Bayer Giants Leverkusen

Bayer Giants Leverkusen
Leagues	ProB
Founded	1961; 63 years ago (1961)
History	TuS Bayer 04 Leverkusen 1961–1983 TSV Bayer 04 Leverkusen 1983–2000 Bayer Giants Leverkusen 2000–present
Arena	Ostermann-Arena
Capacity	3,500
Location	Leverkusen, North Rhine-Westphalia
Championships	14 German Championships 10 German Cup 1 ProB
Website	www.bayer-basketball.de
Home Away

Bayer Giants Leverkusen is a professional basketball club, part of the TSV Bayer 04 Leverkusen sports club based in Leverkusen, Germany. It currently plays in ProB, the third division of German basketball.

Based on the number of titles, Leverkusen is the most successful team in the history of German Basketball with a record-14 championships and 10 Cups.^[1] In 2009, the Bayer company cut down sponsorship and the club went down to Germany's ProB (third division) to restructure. The license for the Basketball Bundesliga was transferred to the newly formed Giants Düsseldorf.

The team is currently coached by two of its legends: Hansi Gnad and Michael Koch as his assistant.^[2]

Founded as TuS Bayer 04 Leverkusen in 1961, the club moved up to first division Basketball Bundesliga in 1968. The club won 5 national championships and 4 German Cups as TuS 04 Leverkusen before it changed its name and continued its dominance as TSV Bayer 04 Leverkusen. Until today, the club has won more national titles than any other German basketball team.^[3]

The first success came in 1970 when TuS 04 won the double under coach Günter Hagedorn with more Trophies and participations in European competitions following during the 1970s. From 1970 until 1977 the club played in 5 Cup Finals winning four titles. In 1985 and 1986 Bayer won the German Championship again before establishing itself as a powerhouse in the 1990s with constant presence in the FIBA Euroleague after winning 7 championships in a row (1990-96) with coach Dirk Bauermann.

After the team lost three of its key players on a free transfer in the summer of 1996 (Michael Koch, Chris Welp and Henning Harnisch) Alba Berlin was the team that broke Bayer's dominance with the last success being the 2nd place in the league in 2000. The last participation in Europe's top competition was in the 2000-01 season when the club as German's runners-up played in the Suproleague.

To the disdain of all of its supporters, in 2008 the Bayer company decided to make dramatic cuts in its sponsorship for the team and simply focus on its football operations and amateur athletics. This move forced the club's basketball team to cede its Basketball Bundesliga license to the newly formed Giants Düsseldorf and move down to Germany's 4th Division Regionalliga to restructure. Thousands of club supporters gathered in the streets of Leverkusen to protest the company's move.^[4][5] Giants won the Regionalliga and promotion to the ProB in their first season.

In 2013, the club promoted to the ProA League, but it was relegated to the ProB two years later. In 2019 Bayer returned to the ProA, German basketball's second tier, but relegated in 2023.

• German Champions
  • Winners (14-record): 1970, 1971, 1972, 1976, 1979, 1985, 1986, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996
  • Runners-up (6): 1977, 1980, 1987, 1988, 1989, 2000
• German Cup:
  • Winners (10): 1970, 1971, 1974, 1976, 1986, 1987, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1995
  • Runners-up (2): 1977, 1989
• ProB
  • Winners (2): 2013, 2019
• 1. Regionalliga
  • Winners (1): 2009

The club has competed for 21 seasons in European competitions organized by FIBA Europe from 1970 until 2003.^[6]

• FIBA Euroleague/Suproleague : 11 times (1970–71, 1971–72, 1972–73, 1990–91, 1991–92, 1992–93, 1993–94, 1994–95, 1995–96, 1996–97, 2000–01)
• Cup Winners' Cup: 4 times (1974–75, 1987–88, 1989–90, 1997–98)
• Korac Cup: 5 times (1975–76, 1988–89, 1998–99, 1999–00, 2001–02)
• FIBA Regional Conference : 1 time (2002–03)

• Date: 9 September 1984
• Venue: Wilhelm-Dopatka-Halle, Leverkusen :

Seattle SuperSonics 109 – Bayer 04 Leverkusen 86

#[7]	Name	Birth Date	Nationality	Height	Body Weight	Position	Former Club
0	Abdul Mohamed	03.12.1996	Canada	2,01 m	93 kg	SF/PF	Montreal Alliance (CAN-CEBL)
2	Aimé Olma	16.05.2004	Germany	1,93 m	83 kg	SG	Giants Düsseldorf (GER-ProB)
3	Gabriel de Oliveira	03.03.1998	Germany /  Brazil	2,06 m	102 kg	PF	Rostock Seawolves (BBL)
4	Lennart Litera	15.04.2004	Germany	1,91 m	70 kg	SG	BBV Köln-Nordwest
5	Kadre Gray	02.07.1997	Canada	1,85 m	86 kg	PG/SG	Ottawa BlackJacks (CAN-CEBL)
7	Matthew Meredith	07.07.2000	Germany /  United States	1,98 m	93 kg	SG/SF	Skyliners Frankfurt (BBL)
8	Dejan Kovacevic	27.12.1996	Germany	2,08 m	99 kg	PF	Crailsheim Merlins (BBL)
9	Marius Stoll	09.07.1999	Germany	1,97 m	94 kg	PG	OrangeAcademy (GER-ProB)
10	Haris Hujic	30.04.1997	Germany	1,92 m	93 kg	PG/SG	BG Göttingen (BBL)
18	Justin Gnad	24.06.1997	Germany	1,94 m	105 kg	SF	Own Youth
21	Robert Drijencic	20.04.1996	Germany	1,93 m	93 kg	PG/SG/SF	Wiha Panthers Schwenningen (GER-ProA)
22	Dennis Heinzmann	22.01.1991	Germany	2,16 m	120 kg	C	RheinStars Köln (GER-ProB)
24	Thomas Fankhauser	26.08.2001	Germany	2,01 m	96 kg	SF/PF	RheinStars Köln (GER-ProB)
30	TreVion Crews	03.03.1996	United States	1,83 m	82 kg	PG	BBC Résidence (LUX)
33	Nick Hornsby	21.06.1995	United States	2,01 m	107 kg	SF/PF	Capital City Go-Go (NBA G-League)
34	Stef Van Bussel	18.06.2004	Netherlands	2,01 m	100 kg	PF/C	BAL (basketball club) (NL)
55	Joel Lungelu	20.08.2003	Germany	2,05 m	114 kg	PF/C	Own Youth
HC	Hansi Gnad	04.06.1963	Germany			Headcoach
AC	Jacques Schneider	16.08.1992	Germany			Assistant Coach
AC	Philipp Stachula	14.10.1987	Germany			Assistant Coach
AC	Philip Jacobs	20.10.1993	Germany			Athletiktrainer

• 
  Denis Wucherer
• 
  Demond Greene
• 
  Hansi Gnad
• 
  Kristjan Kangur

To appear in this section a player must have played at least two seasons for the club AND either:

– Set a club record or won an individual award as a professional player.
– Played at least one official international match for his senior national team at any time.

Coach	Start	End
Günter Hagedorn	1969	1973
Bernd Röder	1975	1978
Chris Lee	1980	1984
Jim Kelly	1984	1989
Dirk Bauermann	1989	1998
Calvin Oldham	1998	2002
Heimo Förster	2002	2005
Achim Kuczmann	2005	2008
Achim Kuczmann	2011	2018
Hans-Jürgen Gnad	2018	present

• TSV Bayer 04 Leverkusen (handball)

• Team Homepage (in German)