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Apollo Amsterdam
Leagues	Promotiedivisie
Founded	2011; 13 years ago (2011)
History	BC Apollo 2011–2015 Apollo Amsterdam 2015–present
Arena	Apollohal
Capacity	1,500
Location	Amsterdam, Netherlands
Main sponsor	Paul Meijering
President	Mark van Meggelen
Head coach	Wierd Goedee
2021–22 position	BNXT League, 19th of 21
Championships	1 Promotiedivisie
Website	www.apollobasketball.nl
Home Away

Apollo Amsterdam is a Dutch basketball team based in Amsterdam. The club plays its games in the Promotiedivisie, the Dutch second-level league.

The club was founded in 2011 and has played in the highest national level for 12 years, from 2012 to 2023. They qualified for the national playoffs four times. The amateur section of the club is known as BC Apollo.

Apollo Amsterdam is known for their focus on developing the Dutch basketball players and giving them growth perspective in a foreign player dominated league.

History

The club was founded in 2011, as a result of a merger between BV Lely and Mosquitos, both clubs from Amsterdam. Its name is derived from its home venue the Apollohal. Apollo took over the license of the old ABC Amsterdam second team. In the first season of the club, Apollo played as an amateur team in the Promotiedivisie. They immediately won the Dutch amateur championship after defeating CBV Binnenland in the league final.

In 2012, Apollo club decided to enter the professional Dutch Basketball League (DBL) for the 2012–13 season. In its first season, led by coach Tyrone Marioneaux and All-Star Aron Royé, Apollo finished in ninth place in the DBL.

In 2013–14, Apollo managed to reach the playoffs for the first time in franchise history. The club lost in the quarterfinals to GasTerra Flames, 0–2.

During Apollo's most successful season since their establishment, the club had financial problems which made it close to withdrawing from the DBL. However, in August 2014 it was announced Apollo would continue playing in the DBL.

In the 2015–16 season, Apollo made its second appearance in the DBL playoffs where it lost to Den Bosch 0–2 in the quarterfinals.

Apollo won its first playoff game in 2016, defeating ZZ Leiden in Game 1 of the quarterfinals. However, in a packed Apollohal, Leiden retrieved home advantage and went on to beat Apollo 1–2 and advance to the semifinals.

On 1 May 2020, Apollo announced it will not play in the 2020–21 DBL season because of uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Apollo also announced Laki Lakner was replacing Patrick Faijdherbe as head coach. Lakner resigned after three games, and Edwin van der Hart took over for the remainder of the season. Apollo finished in ninth place for a second season in a row.

Since the 2021–22 season, Apollo plays in the BNXT League, in which the national leagues of Belgium and the Netherlands have been merged. In June 2021, Wierd Goedee was signed as new head coach.

In June 2023, following the 2022–23 season, Apollo was forced to withdraw from the BNXT League as it was unable to come up with the necessary budget for participation. The BNXT organisation required a minimum budget of €350,000 which Apollo was unable to bring together with its sponsorships. Apollo entered the second-level Promotiedivisie for the 2023–24 season.

Honours

• Promotiedivisie

Winners (1): 2011–12

Players

Current roster

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

Apollo Amsterdam roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. No. Nat. Name Ht. Age G 0 Abrams, Jaro 1.91 m (6 ft 3 in) 22 – (2002-03-20)20 March 2002 F 1 Poels, Joost 1.96 m (6 ft 5 in) 21 – (2003-10-07)7 October 2003 PF 3 Sikking, Jibbe 1.96 m (6 ft 5 in) 20 – (2004-12-25)25 December 2004 PG 6 Bertotti, Jacopo 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in) 23 – (2001-01-08)8 January 2001 F 7 Poels, Stef 2.02 m (6 ft 8 in) 23 – (2001-01-12)12 January 2001 PF 8 Grigas, Saulius 2.00 m (6 ft 7 in) 21 – (2003-04-07)7 April 2003 F 9 Kayhan, Job 2.02 m (6 ft 8 in) 24 – (2000-12-23)23 December 2000 PG 10 Kumelis, Deividas 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in) 29 – (1995-04-06)6 April 1995 C 13 Van't Hoff, Mees 2.08 m (6 ft 10 in) 23 – (2001-04-27)27 April 2001 C 22 Runs, Matthias 2.11 m (6 ft 11 in) 32 – (1992-10-15)15 October 1992 SG 23 Metz, Joris 2.11 m (6 ft 11 in) SF 24 Wip, Yamill 1.91 m (6 ft 3 in) 27 – (1997-11-30)30 November 1997	Head coach Wierd Goedee Assistant coach(es) Liad Schneider Philip Sowers Legend (C) Team captain Injured Roster Updated: 10 October 2022

