Leuven Bears

AB InBev Leuven Bears
Leagues	BNXT League
Founded	1999 (1999)
History	List Telindus Leuven (1999–2001) Vastiau-Godeau Leuven (2001–2003) Basket Groot Leuven (2003–2007) Spotter Leuven (2007–2009) Leuven Bears (2009–present)
Arena	Sportoase
Capacity	3,400
Location	Leuven, Belgium
Team colors	Black, orange, white
Main sponsor	Stella Artois
President	Ben De Goignies
Head coach	Kristof Michiels
Championships	1 Belgian Cup
Website	leuvenbears.be
Home Away

Leuven Bears, for sponsorship reasons also called AB InBev Leuven Bears, is a Belgian professional basketball club from Leuven. The club competes in the BNXT League, the highest tier in Belgian basketball.

History

The team has played in the Belgian First Division since 1999 and has participated in the Belgian Cup since 1954, winning the tournament in 2005. The Belgian Cup victory earned the team a place in the 2005–06 FIBA EuroCup where it finished fourth in its opening-round group and was eliminated.

Since the 2021–22 season, Leuven plays in the BNXT League, in which the national leagues of Belgium and the Netherlands have been merged.

Honours and titles

• Belgian Cup
  • Winners (1): 2004–05
  • Runners-up (1): 2024–25

Season by season

A home game of Leuven Bears in February 2017

Season	Tier	League	Pos.	Belgian Cup	European competitions
2002–03	1	BLB	5th
2003–04	1	BLB	9th
2004–05	1	BLB	6th
2005–06	1	BLB	8th		3 FIBA EuroCup
2006–07	1	BLB	10th
2007–08	1	BLB	9th
2008–09	1	BLB	6th
2009–10	1	BLB	9th
2010–11	1	BLB	6th
2011–12	1	BLB	6th	Semifinalist
2012–13	1	BLB	6th	Quarterfinalist
2013–14	1	BLB	7th	Quarterfinalist
2014–15	1	BLB	11th	Quarterfinalist
2015–16	1	BLB	11th	Quarterfinalist
2016–17	1	BLB	9th	Quarterfinalist
2017–18	1	BLB	10th	Round of 16
2018–19	1	BLB	9th	Quarterfinalist
2019–20	1	BLB	6th	Quarterfinalist
2020–21	1	BLB	6th	Semifinalist
2021–22	1	BNXT League	BE 3rd	Quarterfinalist
			BNXT 4th
2022–23	1	BNXT League	BE 6th	Quarterfinalist
			BNXT 11th
2023–24	1	BNXT League	BE 8th	Semifinalist
			BNXT 13th
2024–25	1	BNXT League	BE 7th	Runners-up
			BNXT 7th
2025–26	1	BNXT League	BE 9th	Runners-up
			BNXT 12th

Players

Current roster

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

AB InBev Leuven Bears roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. No. Nat. Name Ht. PF 6 Vanderstraeten, Viktor 2.00 m (6 ft 7 in) 20 – (2006-05-03)3 May 2006 G/F 7 De Mol, Guillaume 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in) 20 – (2006-08-08)8 August 2006 PG 11 Bucumi, Roel 1.94 m (6 ft 4 in) 23 – (2003-08-11)11 August 2003 PG 17 Schauvlieger, Steff 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in) 23 – (2002-09-19)19 September 2002 SF 32 Anderson, Tytan 1.98 m (6 ft 6 in) 24 – (2002-04-17)17 April 2002 F Waerniers, Tim 2.01 m (6 ft 7 in) 18 – (2008-07-29)29 July 2008 F Cleveland, Carl 1.98 m (6 ft 6 in) 24 – (2001-09-17)17 September 2001 F Kazamias, Vasileios 1.96 m (6 ft 5 in) 19 – (2007-03-10)10 March 2007 F Wells, L.J. 2.03 m (6 ft 8 in) 23 – (2003-01-01)1 January 2003 G Thomas, Sebastian 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in) 23 – (2002-09-30)30 September 2002	Head coach Kristof Michiels Assistant coach(es) Christoff Janssens Matthias Tobback Legend (C) Team captain (FA) Free agent Injured Roster Updated: July 24, 2026

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.

• Ismaël Bako
• D. J. Mbenga
• Hans Vanwijn
• Enis Murati
• Stanley Pringle
• Ibrahima Fall Faye
• Jonathan Dubas
• Tu Holloway
• John Tofi
• Hugh Robertson
• Ryan Kriener

List of head coaches

Period	Coach
2005–2007	Peter van Noord
2008–2010	Ivica Skelin
2016–2018	Ferried Naciri
2018–2024	Eddy Casteels
2024–present	Kristof Michiels

External links

• Official site (in Dutch)
• Eurobasket.com team page