first time, but loses to Spirou Charleroi.
Since the 2021–22 season, Liège plays in the BNXT League, in which the national leagues of Belgium and the Netherlands have been merged.[2] After the 2020s were characterised mainly by financial problems for Liège, the club was purchased by an American investors group in 2022. The Mickael Sports Group, owned by Ernie Cambo, purchased all shares in the team.[3] Following the acquisition, head coach Lionel Bosco was sacked and replaced by Brad Greenberg.
On October 3, the club announced that they will be boycotting the away-game against Antwerp Giants on October 28 because of "partisan" refereeing in away-games, also saying that "Belgian players get better calls then foreigners. The BNXT League responded by saying that if they actually pull through, Liège will be refused access to the playoffs on top of a €2500 fine. The League put the deadline for the decision on October 10. On October 9, they announced that the will play against the Antwerp Giants.
Honours and titles
edit- Belgian Cup
- Winners (1): 2003–04
- Belgian Supercup
- Winners (2): 2004, 2009
- European North Basketball League
- Winners (1): 2024
Logos and names
edit-
Sponsored logo (2014–2017) -
The Liège Basket logo used until 2018
Season by season
edit| Season | Tier | League | Pos. | Belgian Cup | Other cups | European competitions | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009–10 | 1 | BLB | 2nd | Supercup | C | 3 EuroChallenge | T16 | ||
| 2010–11 | 1 | BLB | 8th | 3 EuroChallenge | RS | ||||
| 2011–12 | 1 | BLB | 8th | ||||||
| 2012–13 | 1 | BLB | 7th | Quarterfinalist | |||||
| 2013–14 | 1 | BLB | 5th | Semifinalist | |||||
| 2014–15 | 1 | BLB | 7th | Runner-up | |||||
| 2015–16 | 1 | BLB | 8th | Round of 16 | |||||
| 2016–17 | 1 | BLB | 10th | Round of 16 | |||||
| 2017–18 | 1 | BLB | 9th | Quarterfinalist | |||||
| 2018–19 | 1 | BLB | 10th | Round of 16 | |||||
| 2019–20 | 1 | PBL | 10th | ||||||
| 2020–21 | 1 | PBL | 9th | Play-in Round | |||||
| 2021–22 | 1 | BNXT | 17th | – | |||||
European record
edit| Season | Tier | Competition | Round | Club | Home | Away |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001–02 | 2 |
FIBA Korać Cup | First Round |  Racing Paris |
62–83 |
74–88
|
| 2004–05 | 2 |
ULEB Cup | ||||
| 2006–07 | 3 | FIBA EuroCup | First Round |  BC Kalev |
? | ? |
 BC Kyiv |
? | ? | ||||
| Second Round |  Estudiantes |
? | ? | |||
 AEL Limassol |
? | ? | ||||
 Šiauliai |
? | ? | ||||
| 2008–09 | 3 | FIBA EuroChallenge | First Qualifying Round |  Bakken Bears |
97–64 | 67–55 |
| Second Qualifying Round | JA Vichy |
74–67 | 80-70 | |||
| Regular Season | Cajasol |
69–62 | 79–78 | |||
 Ventspils |
89–84 | 73–54 | ||||
 Czarni Słupsk |
89–64 | 93–91 | ||||
| Top 16 |  EiffelTowers Den Bosch |
81–68 | 58–67 | |||
 Bonn |
59–67 | 64–79 | ||||
| Cholet |
70–80 | 78–71 | ||||
| 2009–10 | 3 |
FIBA EuroChallenge |
Players
editIndividual awards
editNotable players
editNote: Flags indicate national team eligibility at FIBA-sanctioned events. Players may hold other non-FIBA nationalities not displayed.
| Criteria |
|---|
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To appear in this section a player must have either:
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References
edit- ^ "La Salle" (in French). Retrieved 2009-10-09.
- ^ "Licenties BNXT League 2021-2022 toegekend". Basketball League (in Dutch). Retrieved 10 July 2021.
- ^ "Eerste Belgische basketbalclub in buitenlandse handen: Amerikaanse investeringsgroep neemt Luik Basket over". Het Nieuwsblad (in Flemish). 13 December 2022. Retrieved 2023-01-25.