s.Oliver Würzburg

s.Oliver Würzburg (formerly known as s.Oliver Baskets) is a German professional basketball club located in Würzburg, Germany. After one year of absence from the Basketball Bundesliga (BBL), the club has returned to first division German basketball in the 2015–16 season.

s.Oliver Würzburg
Leagues	Basketball Bundesliga
Founded	2007
History	List SCH Würzburg Baskets (2007–2010) s. Oliver Baskets (2010–2016) s. Oliver Würzburg (2016–present)
Arena	s.Oliver Arena
Capacity	3,140
Location	Würzburg, Germany
Team colors	Black, Red, Grey
Main sponsor	s.Oliver
President	Steffen Liebler
Head coach	Denis Wucherer
Team captain	Krešimir Lončar
Website	soliver-wuerzburg.de
Home Away

It was founded in 2007 with the aim to substitute the original club of the city, who was known as DJK Würzburg, which stood for "Deutsche Jugendkraft" (German youth power), and was affiliated to the DJK-Sportverband (Sport Association), which is affiliated with the Roman Catholic Church in Germany. The club has gained fame through its basketball department, in which NBA players Dirk Nowitzki and Maxi Kleber got their starts.

History

The old DJK Würzburg

The DJK Sport Association was founded on 16 September 1920 in Würzburg. Due to the geographic location of its home office, the DJK soon founded a local club in Würzburg. However, the different athletic departments found themselves divided among various Catholic clubs. During the Third Reich, all DJK affiliates were banned by the government. After World War II, the DJK consolidated all of its local departments into DJK Würzburg. Today the club has over 3000 members, including a variety of non-Catholic members.

The club's top women's handball team played in the Handball-Bundesliga Frauen, the top flight of women's handball in Germany, from 1976 to 1985, during the 1987–88 season and from 1993 to 1995.

The club's basketball department gained fame in the 1990s as both the men's and women's teams qualified for the top German Basketball Bundesliga (BBL) division. The women's team played many years in the first and second divisions and was crowned German Champion in 1993. In 1989, the men's team made the jump into the second division. In 1997, featuring Dirk Nowitzki in the line-up, DJK Würzburg claimed the 2nd Division South title, qualifying for the Basketball Bundesliga. In 2001, DJK spun off its men's basketball team into a private corporate entity, now known as the Würzburg Baskets, to capitalize on their growth as a professional basketball team. DJK Würzburg has produced numerous players who have gone on to have success in the BBL, with the senior men's German national basketball team and, for Nowitzki, the NBA.

In 2005, the club resigned its spot in the BBL and the club stopped competing.

The current club

In 2007, American businessman Jochen Bähr acquired a license in the Regional league for a new team in Würzburg with the aim to reach the Pro A in few seasons.

In 2011, the Würzburg Baskets, now by the name of s.Oliver Baskets (after their new sponsor s.Oliver), gained promotion from the PRO A (German Second Division), and moved up to the Basketball Bundesliga (German First Division). In its first season back in the first division, in 2011–12, the team reached the German League semi-finals, after beating Alba Berlin by 3–1 in the quarterfinal series of the playoffs. In 2012–13 the actual club played in Europe for the first time, in the second tier Eurocup.[1] In 2013–14 they relegated from the BBL. They immediately promoted back to the first tier in the 2014–15 season. The 2015–16 season was finished on rank 8, thus qualifying for the playoffs for the second time after 2012. In quarterfinals the team was eliminated by future league champion Brose Baskets, losing every game with at least a 35-point margin.

On 15 July 2016 the team changed their name from "s.Oliver Baskets" to "s.Oliver Würzburg" to strengthen the identification of team and city. Additionally the sponsoring contract with s.Oliver was extended through 2019.[2]

In the 2018–19 season, Würzburg played in the FIBA Europe Cup. Würzburg reached the finals of the cup, its first European finals, in which it lost to Dinamo Sassari over two legs.

Honours

Numerous Bavarian amateur titles Women's German Basketball Champions: 1993 Men's 2nd Division South Basketball Champions: 1997

European competitions

FIBA Europe Cup

• Runners-up: 2018–19

Logos

• 
  2010–2016 Logo

Season by season

Season	Tier	League	Pos.	German Cup	European competitions
2007–08	4	RegionalLiga	3rd
2008–09	4	RegionalLiga	1st
2009–10	3	ProB	3rd
2010–11	2	ProA	2nd
2011–12	1	Bundesliga	4th
2012–13	1	Bundesliga	9th		2 Eurocup	RS	3–3
2013–14	1	Bundesliga	17th
2014–15	2	ProA	2nd
2015–16	1	Bundesliga	8th
2016–17	1	Bundesliga	14th
2017–18	1	Bundesliga	9th		4 FIBA Europe Cup	QR1	1–1
2018–19	1	Bundesliga	9th		4 FIBA Europe Cup	F	Runners-up
2019–20	1	Bundesliga	8th	Round of 16
2020–21	1	Bundesliga		Group stage

