BK Ventspils

BK Ventspils
Leagues	Latvian–Estonian Basketball League
Founded	1994
History	BK Ventspils 1994–present
Arena	Ventspils Olympic Center
Capacity	3,085
Location	Ventspils, Latvia
Team colors	Yellow and Blue
President	Ģirts Štekerhofs
Head coach
Championships	10 Latvian Championships 1 BBL Championships 1 Latvian-Estonian Basketball League
Website	bkventspils.lv
Home Away

BK Ventspils is a professional basketball club that is located in Ventspils, Latvia. The club competes in the Latvian Basketball League (LBL) and the Champions League.

History[]

BK Ventspils was founded in 1994. In first years Ventspils proved themselves as relevant part of Latvian basketball, but major step came in 1997 when Ventspils Olympic Center was built. At that time Ventspils started to play in international competitions playing in 1997–98 edition of FIBA Korać Cup, which was followed by playing in FIBA Saporta Cup. Meanwhile, in the Latvian League Ventspils reached finals in both 1998 and 1999, but in 2000 they won their first domestic title and then went on to win seven consecutive from 2000 to 2006. The team won its eight Latvian League championship in 2009.^[1]

During that championship run Ventspils also had great performances in European competitions. In the 2002–03 season Ventspils reached FIBA Champions Cup Final Four, where they finished third. In the 2003–04 season Ventspils debuted in the ULEB Cup competition, making eighthfinals. In the 2004–05 ULEB Cup season, Ventspils reached new heights and missed semifinals after, losing by one point in two game series against Hemofarm. Before the 2009–10 season, Ventspils participated in the EuroLeague Qualifying round, becoming the first Latvian team to do so.

Ventspils has been a team for many players to establish themselves on the European stage, such as Mire Chatman, Marijonas Petravičius, Jānis Blūms, Brent Wright, and others, who later had successful careers at the EuroLeague level.

In 2013, BK Ventspils became the first Latvian club to have won the Baltic Basketball League, after winning the first leg by a score of 69:91,^[2] and losing the second, by a score of just 70:73,^[3] in the finals against Prienai, from Lithuania. In the following season, BK Ventspils won their first Latvian League title since 2009, becoming the champions of the 2014 Latvian Basketball League campaign.

Honours[]

League[]

• Latvian-Estonian League

Winners (1): 2019

• Latvian League:

Winners (10): 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2009, 2014, 2018

Runners-up (9): 1998, 1999, 2007, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019

Bronze (4): 1996, 2008, 2010, 2016

• Baltic League

Winners (1): 2013

Runners-up (1): 2015

Bronze (2): 2007, 2010

• North European Basketball League

Bronze (1): 2002

• FIBA Europe Champions Cup

Bronze (1): 2003

Season by season[]

Roster[]

BK Ventspils roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. No. Nat. Name Ht. Wt. Age PG 0 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in) 80 kg (176 lb) 33 – (1988-04-27)27 April 1988 PG 1 1.94 m (6 ft 4 in) 88 kg (194 lb) 18 – (2002-09-26)26 September 2002 SG 2 1.92 m (6 ft 4 in) 94 kg (207 lb) 30 – (1990-12-16)16 December 1990 PG 4 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in) 82 kg (181 lb) 19 – (2001-10-15)15 October 2001 PF 9 1.98 m (6 ft 6 in) 98 kg (216 lb) 21 – (2000-01-02)2 January 2000 SG 10 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in) 90 kg (198 lb) 32 – (1989-06-09)9 June 1989 C 15 2.06 m (6 ft 9 in) 112 kg (247 lb) 21 – (2000-04-05)5 April 2000 PG 20 1.89 m (6 ft 2 in) 84 kg (185 lb) 18 – (2002-10-21)21 October 2002 SF 23 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in) 88 kg (194 lb) 17 – (2004-03-28)28 March 2004 SF 31 1.95 m (6 ft 5 in) 93 kg (205 lb) 20 – (2000-11-07)7 November 2000 C 33 Andrejs Šeļakovs 2.10 m (6 ft 11 in) 113 kg (249 lb) 32 – (1988-11-08)8 November 1988 SF 35 1.95 m (6 ft 5 in) 87 kg (192 lb) 20 – (2001-03-20)20 March 2001	Head coach Assistant coach(es) Edgars Seredjuks Legend (C) Team captain Injured Roster Updated: July 21, 2021

Notable players[]

Notable coaches[]

• Armands Krauliņš
• Kārlis Muižnieks
• Agris Galvanovskis
• 
• Gundars Vētra
• Gašper Okorn
• Silvano Poropat
• 
• Roberts Štelmahers
• Artūrs Visockis-Rubenis

References[]

External links[]

• Official Website (in Latvian)
• Eurocup Team Page
• FIBA Europe Team Page
• Baltic League Team Page
• Latvian League Team Page
• Eurobasket.com Team Page