The old DJK Würzburg

The DJK Sport Association was founded on 16 September 1920 in Würzburg. Due to the geographic location of its home office, the DJK soon founded a local club in Würzburg. However, the different athletic departments found themselves divided among various Catholic clubs. During the Third Reich, all DJK affiliates were banned by the government. After World War II, the DJK consolidated all of its local departments into DJK Würzburg. Today the club has over 3000 members, including a variety of non-Catholic members.

The club's top women's handball team played in the Handball-Bundesliga Frauen, the top flight of women's handball in Germany, from 1976 to 1985, during the 1987–88 season and from 1993 to 1995.

The club's basketball department gained fame in the 1990s as both the men's and women's teams qualified for the top German Basketball Bundesliga (BBL) division. The women's team played many years in the first and second divisions and was crowned German Champion in 1993. In 1989, the men's team made the jump into the second division. In 1997, featuring Dirk Nowitzki in the line-up, DJK Würzburg claimed the 2nd Division South title, qualifying for the Basketball Bundesliga. In 2001, DJK spun off its men's basketball team into a private corporate entity, now known as the Würzburg Baskets, to capitalize on their growth as a professional basketball team. DJK Würzburg has produced numerous players who have gone on to have success in the BBL, with the senior men's German national basketball team and, for Nowitzki, the NBA.

In 2005, the club resigned its spot in the BBL and the club stopped competing.

The current club

In 2007, American businessman Jochen Bähr acquired a license in the Regional league for a new team in Würzburg with the aim to reach the Pro A in few seasons.

In 2011, the Würzburg Baskets, now by the name of s.Oliver Baskets (after their new sponsor s.Oliver), gained promotion from the PRO A (German Second Division), and moved up to the Basketball Bundesliga (German First Division). In its first season back in the first division, in 2011–12, the team reached the German League semi-finals, after beating Alba Berlin by 3–1 in the quarterfinal series of the playoffs. In 2012–13 the actual club played in Europe for the first time, in the second tier Eurocup.^[1] In 2013–14 they relegated from the BBL. They immediately promoted back to the first tier in the 2014–15 season. The 2015–16 season was finished on rank 8, thus qualifying for the playoffs for the second time after 2012. In quarterfinals the team was eliminated by future league champion Brose Baskets, losing every game with at least a 35-point margin.

On 15 July 2016 the team changed their name from "s.Oliver Baskets" to "s.Oliver Würzburg" to strengthen the identification of team and city. Additionally the sponsoring contract with s.Oliver was extended through 2019.^[2]

In the 2018–19 season, Würzburg played in the FIBA Europe Cup. Würzburg reached the finals of the cup, its first European finals, in which it lost to Dinamo Sassari over two legs.

European competitions

FIBA Europe Cup

• Runners-up: 2018–19

Current roster

More information Players, Coaches ...

Würzburg Baskets roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. No. Nat. Name Ht. Wt. Age PG 0 Livingston II, Otis 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in) 79 kg (174 lb) 27 – (1996-10-12)12 October 1996 F 1 Seljaas, Zachary 1.99 m (6 ft 6 in) 98 kg (216 lb) 26 – (1997-07-11)11 July 1997 PG 4 Böhmer, Julius  1.93 m (6 ft 4 in) 79 kg (174 lb) 22 – (2002-01-19)19 January 2002 C 5 Klassen, Owen 2.08 m (6 ft 10 in) 117 kg (258 lb) 32 – (1991-10-31)31 October 1991 F 6 Ugrai, Max 2.04 m (6 ft 8 in) 104 kg (229 lb) 28 – (1995-07-28)28 July 1995 PG 10 Perry, Darius 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in) 84 kg (185 lb) 25 – (1999-03-13)13 March 1999 G 11 Washington, Isaiah 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in) 88 kg (194 lb) 25 – (1998-07-20)20 July 1998 SF 12 Ndi, Elijah 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in) 87 kg (192 lb) 19 – (2004-09-02)2 September 2004 G/F 20 Bess, Javon 1.98 m (6 ft 6 in) 100 kg (220 lb) 28 – (1996-04-01)1 April 1996 F 34 Hoffmann, Felix (C) 1.95 m (6 ft 5 in) 100 kg (220 lb) 34 – (1989-07-11)11 July 1989 PF 40 Welp, Collin 2.05 m (6 ft 9 in) 102 kg (225 lb) 25 – (1998-12-15)15 December 1998	Head coach Sašo Filipovski Assistant coach(es) Dejan Mihevc Legend (C) Team captain Injured Roster Updated: March 8, 2024

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Notable coaches

• Gordon Herbert (2000–2001)
• Dirk Bauermann (2017–2018)

Second team

Würzburg's second team plays in the Regionalliga, the German 4th division.

Friendships

For many years, the fan-base of Würzburg has been connected, in a friendly way, with the supporters of the Baskets Bonn.^[3]

Rivalries

Within the Basketball Bundesliga, the city closest to Würzburg is Bamberg. Hence, between the Baskets Würzburg and the Baskets Bamberg, there has been an intense rivalry.^[4] Traditionally, the rivalry has been dominated by Bamberg because of its superior finances.