Kataja BC

Kataja Basket Club is a professional basketball club of sports club Kataja from Joensuu, Finland. The team plays in the Korisliiga, the highest tier of Finnish basketball. In 2015, Kataja won its first national championship, after it beat Bisons Loimaa 3–2 in the Finnish Finals.

Kataja
Leagues	Korisliiga
Founded	1949; 76 years ago (1949)
Arena	Motonet Areena
Capacity	2,500
Location	Joensuu, Finland
President	Jukka Törmälä
Head coach	Petri Virtanen
Championships	2 Finnish Leagues 4 Finnish Cups
Retired numbers	4 (9)(11) (14) (15)
Website	katajabasket.fi
Home Away

History

The basketball activity of the club started in 1955. In 1961, the team started playing in the Joensuu Sports Hall. The team started in provincial competitions, but quickly promoted to the national level in the 1960s. From 1976 till 1980, the team played continuously in the highest Finnish division. In the 2001–02 season, the team won its first trophy when it won the Finnish Cup. In 2015, the first championship of Kataja was realized after a 3–2 Finals series win against Bisons Loimaa. In the 2012–13 season, Kataja started participating in European competitions when it entered the EuroChallenge. The team immediately reached the quarterfinals of the competition, and has played in Europe every season since.^[1]

Achievements

• Korisliiga

Champions (2): 2014–15, 2016–17

• Finnish Cup

Champions (4): 2002, 2011, 2012, 2023

Players

Retired numbers

Kataja Basket Club retired numbers
No.	Nat.	Player	Position	Tenure
9		Leon Huff	C	1975–1978, 1979-1980, 1993-1994
11		Eero Oksava	G	1963–1980
14		Petri Virtanen	G	2005–2007, 2008-2016
15		Sami Lehtoranta	C	2005–2014

Current roster

Kataja BC roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. No. Nat. Name Ht. Wt. Age SG 1 Curry, KeShawn 1.95 m (6 ft 5 in) 82 kg (181 lb) 26 – (1998-12-27)27 December 1998 PG 4 Hirvonen, Tuomas (C) 1.81 m (5 ft 11 in) 78 kg (172 lb) 29 – (1996-05-17)17 May 1996 PG 7 Suokas, Teemu 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in) 84 kg (185 lb) 24 – (2001-03-27)27 March 2001 PG 8 Purmonen, Otso 1.86 m (6 ft 1 in) 80 kg (176 lb) 18 – (2006-10-25)25 October 2006 SG 10 Lindberg, Sebastian 1.81 m (5 ft 11 in) 88 kg (194 lb) 23 – (2002-08-11)11 August 2002 PG 13 Karhu, Ville 1.81 m (5 ft 11 in) 75 kg (165 lb) 21 – (2004-01-23)23 January 2004 SF 18 Pöntinen, Aale 1.97 m (6 ft 6 in) 93 kg (205 lb) 21 – (2003-10-08)8 October 2003 PF 20 Jocelyn, Travis 1.99 m (6 ft 6 in) 99 kg (218 lb) 26 – (1999-03-20)20 March 1999 SF 21 Knihtinen, Teemu 1.94 m (6 ft 4 in) 89 kg (196 lb) 26 – (1998-12-10)10 December 1998 SF 22 Tumba, Thomas 1.96 m (6 ft 5 in) 100 kg (220 lb) 24 – (2001-04-15)15 April 2001 C 23 Smith, Naje 2.03 m (6 ft 8 in) 95 kg (209 lb) 25 – (2000-04-05)5 April 2000 C 44 Pöllä, Hannes 2.11 m (6 ft 11 in) 123 kg (271 lb) 27 – (1998-03-09)9 March 1998 SG 45 Permanto, Henri 1.97 m (6 ft 6 in) 88 kg (194 lb) 24 – (2001-03-05)5 March 2001	Head coach Petri Virtanen Assistant coach(es) Teemu Turunen Legend (C) Team captain Injured Roster Updated: July 8, 2025

Notable players

- 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.

• Fiifi Aidoo^[2]
• Antti Kanervo
• Sami Lehtoranta
• Pekka Markkanen
• Topias Palmi
• Ilari Seppälä
• Jukka Toijala
• Petri Virtanen
• Teemu Rannikko
• Daniel Mullings
• Amanze Egekeze
• Rion Brown
• Robert Arnold
• Elijah Lufile

Season by season

Season	Tier	League	Pos.	Finnish Cup[a]	European competitions
2010–11	1	Korisliiga	2nd	Champion
2011–12	1	Korisliiga	2nd	Champion
2012–13	1	Korisliiga	3rd		3 EuroChallenge	QF	6–8
2013–14	1	Korisliiga	2nd	—	3 EuroChallenge	RS	2–4
2014–15	1	Korisliiga	1st		3 EuroChallenge	RS	0–6
2015–16	1	Korisliiga	5th		3 FIBA Europe Cup	R32	5–7
2016–17	1	Korisliiga	1st		3 Champions League	RS	6–8
					4 FIBA Europe Cup	R16	0–2
2017–18	1	Korisliiga	6th		3 Champions League	QR3	1–1–2
					4 FIBA Europe Cup	R2	4–8
2018–19	1	Korisliiga	3rd

1. The Finnish Cup competition was dissolved after 2013.