Apollo Amsterdam

Apollo Amsterdam is a Dutch basketball team based in Amsterdam. The club plays its games in the Promotiedivisie, the Dutch second-level league.

Apollo Amsterdam
Leagues	Promotiedivisie
Founded	2011; 14 years ago (2011)
History	BC Apollo 2011–2015 Apollo Amsterdam 2015–present
Arena	Apollohal
Capacity	1,500
Location	Amsterdam, Netherlands
Main sponsor	Paul Meijering[1]
President	Mark van Meggelen
Head coach	Wierd Goedee
2021–22 position	BNXT League, 19th of 21
Championships	1 Promotiedivisie
Website	www.apollobasketball.nl
Home Away

The club was founded in 2011 and has played in the highest national level for 13 years, from 2012 to 2023. They qualified for the national playoffs four times. 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.^[2]

History

Apollo playing its first home game ever in the Dutch Basketball League in October 2012

Apollo celebrating after winning the Promotiedivisie in 2012

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.^[3] 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.^[4]

In 2012, Apollo club decided to enter the professional Dutch Basketball League (DBL) for the 2012–13 season.^[5] 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.^[6]

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.^[7] Lakner resigned after three games,^[8] and Edwin van der Hart took over for the remainder of the season. Apollo finished in ninth place for a second season in a row.

The Apollohal during a game in 2023

Since the 2021–22 season, Apollo plays in the BNXT League, in which the national leagues of Belgium and the Netherlands have been merged.^[9] In June 2021, Wierd Goedee was signed as new head coach.^[10]

In June 2023, following the 2022–23 season, Apollo was forced to withdraw from the BNXT League as it was unable to come up with the necessary budget for participation. The BNXT organisation required a minimum budget of €350,000 which Apollo was unable to bring together with its sponsorships.^[11] Apollo entered the second-level Promotiedivisie for the 2023–24 season.

Honours

• Promotiedivisie

Winners (1): 2011–12

Players

Current roster

Further information: Apollo Amsterdam past rosters

Note: Flags indicate national team eligibility at FIBA-sanctioned events. Players may hold other non-FIBA nationalities not displayed.

Apollo Amsterdam roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. No. Nat. Name Ht. Age G 0 Abrams, Jaro 1.91 m (6 ft 3 in) 23 – (2002-03-20)20 March 2002 F 1 Poels, Joost 1.96 m (6 ft 5 in) 21 – (2003-10-07)7 October 2003 PF 3 Sikking, Jibbe 1.96 m (6 ft 5 in) 20 – (2004-12-25)25 December 2004 PG 6 Bertotti, Jacopo 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in) 24 – (2001-01-08)8 January 2001 F 7 Poels, Stef 2.02 m (6 ft 8 in) 24 – (2001-01-12)12 January 2001 PF 8 Grigas, Saulius 2.00 m (6 ft 7 in) 22 – (2003-04-07)7 April 2003 F 9 Kayhan, Job 2.02 m (6 ft 8 in) 24 – (2000-12-23)23 December 2000 PG 10 Kumelis, Deividas 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in) 30 – (1995-04-06)6 April 1995 C 13 Van't Hoff, Mees 2.08 m (6 ft 10 in) 24 – (2001-04-27)27 April 2001 C 22 Runs, Matthias 2.11 m (6 ft 11 in) 32 – (1992-10-15)15 October 1992 SG 23 Metz, Joris 2.11 m (6 ft 11 in) SF 24 Wip, Yamill 1.91 m (6 ft 3 in) 27 – (1997-11-30)30 November 1997	Head coach Wierd Goedee Assistant coach(es) Liad Schneider Philip Sowers Legend (C) Team captain Injured Roster Updated: 10 October 2022

Depth chart

Pos.	Starting 5	Bench 1	Bench 2	Bench 3
C	Berend Weijs	Matthias Runs
PF	Sergio De Randamie	Job Kayhan	Stef Poels	Denzel Ndongosi
SF	Trevian Bell	Tibor Taraš	Benicio Leons
SG	Justin Mitchell	Lucas Faijdherbe	Shamar Dormoy
PG	Dexter Hope	Jacopo Bertotti	River Gori

Individual awards

DBL All-Defense Team

• Berend Weijs – 2019

DBL Rookie of the Year

• Berend Weijs – 2013

DBL blocks leader

• Berend Weijs – 2013, 2014, 2018, 2019

DBL All-Rookie Team

• Lucas Steijn – 2014

Notable players

Note: Flags indicate national team eligibility at FIBA-sanctioned events. Players may hold other non-FIBA nationalities not displayed.

