Brose Bamberg

1955–2003: First Bundesliga years

The 1. FC 01 Bamberg basketball team was promoted to the Basketball Bundesliga, the German Basketball League, for the first time in 1970. In 1988, after being relegated and promoted twice (relegations in 1979 and 1983, promotions in 1982 and 1984), and with 1. FC 01 Bamberg facing bankruptcy, the basketball division split to form a new club: TTL Basketball Bamberg. TTL stands for Tapeten-Teppichboden-Land, which is a wallpaper and carpet company. It was the first time the team name had reflected the name of its main sponsor. From 1995, the team was called TTL uniVersa Bamberg after uniVersa Versicherungen, an insurance company. In 1992, the team won the German Cup, earning Bamberg its first basketball trophy.

In 2000, following financial difficulties, the team was rescued by the TSK company and changed its name to TSK uniVersa Bamberg.

Differences of opinion between the main sponsor and the club in 2003 jeopardized the team’s position in the Bundesliga and led to a new change of name.

2003–2006: First championship

During the 2003–04 to 2005–06 seasons, the team played in the Bundesliga under the name of its new sponsor, as GHP Bamberg. Having come second in the Championship twice in a row, in 2004/05 the team brought the German Championship title home to Bamberg for the first time. This meant that GHP Bamberg qualified for the EuroLeague. In the following season (2005–06), the Bamberg team made it into the EuroLeague Top 16. They also played in the BBL Cup Final and in the semi-finals of the BBL playoffs.

2006–2009: First years as Brose Baskets

At the start of the 2006–07 season, the club changed its name to Brose Baskets to reflect the fact that Brose Fahrzeugteile GmbH & Co. KG had become the new primary sponsor. It was in this season that the team won its second Championship title. In 2007–08, the team did not manage to consolidate the previous year’s success and was knocked out in the first round of the EuroLeague, having won two games. In May 2008, Brose Baskets failed to defend their Championship title, losing to EWE Baskets Oldenburg in the quarter-finals. One week later, trainer Dirk Bauermann announced his resignation.

On June 2, 2008, Chris Fleming signed a three-year contract as head coach. He had previously coached the Artland Dragons, who played Brose Baskets in the finals in 2007. Fleming, an American, was 38 at the time. His long-term assistant coach, Arne Woltmann, also came with him from Quakenbrück.“

The first year under the new trainer was difficult, and the team only just qualified for the playoffs (top eight teams), with two points more than the team in ninth place. Nevertheless, they went on to beat the team in second place, MEG Göttingen, but did not stand a chance against the Oldenburg team, who eventually won the Championship. In the following year, the points round did not go very well, but the team still qualified for the playoffs in fifth place. In the Cup competition they made it into the Top 4 final in Frankfurt, where they beat Skyliners, the home team, by one point, bringing the Cup back to Bamberg after 18 years, for the second time in the club’s history. In the Championship playoffs, Bonn and Braunschweig, who had previously knocked Oldenburg, the winners of the first round, out of the competition, did not pose many problems and Bamberg went through to the finals. There they once again faced Skyliners Frankfurt. Brose Baskets lost the first home game but immediately fought back to achieve a 2:1 lead. Frankfurt won the next game in Bamberg, which was as close run as the Cup Final had been. Eventually, however, Brose Baskets won the Championship title 72:70, achieving their first double win.

2010–2011: First treble

For the 2010–11 season, Brose Baskets managed to hold onto most of their players from the year before and made a few strategic additions. The well-rounded team went on to dominate the points round, losing only two out of 34 matches. They also won the Cup competition, defending their title against Braunschweig in the final in Bamberg, where they won 69:66. In the Championship competition, Brose Baskets beat Eisbären Bremerhaven easily in the quarter-final. In the semi-final, they suffered two surprise defeats away against Artland Dragons, and only won in the fifth deciding game. In the final against ALBA Berlin, Brose Baskets once again displayed some weaknesses in their away performance. The Berlin team dominated most of the deciding game in the Stechert Arena, despite a good start from Brose Baskets. Nevertheless, Brose Baskets were able to turn the game around in the final quarter, finishing with a clear 72:65 victory. This earned them the German Championship title for the fourth time and meant they had achieved two double wins in succession. In this season, the team also won all their home Cup and Championship matches.