Depth chart

Individual awards

DBL All-Defense Team

• Berend Weijs – 2019

DBL Rookie of the Year

• Berend Weijs – 2013

DBL blocks leader

• Berend Weijs – 2013, 2014, 2018, 2019

DBL All-Rookie Team

• Lucas Steijn – 2014

Notable players

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

• Aron Royé (5 seasons: 2012–14; 2014–17; 2018–19)
• Dimeo van der Horst (5 seasons: 2014–19)
• Berend Weijs (2014–15; 2016–17; 2020–present)
• Sergio De Randamie (2014–2015; 2016–2017; 2020–present)
• Michael Madanly (1 season: 2017)
• Malevy Leons (2 seasons: 2017–19)
• Shaquille Doorson (1 season: 2012–13)

NCAA Division 1 players from academy

The youth academy of Apollo Amsterdam has developed the following players who have played in the NCAA Division I. Players in bold have played minutes for the senior team in the Dutch Basketball League or BNXT League.

Top scorers by seasons

Season Name PPG 2012–13 Aron Royé 16.3 2013–14 Aron Royé 13.2 2014–15 Dimeo van der Horst 12.8 2015–16 Aron Royé 15.6 2016–17 Dimeo van der Horst 16.0

Season Name PPG 2017–18 Micheal Madanly 16.1 2018–19 Dimeo van der Horst 15.6 2019–20 Xavier Cannefax 21.9 2020–21 Berend Weijs 13.5 2021–22 Roger Moute a Bidias 15.9

Individual awards

DBL Top Scorer

• Xavier Cannefax – 2020

DBL Rookie of the Year

• Berend Weijs – 2013

DBL All-Rookie Team

• Lucas Steijn – 2014

Season by season

List of head coaches

The following is a list of all the head coaches of Apollo since its establishment in 2011:

Period	Coach
2011–2013	Tyrone Marioneaux
2013–2014	Hakim Salem
2014–2015	Jaanus Liivak
2015–2020	Patrick Faijdherbe
2020–2021	Laki Lakner
2021	Edwin van der Hart
2021–present	Wierd Goedee

Notes

1. The 2019–20 season was ended in March 2020 prematurely because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

References

1. "Samenwerking Apollo Basketball". Paul Meijering metalen. Retrieved 11 August 2019.
2. "Doorontwikkeling Apollo Basketball". www.linkedin.com. Retrieved 2019-09-23.
3. Eurobasket.com team profile
4. "BC Apollo grijpt titel in mannen promotiedivisie". Basketball.nl. Archived from the original on 26 July 2019. Retrieved 26 July 2019.
5. "Amsterdam terug in eredivisie". nos.nl. Retrieved 26 July 2019.
6. "BC Apollo Amsterdam blijft in de DBL". DBL. 8 August 2014.
7. "DBL gaat verder met acht ploegen". Basketball League. Retrieved 1 May 2020.
8. "Basketballers Apollo komend seizoen niet op het hoogste niveau". Parool.nl. 1 May 2020.
9. "Licenties BNXT League 2021-2022 toegekend". Basketball League (in Dutch). Retrieved 10 July 2021.
10. "Wierd Goedee hoofdcoach Apollo Amsterdam". Basketball League (in Dutch). Retrieved 26 June 2021.
11. "Basketballers Apollo Amsterdam trekken zich terug uit BNXT League". www.nhnieuws.nl (in Dutch). Retrieved 2023-07-06.
12. "BC Apollo Amsterdam Stats - RealGM". basketball.realgm.com. Retrieved 29 August 2019.

External links

• Official website (in Dutch)
• Eurobasket.com BC Apollo Amsterdam Page

• Basketball teams in the Netherlands
• Basketball teams established in 2011
• 2011 establishments in the Netherlands
• Dutch Basketball League teams
• Sports clubs and teams in Amsterdam