ZZ Leiden

ZZ Leiden
2021–22 ZZ Leiden season
Leagues	BNXT League FIBA Europe Cup
Founded	23 September 1958; 63 years ago (1958-09-23)
History	List BS Leiden (1958–1967) Mercasol Leiden (1967-1977) Parker Leiden (1977–1983) Elmex Leiden (1983–1986) Zorg en Zekerheid Leiden (2006–present)
Arena	Vijf Meihal
Capacity	2,000
Location	Leiden, Netherlands
Team colors	Blue, Navy, White, Green
Main sponsor	Zorg en Zekerheid
President	Marcel Verburg
Team manager	Rob van Hooven
Head coach	Geert Hammink
2020–21 position	DBL, 1st of 12
Championships	4 Dutch Championships 3 Dutch Cups 3 Dutch Supercups
Website	Link
Home Away Europe

ZZ Leiden Basketball, also known as Zorg en Zekerheid Leiden, is a basketball club based in Leiden, Netherlands. The club plays in the BNXT League, the domestic first tier league. Their home games are played at Vijf Meihal, which has 2,000 seats.^[1]

ZZ Leiden has won the national championship four times, the NBB Cup three times, the Dutch Basketball Supercup three times as well. Leiden was a European Club Winner's Cup semi-finalist in 1980.

History[]

The old Leiden team (1958–1986)[]

Tony Parker, Sr. (right) going up against Lace Strong (left), while playing for Parker Leiden in 1980.

On September 23, 1958, the club was founded as Bona Stars by Ton Kallenberg, a physical education professor at a school in Leiden. In 1967 the club entered the eredivisie, the highest professional basketball league in the Netherlands under the name BS Leiden.

When Parker became the main sponsor of the club in 1977 Leiden won its first national championship (1977/1978). During this era the team finished five times as runners-up in the league. In 1979/1980 Leiden reached the semi-finals of the European Club Winner's Cup (later: Saporta Cup, ULEB Cup or EuroCup), their best European result up till now. In 1986, Leiden was forced to leave the eredivisie, due to the absence of a main sponsor. The team played five years in the Promotiedivisie, the highest non-professional league, before pulling out of the Dutch basketball pyramid.

The Rise of ZZ (2006–2010)[]

On February 16, 2006, it was announced that Leiden would return at the highest stage in the Netherlands.^[2] The team got a new main sponsor in Zorg en Zekerheid and would play its games in the Vijf Meihal.

After being quarter- and semifinalist in a few seasons, Leiden returned to the top of the Netherlands in 2010. Leading players of the ZZ team were Danny Gibson, who was named the DBL Most Valuable Player Award in 2009–10, and Seamus Boxley. The club won its first NBB Cup, by beating ABC Amsterdam in the championship game. In the Semi-final, heavy favorites Groningen were defeated. In the Playoffs Semi-finals, ZZ once again faced Groningen. The team put up an impressive fight against the top seed, but eventually fell short 3–2.

Back at the top of Dutch basketball (2010–present)[]

In the 2010–11 season, ZZ Leiden came back on top of the Dutch basketball world as best club. In the regular season, the team finished first. The second DBL title was eventually won, after beating Groningen 4–3 in the Finals. The deciding game 7 turned out to be historic, including three overtimes, which ended in 96–95.^[3]

The following year the team its second NBB Cup, but was defeated in the Finals of the DBL. ZZ Leiden also reached the Round of 16 in the EuroChallenge 2011-12 after their second place in the first group stage this season. In 2013 the team got its third national championship, by going undefeated in the play-offs and beating Aris Leeuwarden in the Finals.

The 2013–14 was a struggling one for Leiden. The team ended on the 4th place in the regular season and lost in the Semifinals to Groningen. After the end of the season, Leiden decided to part ways with head coach Toon van Helfteren.^[4] Van Helfteren eventually won six trophies with Leiden.

