 | |
| Organising body | Dutch Basketball League Pro Basketball League |
|---|---|
| Founded | December 10, 2020; 3 years ago (2020-12-10) |
| First season | 2021–22 |
| Country |  Belgium Netherlands |
| Confederation |  FIBA Europe |
| Number of teams | 20 |
| Level on pyramid | 1 |
| Domestic cup(s) | Basketball Cup (Netherlands) Basketball Cup (Belgium) |
| Supercup | BNXT Supercup Dutch Supercup |
| International cup(s) | Champions League FIBA Europe Cup |
| Current champions | Filou Oostende (1st title) |
| Most championships | ZZ Leiden (2 titles) |
| CEO | Wim Van de Keere |
| President | Ramses Braakman |
| TV partners | bnxt |
| Website | bnxtleague |
The BNXT League is a professional basketball league in Belgium and the Netherlands. The league is the first tier in both the Dutch and Belgian system, replacing the DBL and PBL. The inaugural season was the 2021–22 season, which started in September 2021.
On 10 December 2020, it was announced that the Belgian Pro Basketball League and Dutch Basketball League would merge to form a new multinational league.[1] All clubs from the Dutch DBL voted for, while 9 of 10 teams in Belgium voted in favor of the decision. Serious talks about the initiative had been ongoing since fall 2019.[2] On 20 May 2021, the new name "BNXT League" and logo of the league were announced.[3]
The league started its inaugural season amidst an ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and a great number of games had to be played behind locked doors as a result of national lockdowns.[4] On 11 June 2022, ZZ Leiden were crowned the inaugural BNXT champions.[5] The following year, on 13 June 2023, Leiden repeated as champions.
On 10 September 2021, the league announced its first name sponsorship when Belgian betting company betFirst signed to become naming sponsor for three seasons.[6]
From 2021–22 to 2023–24, the league consists of different stages. In the first stage, teams play each other home and away in the national regular season. After this, the teams are divided in the Elite Gold and Elite Silver group for the cross-border season. Next, the teams from the Elite Gold and the 3 best teams from the Elite Silver play in the national playoffs to compete for the national championships. The two winners of the national playoffs then play in the BNXT League Final.[1]
Starting from the 2024–25 season, the league will have a new format in which all 20 teams play each other home and away in the regular season. The highest ranked teams from each country play national playoffs, and the two national winners play for the BNXT championship.[7]
| Teams entering in this round | ||
|---|---|---|
| National regular season (20 teams) |
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| Elite Gold (10 teams) |
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| Elite Silver (10 teams) |
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| National play-offs (16 teams) |
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| BNXT League Finals (2 teams) |
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The following 20 teams will play in the 2023-24 season. All teams from the Pro Basketball League and Dutch Basketball League transferred to the BNXT League in 2021. The newest club to have joined the BNXT League are the Kortrijk Spurs, who joined in 2023.
| Club | Location | Venue | Capacity | Founded | National titles |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Netherlands | |||||
| BAL | Weert | Sporthal Boshoven | 1,000 | 2013 | – |
| Den Helder Suns | Den Helder | Sporthal Sportlaan | 1,000 | 2016 | – |
| Donar | Groningen | MartiniPlaza | 4,350 | 1951 | 7 |
| Feyenoord | Rotterdam | Topsportcentrum Rotterdam | 2,500 | 1954 | – |
| Heroes Den Bosch | 's-Hertogenbosch | Maaspoort | 2,800 | 1952 | 17 |
| Landstede Hammers | Zwolle | Landstede Sportcentrum | 1,200 | 1995 | 1 |
| LWD Basket | Leeuwarden | Kalverdijkje | 1,700 | 2004 | – |
| Yoast United | Bemmel | De Kooi | 650 | 2020 | – |
| ZZ Leiden | Leiden | Sportcomplex 1574 | 2,435 | 1958 | 5 |
| Belgium | |||||
| Antwerp Giants | Antwerp | Lotto Arena | 5,218 | 1995 | 1 |
| Kangoeroes Mechelen | Mechelen | Winketkaai | 1,500 | 2009 | – |
| Kortrijk Spurs | Kortrijk | Lange Munte | 2,400 | 2019 | – |
| Leuven Bears | Leuven | Sportoase | 3,400 | 1999 | – |
| Liège Basket | Liège | Country Hall | 5,000 | 1967 | – |
| Limburg United | Hasselt | Alverberg Sporthal | 1,730 | 2014 | – |
| Mons-Hainaut | Mons | Mons Arena | 4,000 | 1959 | – |
| Okapi Aalst | Aalst | Okapi Forum | 2,800 | 1949 | – |
| Oostende | Ostend | Sleuyter Arena | 5,000 | 1970 | 24 |
| Brussels Basketball | Brussels | Neder-Over-Heembeek complex | 1,200 | 1957 | – |
| Spirou | Charleroi | Spiroudome | 6,200 | 1989 | 10 |
Two Dutch teams, The Hague Royals (in 2022) and Apollo Amsterdam (in 2023) were forced to leave the league as they were unable to reach budget standards set by the BNXT licensing committee.
| Club | Location | Venue | Capacity | Founded | Seasons | Last season |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apollo Amsterdam | Amsterdam | Apollohal | 1,500 | 2011 | 2 | 2022-23 |
| The Hague Royals | The Hague | Sportcampus Zuiderpark | 3,500 | 2020 | 1 | 2021–22 |
The finals were played in a two-legged format in 2022, after that season the format was changed to a best-of-three playoffs series.
ZZ Leiden have won both BNXT championships thus far.
| Season | Champions | Score | Runners-up | Finals MVP |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021–22 | ZZ Leiden | 146–142 (75–72, 71–70) |
Donar | Worthy de Jong |
| 2022–23 | ZZ Leiden (2) |
2–1
|
Oostende | David Collins |
| 2023–24 | Oostende |
2–0
|
ZZ Leiden | Damien Jefferson |
| Season | Champions | Score | Runners-up | Finals MVP |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021–22 | Heroes Den Bosch | 3–2 | ZZ Leiden | Thomas van der Mars |
| 2022–23 | ZZ Leiden | 3–2 | Donar | Thomas Rutherford |
| 2023–24 | ZZ Leiden | 3–1 | Heroes Den Bosch | Brock Gardner |
| Season | Champions | Score | Runners-up | Finals MVP |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021–22 | Oostende | 3–1 | Kangoeroes Mechelen | Keye van der Vuurst de Vries |
| 2022–23 | Oostende | 3–1 | Antwerp Giants | Vrenz Bleijenbergh |
| 2023–24 | Oostende | 3–1 | Antwerp Giants | Damien Jefferson |
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