Bamberg Baskets

Professional basketball team in Bamberg, Germany

Bamberg Baskets is a German professional basketball team from Bamberg, Franconia/North Bavaria. The club has won the German Championship title nine times and the German Cup five times. The club currently plays in the German top tier Basketball Bundesliga (BBL) and the FIBA Europe Cup. The license holder of the club is Bamberger Basketball GmbH. The club was co owned and sponsored by the German automotive supplier Brose Fahrzeugteile and was known as Brose Baskets and Brose Bamberg between 2006 and 2023.

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.

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. 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 fourth game in their own arena, which was as close run as the cup final had been. Eventually, however, Brose Baskets won the Championship title with a 72:70 in front of its own fans, achieving its first double win.

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. The team also won the Cup competition, The team also failed to reach the BBL Pokal Final and did not 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.

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

Through its championship in the 2015–16 season, Bamberg qualified for the 2016–17 EuroLeague, the first true European basketball league. Bamberg finished in the 10th place, with All EuroLeague Second Team member Nicolò Melli leading the team. In Germany, the team once again dominated. The BBL Pokal was won after beating Bayern Munich in the Final. The ninth Basketball Bundesliga title of the club was won after sweeping EWE Baskets Oldenburg 3–0 in the BBL Finals.

In the 2017–2018 season, Brose finished 12th in the EuroLeague. In the Basketball Bundesliga, Brose's domination ended at the hands of Bayern Munich, who beat Brose 3–1 in the semifinals. Brose also lost to Bayern in the BBL Pokal quarterfinals. The 4th place finish in the Bundesliga was the worst for Brose in years.

On 17 February 2019, Bamberg won its fifth BBL Pokal after defeating Alba Berlin 83–82 in the final. In the 2018–19 season, Bamberg also made its debut in the Basketball Champions League. After playing in EuroLeague Basketball competitions since 2004, this was the first time the club participated in a FIBA organised competition. In the quarter finals, Bamberg narrowly beat defending champions AEK Athens to qualify for the 2019 Final Four. On 1 July 2020, Johan Roijakkers signed a 3 year contract as Bamberg's new head coach. With Johan Roijakkers as their head coach Brose Bamberg did not lose a single home game during the 2020–2021 season in the Basketball Champions League. Brose Bamberg also set the record for most made 3s in a single game (21 made 3s on 58% vs Casademont Zaragoza, 23 March 2021, 117 – 76).

In November 2021, Brose Bamberg announced that Oren Amiel had signed as their head coach. With Oren Amiel as their head coach they did not qualify for the Basketball Champions League in the 2022–2023 season. The team continued their European season in the FIBA Europe Cup.

In June 2023, the club announced that Brose was selling its shares in the company and also released its naming rights. As a result, the name of the club was changed to Bamberg Baskets on 1 July 2023. 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 U. S. barracks site (Ausländische Militärbasen), in Bamberg, and later at the Graf Stauffenberg Hall. 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.

The club's broad fan support base within, a relatively small town of Bamberg (with around 76,000 inhabitants), has led to the town receiving the nickname, "Freak City", in basketball circles. The team's fan club, Faszination Basketball Bamberg, has nearly 1,000 members, making it the biggest basketball fan club in the German Beko BBL. Brose Baskets also receives organized support from fan clubs Freak City Frankenpower and Sektion Südblock, among others.