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BNXT League

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.

History

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.

Sponsorship

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]

Competition formula

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

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.

Stadiums and locations

BNXT League is located in Benelux
United
Suns
Suns
LWD
LWD
Feyenoord
Donar
Hammers
Den Bosch
BAL
BAL
Leiden
Spirou
Liège
Leuven
Oostende
Giants
Okapi
Mechelen
Mons
Mons
Limburg
Brussels
Spurs
class=notpageimage|
Location of teams in the 2021–22 BNXT League.
Note: Table lists in alphabetical order.

Former teams

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.

BNXT champions

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.

National champions

Netherlands

Belgium

Awards

Broadcasting partners

Notes

References

  1. ^ a b "The Pro Basketball League and Dutch Basketball League about to launch BeNeLeague as of the 2021–2022 season". Pro Basketball League. 10 December 2020. Retrieved 5 January 2021.
  2. ^ "Ook basketbalbonden onderzoeken mogelijkheden BeNeLeague". AD (in Dutch). 23 December 2019. Retrieved 5 January 2021.
  3. ^ "BeNeLiga in het basketbal wordt de BNXT League: toekomst, de 'Generation Z' en groei". HLN.be. Retrieved 20 May 2021.
  4. ^ "Basketbalclubs BNXT League beslissen drie weken lang zelf of thuisduels doorgaan". nos.nl (in Dutch). 15 November 2021. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
  5. ^ "ZZ Leiden first BNXT League champion". BNXT League. 2022-06-11. Retrieved 2022-06-12.
  6. ^ "BETFIRST NEW TITLE SPONSOR BNXT LEAGUE". BNXT League. 10 September 2021. Retrieved 11 September 2021.
  7. ^ "BNXT League krijgt volgend seizoen nieuw format: vanaf de start heen- en terugwedstrijden". Het Nieuwsblad (in Flemish). 2024-03-11. Retrieved 2024-03-27.

External links