2011–2012: Second treble

The Brose Baskets squad remained largely unchanged in the 2011–12 season, and departures were more than compensated for by strong additions. At the end of the main round, Bamberg was top of the table with 30 wins and four defeats. The team won the Cup again during this season. In the Championship competition, Brose Baskets managed to beat Telekom Baskets Bonn 3:1 in the playoff quarter-final, despite suffering a surprise defeat in the first home game. This was their first defeat at home in 49 games. In the semi-final, Brose Baskets beat Artland Dragons, winning three out of a possible five games (best-of-five), and also won the final against ratiopharm Ulm 3:0. This was Brose Baskets’ third successive double win. Partly because of this success, several players signed bigger contracts with other teams at the end of the season, which meant it was not possible to keep the same squad intact the following season. Tibor Pleiß and Marcus Slaughter transferred to Spain, Brian Roberts and P.J. Tucker switched to the NBA, and Predrag Šuput moved to KK Cedevita in Croatia.

2012–2013: Sixth German championship

As in the previous season, it was possible to keep the core team together in 2012–13, but injuries during the season led to a number of changes, which weakened the team. Nevertheless, Brose Baskets finished the main round of the Beko BBL at the top of the table with 26 wins. In contrast with previous years, the team failed to get through the qualifying round of the Cup competition, losing 69:77 at home to FC Bayern München. In the Championship competition, Brose Baskets faced Phoenix Hagen, beating them 3:1 and making it through to the semi-final of the playoffs. Here they came up against FC Bayern München, who they managed to beat 3:2 after five games. This meant they were through to the final for the fourth time in a row. Here the champions of the previous three years faced EWE Baskets Oldenburg. Brose Baskets won 3:0 in three straight games, securing the Championship title for the fourth time in a row.

2013–2014: Disappointing season

In the regular season Brose Baskets wasn't the first seed for the first time in 5 years. As the 2nd seed Bamberg played 6th seeded Artland Dragons in the Playoff quarterfinals. The Dragons pulled off an upset and beat Brose with 3–1. The team also failed to reach the BBL-Pokal Final and didn't accomplish much in its European campaign. After the season the club parted ways with head coach Chris Fleming. Long time great players of the club John Goldsberry and Casey Jacobsen put an end to their careers, and had their jersey numbers retired by the club.

2014–2015: Back on top

In the 2014–15 season, Brose Baskets came back on top of the German basketball world, after they beat the defending champions Bayern Munich 3–2 in the Finals. Bamberg also finished the regular season in the first place. Bamberg's Bradley Wanamaker was named Basketball Bundesliga Finals MVP.

2015–2016: Eighth German championship

In the 2015–16 season, Brose Baskets had an impressive EuroLeague campaign, in which the team survived the Regular Season and advanced to the Top 16. In the Bundesliga, Brose had an even more impressive season. The team finished first in the regular season by a wide margin, and eventually won the championship after sweeping all opponents in the Playoffs.

In August 2016, the Brose Baskets changed their name to Brose Bamberg.

Honors

German Championship

Winners (8): 2004–05, 2006–07, 2009–10, 2010–11, 2011–12, 2012–13, 2014–15, 2015–16 Runners-up (3): 1992–93, 2002–03, 2003–04

German Cup

Winners (5): 1992, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2017 Runners-up (2): 2006, 2015

Champions Cup:

Winners (5): 2007, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015 Runners-up (1): 2013

Team venue

Since 2001, Brose Bamberg have played their home games at brose ARENA, a venue that has undergone a number of name changes since it was first built.