Main sponsor Zorg en Zekerheid extended their contract with 3 years in the 2014 offseason,^[5] and a new head coach was signed in Eddy Casteels.^[6] In the 2014–15 season, Leiden finished 2nd in the regular season, but once again was eliminated by Groningen in the Semi-finals.

In 2019, Leiden won the NBB Cup after defeating Landstede Zwolle 87–69 in the final.^[7]

On 17 May 2020, Leiden signed Geert Hammink as its new head coach for the 2020–21 season.^[8] Leiden went on to capture its fourth DBL championship.^[9] Star players of the team were league MVP Emmanuel Nzekwesi and Playoffs MVP Worthy de Jong.

Since the 2021–22 season, Leiden plays in the BNXT League, in which the national leagues of Belgium and the Netherlands have been merged.^[10]

Logos and names[]

• 

  Former logo of the parent club

Club records[]

The list only includes records since ZZ Leiden was established in 2006. Bold denotes still active with team. As of the end of the 2019–20 season:

Players[]

Current roster[]

ZZ Leiden roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. No. Nat. Name Ht. Wt. Age SF 0 Mikalauskas, Arūnas 2.04 m (6 ft 8 in) 97 kg (214 lb) 24 – (1997-09-14)14 September 1997 PG 2 Bouwknecht, Maarten 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in) 27 – (1994-12-14)14 December 1994 C 3 Midtgaard, Asbjørn 2.13 m (7 ft 0 in) 122 kg (269 lb) 24 – (1997-09-20)20 September 1997 PG 4 1.82 m (6 ft 0 in) 20 – (2001-04-17)17 April 2001 G 5 Ververs, Marijn (C) 1.94 m (6 ft 4 in) 23 – (1998-07-17)17 July 1998 G/F 6 de Jong, Worthy 1.94 m (6 ft 4 in) 84 kg (185 lb) 33 – (1988-03-14)14 March 1988 PF 7 Tubutis, Einaras 2.07 m (6 ft 9 in) 90 kg (198 lb) 23 – (1998-11-04)4 November 1998 PF 9 2.03 m (6 ft 8 in) 21 – (2000-08-13)13 August 2000 C 10 2.08 m (6 ft 10 in) 20 – (2001-04-27)27 April 2001 G/F 11 2.01 m (6 ft 7 in) 19 – (2002-07-24)24 July 2002 SG 12 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in) 23 – (1998-02-17)17 February 1998 F 13 van Bree, Luuk 2.06 m (6 ft 9 in) 102 kg (225 lb) 25 – (1996-02-24)24 February 1996	Head coach Geert Hammink Assistant coach(es) Stefan Philips Strength & conditioning coach(es) Johan van der Bent Jasper Haasnoot Physiotherapist(s) Arjen van de Paverd Erik van der Pot Team manager Bart Kriek Legend (C) Team captain (DP) Development player (I) Import player Injured Roster Updated: 26 August 2021

Depth chart[]

Notable players[]

Individual awards[]

Trophies[]

National competitions[]

• Dutch Basketball League^[11]
  • Winners (4): 1977–78, 2010–11, 2012–13, 2020–21
    • Runners-up (6): 1978–79, 1979–80, 1980–81, 1983–84, 1984–85, 2011–12, 2017–18
• Dutch Cup^[11]
  • Winners (3): 2009–10, 2011–12, 2018–19
    • Runners-up (3): 2013–14, 2015–16, 2017–18
• Dutch Supercup^[12]
  • Winners (3): 2011, 2012, 2021
    • Runners-up (4): 2013, 2014, 2018, 2019

Regional competitions[]

• BNXT Supercup
  • Runners-up (1): 2021

Season by season[]

European record[]