Criteria
To appear in this section a player must have either: Set a club record or won an individual award while at the club Played at least one official international match for their national team at any time Played at least one official NBA match at any time.

• Aron Royé (5 seasons: 2012–14; 2014–17; 2018–19)
• Dimeo van der Horst (5 seasons: 2014–19)
• Berend Weijs (2014–15; 2016–17; 2020–present)
• Sergio De Randamie (2014–2015; 2016–2017; 2020–present)
• Michael Madanly (1 season: 2017)
• Malevy Leons (2 seasons: 2017–19)
• Shaquille Doorson (1 season: 2012–13)
• Jesse Edwards (youth teams only)
• Quinten Post (youth teams only)

NCAA Division 1 players from academy

The youth academy of Apollo Amsterdam has developed the following players who have played in the NCAA Division I. Players in bold have played minutes for the senior team in the Dutch Basketball League or BNXT League.

Player	Committed to	First year
Shaquille Doorson	Rutgers	2014
Jesse Edwards	Syracause	2019
Kai Edwards	Northern Colorado	2016
Iyen Enaruna	Evansville	2020
Tristan Enaruna	Kansas	2019
Malevy Leons	Bradley	2021
Siem Uijtendaal	Canisius	2020

Top scorers by seasons

Season Name PPG 2012–13 Aron Royé 16.3 2013–14 Aron Royé 13.2 2014–15 Dimeo van der Horst 12.8 2015–16 Aron Royé 15.6 2016–17 Dimeo van der Horst 16.0

Season Name PPG 2017–18 Micheal Madanly 16.1 2018–19 Dimeo van der Horst 15.6 2019–20 Xavier Cannefax 21.9 2020–21 Berend Weijs 13.5 2021–22 Roger Moute a Bidias 15.9

^[12]

Individual awards

DBL Top Scorer

• Xavier Cannefax – 2020

DBL Rookie of the Year

• Berend Weijs – 2013

DBL All-Rookie Team

• Lucas Steijn – 2014

Season by season

Champions

Runners-up

National playoffs berth

Promoted

Season	Tier	League	Regular season					National playoffs	BNXT Playoffs	Basketball Cup				Head coach	President
			Finish	Pld	W	L	Win%			Pld	W	L	Result
Apollo Amsterdam
2011–12	2	Promotiedivisie	1st	26	21	5	.808	Won Final Four	–	0	0	0	–	Tyrone Marioneaux	Menno Fluks
2012–13	1	DBL	9th	36	4	32	.111	–		1	0	1	Eightfinals
2013–14	1	DBL	8th	36	7	29	.000	Lost quarterfinals (GasTerra Flames), 0–2		1	0	1	Eightfinals	Hakim Salem	Menno Fluks / Ramon Siljade
2014–15	1	DBL	7th	28	5	23	.179	–		1	0	1	Eightfinals	Jaanus Liivak	Ramon Siljade
2015–16	1	DBL	5th	28	10	18	.357	Lost quarterfinals (Den Bosch), 0–2		3	1	2	Quarterfinalist	Patrick Faijdherbe
2016–17	1	DBL	5th	28	9	19	.321	Lost quarterfinals (ZZ Leiden), 1–2		5	3	2	Semifinalist
2017–18	1	DBL	7th	32	9	23	.281	–		1	0	1	Eightfinals
2018–19	1	DBL	6th	34	10	24	.294	Lost quarterfinals (Den Bosch), 0–2		3	1	2	Quarterfinals
2019–20	1	DBL	9th	25[note 1]	4	19	.174	—		3	1	2	Quarterfinals
2020–21	1	DBL	9th	21	6	15	.286	–		1	0	1	First Round	Edwin van der Hart
2021–22	1	BNXT League	19th	30	9	21	.300	–	Lost first round (Okapi, 128–179)	1	0	1	Eightfinals	Wierd Goedee	Dilo Kruyswijk
2022–23	1	BNXT League	20th	28	2	26	.071	–	Lost first round (Okapi, 161–188)	1	0	1	Eightfinals		Mark van Meggelen
Total (12 seasons)				352	96	254	.274	4 appearances	2 appearances	21	6	15

List of head coaches

The following is a list of all the head coaches of Apollo since its establishment in 2011:

Period	Coach
2011–2013	Tyrone Marioneaux
2013–2014	Hakim Salem
2014–2015	Jaanus Liivak
2015–2020	Patrick Faijdherbe
2020–2021	Laki Lakner
2021	Edwin van der Hart
2021–present	Wierd Goedee

Notes

1. The 2019–20 season was ended in March 2020 prematurely because of the COVID-19 pandemic.