Apollo Amsterdam


Apollo Amsterdam is a professional basketball team based in Amsterdam. The club plays its games in the Dutch Basketball League, the Dutch top league. The club was founded in 2011 and has been playing in the DBL for years. 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. Apollo debuted 25 Dutch players in the last 5,5 seasons.

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 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.

Honours

Current roster

Individual awards

;DBL All-Defense Team
;DBL Rookie of the Year
;DBL blocks leader
;DBL All-Rookie Team

Notable players

Top scorers by seasons

Season by season

ChampionsRunners-upPlayoff berthPromoted

List of head coaches

The following is a list of all the head coaches of Apollo since its establishment in 2011:
PeriodCoach
2011–2013 Tyrone Marioneaux
2013–2014 Hakim Salem
2014–2015 Jaanus Liivak
2015–2020 Patrick Faijdherbe
2020–present Laki Lakner