Liège Basket

Liège Basket
Liège Basket
Leagues	BNXT League
Founded	1967; 57 years ago
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
Home	Away

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]

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

The 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

Belgian Cup
- Winners (1): 2003–04

Belgian Supercup
- Winners (2): 2004, 2009

European North Basketball League
- Winners (1): 2024

Logos and names

Sponsored logo (2014–2017)
The Liège Basket logo used until 2018

TEC Liège (2000–2001)
Dexia Liège (2001)
Euphony Liège (2001–2004)
Liège Basket (2004–2015)
betFirst Liège Basket (2015–2017)
VOO Liège Basket (2017–present)

Season by season

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

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	?	?
			First Round	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

Individual awards

Belgian League MVP

Will Thomas: 2010

Belgian League Star of the Coaches

Will Thomas: 2010

Notable players

Note: Flags indicate national team eligibility at FIBA-sanctioned events. Players may hold other non-FIBA nationalities not displayed.

Criteria
To appear in this section a player must have either: Set a club record or won an individual award while at the club Played at least one official international match for their national team at any time Played at least one official NBA match at any time.

References

^ "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.

External links

Official site

[1] "La Salle" (in French). Retrieved 2009-10-09.

[2] "Licenties BNXT League 2021-2022 toegekend". Basketball League (in Dutch). Retrieved 10 July 2021.

[3] "Eerste Belgische basketbalclub in buitenlandse handen: Amerikaanse investeringsgroep neemt Luik Basket over". Het Nieuwsblad (in Flemish). 13 December 2022. Retrieved 2023-01-25.

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