Team

Current roster

s.Oliver Würzburg roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. No. Nat. Name Ht. Wt. Age G/F 0 Downs, Micah 2.03 m (6 ft 8 in) 91 kg (201 lb) 34 – 8 September 1986 PF 2 Chapman, Brekkott 2.06 m (6 ft 9 in) 97 kg (214 lb) 24 – 7 April 1996 SG 3 Ward, Tyson 1.98 m (6 ft 6 in) 86 kg (190 lb) 23 – 26 July 1997 PG 4 Böhmer, Julius 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in) 79 kg (174 lb) 19 – 19 January 2002 F/C 5 Sears, Justin  2.03 m (6 ft 8 in) 103 kg (227 lb) 27 – 3 January 1994 G 6 Obiesie, Joshua 1.97 m (6 ft 6 in) 82 kg (181 lb) 20 – 23 May 2000 G 7 Hassfurther, Nils 1.84 m (6 ft 0 in) 73 kg (161 lb) 21 – 18 May 1999 SF 9 Leonhardt, Nils 1.96 m (6 ft 5 in) 85 kg (187 lb) 20 – 1 July 2000 F/C 11 Smith, Zach 2.03 m (6 ft 8 in) 98 kg (216 lb) 25 – 5 January 1996 SF 12 Ndi, Elijah 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in) 87 kg (192 lb) 16 – 2 September 2004 SG 20 Albus, Julian 1.91 m (6 ft 3 in) 93 kg (205 lb) 28 – 20 May 1992 SF 21 Koch, Florian 1.97 m (6 ft 6 in) 86 kg (190 lb) 28 – 26 March 1992 G 24 Hunt, Cameron 1.92 m (6 ft 4 in) 85 kg (187 lb) 23 – 23 August 1997 PF 27 Weitzel, Jonas 2.05 m (6 ft 9 in) 105 kg (231 lb) 22 – 25 June 1998 F 34 Hoffmann, Felix 1.95 m (6 ft 5 in) 100 kg (220 lb) 31 – 11 July 1989 F 77 King, Alex 2.01 m (6 ft 7 in) 100 kg (220 lb) 35 – 20 February 1985 F Jones, Perry 2.11 m (6 ft 11 in) 107 kg (236 lb) 29 – 24 September 1991	Head coach Denis Wucherer Assistant coach(es) Steven Key Legend (C) Team captain Injured Roster Updated: January 29, 2021

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

Depth chart

Pos.	Starting 5	Bench 1	Bench 2
C		Fynn Fischer
PF	Junior Etou	Johannes Richter	Brekkott Chapman
SF	Florian Koch	Felix Hoffmann
SG	Cameron Wells	Cameron Hunt	Joshua Obiesie
PG	Skyler Bowlin	Jordan Hulls	Jordan Hulls

Notable players

To appear in this section a player must have played at least two seasons for the club AND either:

– Set a club record or won an individual award as a professional player.
– Played at least one official international match for his senior national team at any time.

• Dirk Nowitzki
• Robert Garrett
• Demond Greene
• Leon Kratzer
• Steven Hutchinson
• Maxi Kleber
• Olumide Oyedeji
• LaMonte Ulmer

Notable coaches

• Gordon Herbert (2000–2001)
• Dirk Bauermann (2017–2018)

Second team

Würzburg's second team plays in the ProB, the German third division.

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

TG s.Oliver Würzburg roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. No. Nat. Name SG 2 Badu Buck PG 4 Julius Böhmer SG 5 Lennart Stechmann PG 6 Philipp Hadenfeldt SF 8 Nils Leonhardt SF 11 Julian Albus PF 12 Michael Javernik PF 13 Dexter Sienko PF 14 Jonas Weitzel C 15 Flynn Fischer PF 16 Tilman Buschbeck	Head coach Eric Detlev Assistant coach(es) Sepher Tarrah Legend (C) Team captain Injured Roster Updated: 18 October 2018

Fan culture

Friendships

For many years, the fan-base of Würzburg has been connected, in a friendly way, with the supporters of the Baskets Bonn.[3]

Rivalries

Within the Basketball Bundesliga, the city closest to Würzburg is Bamberg. Hence, between the Baskets Würzburg and the Baskets Bamberg, there has been an intense rivalry.[4] Traditionally, the rivalry has been dominated by Bamberg because of its superior finances.

Kit manufacturer

2017: KIX[5]

References

1. s.Oliver Baskets Wurzburg – Welcome to Eurocup, eurocupbasketball.com. Retrieved 12 December 2015.
2. Aus den s.Oliver Baskets wird s.Oliver Würzburg Archived 20 July 2016 at the Wayback Machine, s.Oliver Würzburg. Retrieved 18 July 2016
3. Baskets: Doppelspieltag am vorletzten Wochenende der Hauptrunde, WÜRZBURG erleben, 22 April 2016. Retrieved 2 March 2017 (in German)
4. Vorschau: Brose Baskets (1) – s.Oliver Baskets (8), Simon Walter, Freddy Löblein (BASKETBALL.DE), 6 May 2016. Retrieved 2 March 2017 (in German)
5. Kader, soliver-wuerzburg.de. Retrieved 14 September 2017. (in German)

External links

• Official website