Season	Competition	Round	Club	Home	Away	Advanced
1978–79	European Champions Cup	RS	Crystal Palace Chevrons	125–89	88–96
			Joventut Badalona	101–89	97–82
			Södertälje	115–86	76–77
1979–80	European Cup Winners′ Cup	RS	Caen BC	106–77	81–92
			Panathinaikos	95–86	88–86
			Gabetti Cantù	112–108	100–86
		SF	Emerson Varese	87–89	95–87
1980–81	European Cup Winners′ Cup	QR1	Hapoel Ramat-Gan	92–87	97–96
		QR2	RBC Verviers-Pepinster	93–73	70–83
		RS	Turisanda Varese	85-84	92–74
			FC Barcelona	76-97	105-90
			Efes Pilsen	91-72	86-90
1981–82	European Cup Winners′ Cup	QR1		107–50	57–94
		QR2	AEK Athens	102–67	78–89
		RS	Stroitel Kyiv	69-72	74–76
			Inter Slovnaft Brastislava	86-83	83-96
			Real Madrid	90-98	97-90
1982–83	Korać Cup	QR1	Olympiacos	92–69	71-70
		QR2	Tours	68–67	84-80
2010–11	EuroChallenge	QR	Karşıyaka	65–87	77–63
2011–12	EuroChallenge	RS	Beşiktaş Milangaz	58–86	76–69
			Mgzavrebi-Armia Tbilisi	76–59	74–71
			Göttingen	80–71	71–80
		T16	Ventspils	57–60	69–73
			EWE Baskets Oldenburg	76–71	85–62
			Chorale Roanne	63–68	91–56
2013–14	EuroChallenge	RS	Kataja	72–58	77–63
			Bakken Bears	61–62	79–81
			Cholet	67–76	74–52
2015–16	EuroChallenge	RS	Fraport Skyliners Frankfurt	51–76	63–58
			Krka Novo Mesto	78–86	79–51
			FC Porto	77–51	62–70
2018–19	FIBA Europe Cup	QR1	ECE Kapfenberg Bulls	68–57	62–79
		RS	s.Oliver Würzburg	65–75	87–61
			Sakarya Büyükşehir	99–97	56–59
			Oradea	90–76	72–76
		R2	Kataja	87–72	92–80
			Avtodor Saratov	72–97	105–81
			Bakken Bears	89–85	111–71
		R16	Dinamo Sassari	93–97	94–68
2019–20	FIBA Europe Cup	QR1	Beroe Stara Zagora	108–86	86–71
		RS	Benfica	84–68	103-99
			Inter Bratislava	80–67	79–88
			Pécsi VSK-Veolia	105-100	87-77
		R2	Pınar Karşıyaka	65–105	112-67
			Bahçeşehir Koleji Istanbul	87-89	93-71
			Enisey Krasnoyarsk	89–83	96–84
2021–22	Champions League	QR1	Belfius Mons-Hainaut	76-74
		QR2	Tsmoki-Minsk	67-69
	FIBA Europe Cup	RS	Iraklis Saloniki	71-63	83-92
			Mornar Bar	78-73	87-74
			Bahçeşehir Koleji Istanbul	69-79	84-61
		R2	Medi Bayreuth
			Parma Perm Parimatch
			Legia Warsaw

List of head coaches[]

Club symbol Toon van Helfteren played for and coached the team

Coach	From	To	Honours
	1975	1981
Ton Boot	1981
	1982
	1983	1986
	2006	2008
Toon van Helfteren	2008	2014	2 Dutch Basketball Leagues, 2 NBB Cups, 2 Dutch Supercups
Eddy Casteels	2014	2016
Paul Vervaeck	2016	2018
Rolf Franke	2018	2020
Geert Hammink	2020	present	1 Dutch Basketball League

Trivia[]

• Leiden competed in the 1982 FIBA Intercontinental Cup. They won 1 match and finished 6th en last.

References[]

External links[]

• Official website (in Dutch)
• Eurobasket.com B.S Leiden Page

Coordinates: 52°08′57.1″N 4°28′35.0″E / 52.149194°N 4.476389°E / 52.149194; 4.476389