BAL (basketball club)

Basketball Academie Limburg, commonly known as BAL, is a professional basketball club based in Weert, Limburg,
Netherlands. The club was founded in 2013 as an academy to develop youth players from the province of Limburg. The club entered the Dutch Basketball League for the 2017–18 season after the dissolution of the professional team BSW.
In 2021, BAL won its first-ever trophy when it won the DBL Cup in surprising fashion as the team was ranked eight in the DBL that season.
History.
Foundation.
The club was established on 9 April 2013 to function as a club for regional talent from the province of Limburg. In its first years, the team played with several youth teams in domestic competitions.
In the 2017 offseason the professional club BSW from Weert and BAL intended a merger, which would integrate BSW into BAL. Following BSW going defunct during this offseason, BAL decided to take its place in the DBL. As BAL played in the same home arena and the team consisted of several of the same players, the team can be considered a phoenix club. Radenko Varagić coached the team.
First DBL seasons.
In its debut season, BAL finished in the ninth and last place in the DBL, winning 4 out of its 32 games. The team consisted of a selection of young promising players, such as guard Sam van Dijk who was named the DBL Most Improved Player in the club's debut season. On 1 August 2018, BAL signed its first ever foreign player when American center Tony Washington signed for one year. In its second season, BAL once again finished last in the DBL with this time five wins in 2018–19.
In the 2020–21 season, BAL reached the playoffs for the first time after finishing in the eight seed. This season the team also won the 2021 DBL Cup, the club's first-ever trophy. In the semi-finals, BAL upset first-seeded ZZ Leiden and in the final the team was too strong for Yoast United. Trevor Jasinsky led the team in scoring in the final with 27 points.
Honours.
DBL Cup
Club records.
Bold denotes still active with team. As of 14 April 2021: