Professional basketball league in Belgium and the Netherlands
Basketball league
The
BNXT League
is a professional
basketball
league in Belgium and the Netherlands. The league is the first tier in both the Dutch and Belgian system, replacing the
DBL
and
PBL
. The inaugural season was the
2021?22 season
, which started in September 2021.
History
[
edit
]
On 10 December 2020, it was announced that the Belgian
Pro Basketball League
and
Dutch Basketball League
would merge to form a new multinational league.
[1]
All clubs from the Dutch DBL voted for, while 9 of 10 teams in Belgium voted in favor of the decision. Serious talks about the initiative had been ongoing since fall 2019.
[2]
On 20 May 2021, the new name "BNXT League" and logo of the league were announced.
[3]
The league started its
inaugural season
amidst an
ongoing COVID-19 pandemic
and a great number of games had to be played behind locked doors as a result of national lockdowns.
[4]
On 11 June 2022,
ZZ Leiden
were crowned the inaugural BNXT champions.
[5]
The following year, on 13 June 2023, Leiden repeated as champions.
On 10 September 2021, the league announced its first name sponsorship when Belgian
betting
company betFirst signed to become naming sponsor for three seasons.
[6]
Competition formula
[
edit
]
From 2021?22 to 2023?24, the league consists of different stages. In the first stage, teams play each other home and away in the national regular season. After this, the teams are divided in the Elite Gold and Elite Silver group for the cross-border season. Next, the teams from the Elite Gold and the 3 best teams from the Elite Silver play in the national playoffs to compete for the national championships. The two winners of the national playoffs then play in the BNXT League Final.
[1]
Starting from the 2024?25 season, the league will have a new format in which all 20 teams play each other home and away in the regular season. The highest ranked teams from each country play national playoffs, and the two national winners play for the BNXT championship.
[7]
|
Teams entering in this round
|
National regular season
(20 teams)
|
- Belgian teams play each other twice
- Dutch teams play each other twice
|
Elite Gold
(10 teams)
|
- Best 5 Dutch teams
- Best 5 Belgian teams
|
Elite Silver
(10 teams)
|
- Bottom-4 Dutch teams
- Bottom-6 Belgian teams
|
National play-offs
(16 teams)
|
- All the Elite Gold teams
- Top 3 Elite Silver teams from every nation
- Results used as seeds
|
BNXT League Finals
(2 teams)
|
- Belgian & Dutch Winner of the National Playoffs
|
Teams
[
edit
]
The following 20 teams will play in the 2023-24 season. All teams from the
Pro Basketball League
and
Dutch Basketball League
transferred to the BNXT League in 2021. The newest club to have joined the BNXT League are the
Kortrijk Spurs
, who joined in 2023.
Stadiums and locations
[
edit
]
- Note: Table lists in alphabetical order.
Club
|
Location
|
Venue
|
Capacity
|
Founded
|
National
titles
|
Netherlands
|
BAL
|
Weert
|
Sporthal Boshoven
|
1,000
|
2013
|
?
|
Den Helder Suns
|
Den Helder
|
Sporthal Sportlaan
|
1,000
|
2016
|
?
|
Donar
|
Groningen
|
MartiniPlaza
|
4,350
|
1951
|
7
|
Feyenoord
|
Rotterdam
|
Topsportcentrum Rotterdam
|
2,500
|
1954
|
?
|
Heroes Den Bosch
|
's-Hertogenbosch
|
Maaspoort
|
2,800
|
1952
|
17
|
Landstede Hammers
|
Zwolle
|
Landstede Sportcentrum
|
1,200
|
1995
|
1
|
LWD Basket
|
Leeuwarden
|
Kalverdijkje
|
1,700
|
2004
|
?
|
Yoast United
|
Bemmel
|
De Kooi
|
650
|
2020
|
?
|
ZZ Leiden
|
Leiden
|
Sportcomplex 1574
|
2,435
|
1958
|
5
|
Belgium
|
Antwerp Giants
|
Antwerp
|
Lotto Arena
|
5,218
|
1995
|
1
|
Kangoeroes Mechelen
|
Mechelen
|
Winketkaai
|
1,500
|
2009
|
?
|
Kortrijk Spurs
|
Kortrijk
|
Lange Munte
|
2,400
|
2019
|
?
|
Leuven Bears
|
Leuven
|
Sportoase
|
3,400
|
1999
|
?
|
Liege Basket
|
Liege
|
Country Hall
|
5,000
|
1967
|
?
|
Limburg United
|
Hasselt
|
Alverberg Sporthal
|
1,730
|
2014
|
?
|
Mons-Hainaut
|
Mons
|
Mons Arena
|
4,000
|
1959
|
?
|
Okapi Aalst
|
Aalst
|
Okapi Forum
|
2,800
|
1949
|
?
|
Oostende
|
Ostend
|
Sleuyter Arena
|
5,000
|
1970
|
24
|
Brussels Basketball
|
Brussels
|
Neder-Over-Heembeek complex
|
1,200
|
1957
|
?
|
Spirou
|
Charleroi
|
Spiroudome
|
6,200
|
1989
|
10
|
Former teams
[
edit
]
Two Dutch teams,
The Hague Royals
(in 2022) and
Apollo Amsterdam
(in 2023) were forced to leave the league as they were unable to reach budget standards set by the BNXT licensing committee.
BNXT champions
[
edit
]
The finals were played in a two-legged format in 2022, after that season the format was changed to a best-of-three playoffs series.
ZZ Leiden
have won both BNXT championships thus far.
National champions
[
edit
]
Netherlands
[
edit
]
Belgium
[
edit
]
Awards
[
edit
]
Broadcasting partners
[
edit
]
Notes
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
External links
[
edit
]
|
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Seasons
| |
---|
Playoffs
| BNXT Finals
| |
---|
Netherlands
| |
---|
Belgium
| |
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|
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Clubs
| Belgium
| |
---|
Netherlands
| |
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Former teams
| |
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|
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Awards
| |
---|
Associated competitions
| |
---|
|
|
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Seasons
| |
---|
Playoffs
| |
---|
Clubs
| |
---|
Arenas
| |
---|
Awards
| |
---|
Statistical leaders
| |
---|
Associated competitions
| |
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|