Following alterations to the building in 2006, it could hold up to 6,820, after originally having a seating capacity of 4,750 spectators for basketball games. In 2006, a large corporate zone and new corporate luxury boxes were also added to the arena. Thanks to the 2006 expansion, the arena also became big enough for Turkish Airlines EuroLeague games (EuroLeague minimum capacity arena rules - 5,000 seats). In 2016, the arena removed the fan's standing room section, in order to meet minimum EuroLeague arena regulations (no standing room only areas are allowed in EuroLeague arenas), which reduced the arena's seating capacity to 6,249. Before brose ARENA met EuroLeague capacity requirements, European-wide home games of Brose had to take place at the 8,200 seat Arena Nürnberger Versicherung, which is located in Nuremberg, which is about 63 km (39 miles) in driving distance from Brose's home city of Bamberg.

Before brose ARENA (previously called Forum Bamberg, Jako Arena, and Stechert Arena) was built, the team played at the John F. Kennedy Hall, on the US barracks site in Bamberg, and later at the Graf Stauffenberg Hall. The Bamberg fans are famous for their devotion and unstinting support. Noisy support with drums, chants, and a brass band provide a great atmosphere at the arena, known affectionately as, “Frankenhölle”. An audio clip of the fans at the arena can be found here.

Other important club personalities

Norbert Sieben (President)

Michael Stoschek (Chairman of the Supervisory Board); other Supervisory Board members: Rolf Beyer (Vice Chairman), Stefan Adam, Sandro Scharlibbe, Carl Steiner, Maximilian Stoschek

Wolfgang Heyder (Sports Director)

Marco Beens (Finance, Organization and Marketing Director)

Marcus Lindner (Athletics Trainer)

Notable players

To appear in this section a player must have either:

Played at least one season for the club.

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.

To perform very successfully during period in the club or at later/previous stages of his career.

Partnerships and youth development work

Brose Baskets and their partner clubs offer young players excellent development opportunities. The aim is to provide attractive, high-class basketball for sports fans and our industry parters, to broaden the sport’s grassroots base and to become even more successful and efficient at the top end of the game.

Brose Baskets and their registered association therefore run junior U9, U10, U12, U14, U16 and U19 teams and collaborate with Baunach, a team in the second Bundesliga (Pro B). Since the 2009–10 season, there is also a women’s U17 WNBL professional team: Team Oberfranken. And another women’s team, DJK Brose Bamberg, has been playing in the 1st German Bundesliga with support from Brose Baskets since 2012.

Partner teams at a glance:

Bike-Cafe Messingschlager Baunach (ProB)

TSV Tröster Breitengüßbach (South-East Regional League, NBBL, JBBL)

Brose Baskets e. V. (WNBL)

Regnitztal Baskets (2nd Regional League)

TTL Bamberg (2nd Regional League, U14 professional team)

DJK Don Bosco Bamberg (U13 professional team)

BG Litzendorf

SpVgg Roth

SG Köln99ers e.V.

Paderborn Baskets

Brose Baskets also works with a large number of other clubs in the U12-U9 range as part of the Junior Franken project.

In addition, many young basketball players from Bamberg are in the squads for the German national and junior teams: The A squad for the national team benefits from the talents of Karsten Tadda and Maik Zirbes. Three Bamberg players are in the U20 squad: Johannes Thiemann, Alexander Engel and Alina Hartmann. Dino Dizdarevic, Andreas Obst and Robert Zinn are national U18 players. And five Bamberg U16 players compete at international level: Daniel Keppeler, Noah Kamdem, Leon Kratzer, Saskia Beringer and Anne-Katrin Landwehr.

As well as running professional sports activities, Brose Baskets and their partner clubs reach around 12,000 children and young people each year through numerous leisure sports projects. These include: AG Grundschule (a primary school program), basketball promotion days, a schools league, basketball camps, and the Kinder+Sport Basketball Academy.

On October 1, 2013, Förderverein Basketball Bamberg e. V. was renamed Brose Baskets e.V. The aim of the association is to support youth development work in the area of basketball. There are currently around 300 members (February 2014).

Fans

The club’s broad support base within a relatively small town of Bamberg (70,000 inhabitants), has led to the town receiving the nickname “Freak City” in basketball circles. The fan club Faszination Basketball Bamberg has nearly 1000 members, making it the biggest basketball fan club in the Beko BBL. Brose Baskets also receive organized support from Freak City Frankenpower and Sektion Südblock, among others.