History
Founded in 1958 as the basketball section of Excelsior Brussels, [1] the club spent decades in Belgium’s lower leagues.
After six years in the third division, Serge Crèvecoeur joined in 2008 and immediately led the team to promotion to the second division. Over the next seasons, Excelsior steadily improved—finishing 4th and 5th with quarterfinal appearances, then reaching the semifinals in 2011–12. Despite slipping to 10th and missing the playoffs in 2012–13, the club was promoted to the top Belgian division that year as part of an expansion to include a capital city team.
The club rebranded its first division team as Brussels Basketball to better promote the city and boost the league’s appeal, with main sponsor Basic-Fit joining at the same time and influencing the name change to Basic-Fit Brussels. The rest of the club retained the Excelsior identity. The club received a C-licence, which allowed them to play with a lower budget in the league. [2]
The first two seasons in the top division were marked by limited success, but the closed league format provided a stable environment for gradual growth. In their third season, they narrowly missed the playoff finals, which they reached the following year in 2016–17. [3] Strong performances in both the 2015–16 and 2016–17 seasons earned them places in the FIBA Europe Cup. [4]
Following the 2016–17 vice-championship, Crèvecoeur left and was replaced by assistant coach Laurent Monier. The 2017–18 season under Monier was less successful. Crèvecoeur returned for the 2018–19 season and immediately led the team to third place in the playoffs and a Belgian Cup semifinal.
In 2019, Basic-Fit withdrew as main sponsor, prompting a rebrand to Phoenix Brussels and an increased reliance on public funding and political support. [5] The COVID-19 pandemic brought serious financial challenges, threatening the first team’s survival—but the club ultimately endured.
As the club faced growing challenges, Serge Crèvecoeur departed once again. He was replaced by Ian Hanavan, who took charge for the 2020–21 season—the final season of the standalone Belgian league. Hanavan remained in place for the start of the 2021–22 campaign, marking the debut of the new BNXT League, [6] but was quickly dismissed by the board due to underperformance. Jean-Marc Jaumin took over and managed to stabilize the team during the 2021–22 and 2022–23 seasons. During his tenure, the club secured a new main sponsor in betting platform Circus, [7] rebranding as Circus Brussels. However, this naming ended in 2023 following a new law that banned gambling promotion in sports. [8]
Serge Crèvecoeur returned ahead of the 2023–24 season. [9] Over two seasons, he guided the team toward greater stability, resulting in the club’s first playoff appearance since 2019 in 2024–25.
Infrastructure
Upon the club's establishment in 1958, the team played outdoors on the field of the King Baudoin/Boudewijn Stadium (then the Heysel/Heizel Stadium). Brussels Basketball currently plays its home games in the multifunctional sports hall of the Neder-Over-Heembeek sports complex. The hall features retractable seating and typically accommodates around 1,000 spectators, though it can hold up to 1,500, as it did during the 2017 Belgian playoff finals against Oostende. Owned by the municipality rather than the club, this has historically led to scheduling and organisation conflicts.
Since 2017 the team regularly plays gala matches in Palais/Paleis 12. In the 2020–2021 season, the team made a temporary move to the venue for all games from December 2020 to April 2021. [10]
The club recognized early the necessity of upgrading its infrastructure. In 2013, upon entering the first division, the president André De Kandelaer stated, "Our hall is not designed for the first division" and "If a serious project develops, it will certainly not be at Neder-Over-Heembeek". [11] In 2017, a plan was unveiled for a 3,000-seat arena on the Heysel/Heizel Plateau, but it failed to materialize. [12] In 2021, a more ambitious proposal for a 4,000-seat arena at the same location was introduced, though this project did not progress either. [13]
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