Skyliners Frankfurt

Fraport Skyliners Frankfurt
League Basketball Bundesliga
Basketball Champions League
Founded 1999
History Skyliners
(1999–2000)
Opel Skyliners
(2000–2005)
Deutsche Bank Skyliners
(2005–2011)
Fraport Skyliners
(2011–present)
Arena Fraport Arena
Arena Capacity 5,003
Location Frankfurt, Germany
Team colors Blue, White, and Orange
              
Head coach Gordon Herbert
Championships 1 FIBA Europe Cup
1 German Championship
1 German Cup
Website fraport-skyliners.de
Uniforms
Home
Away
The Skyline of Frankfurt am Main inspired the club's identity.
Former logo as Deutsche Bank Skyliners from 2005 until 2011

The Skyliners Frankfurt, currently known as Fraport Skyliners for sponsorship reasons, are a professional basketball club based in Frankfurt, Germany.[1] Their home arena is Ballsporthalle.

The club has played in the Basketball Bundesliga since 1999. Its greatest accomplishments were the German Cup competition title in 2000, the German national championship in 2004 and the FIBA Europe Cup in 2016.

Its most famous player has been Pascal Roller, who was selected as Basketball Bundesliga All-Star seven times and played 122 games for the German national basketball team. Roller played ten seasons for the Skyliners until his retirement in 2011.

History

The foundation

In 1999, Dr. Gunnar Wöbke, then manager and former player of TV Tatami Rhöndorf moved his team from Bad Honnef to its current location. The declared goal was to place the team in a big arena in a large city to become a top team in the Basketball Bundesliga and in Europe in the near future. In Bad Honnef, this did not seem possible. After going through several options - including the idea to send the team to Cologne - Sylvia Schenk, the director of Frankfurt's sports department officially announced Frankfurt as the team's new location. Franz-Ludwig Solzbacher, a businessman from Bad Honnef helped organize the Skyliners' first steps but remained patron of the TV Rhöndorf and bought a second division license from EnBW Ludwigsburg to keep Rhöndorf from being relegated.

Later years

In its first season as a German elite team it managed to win the German Cup competition. In 2004, they won their first and only Bundesliga title, beating Baskets Bamberg in the finals by 3-2 victories. The following year, the Skyliners had a repeated appearance in the finals, but this time the Baskets Bamberg took the title by 3-2 victories. As in the year before, both teams were almost equally strong.

In 2004 and 2010, the Skyliners finished as runner-up in the German Cup competition, falling against the same opponent with identical victory splits again.

Throughout the years, the Skyliners have been known for their numerous appearances at European competitions such as the Euroleague, Saporta Cup and the Eurocup Basketball.

In 2015, the team reached the EuroChallenge Final Four, but the Germans lost both games to finish in fourth place. In the 2015–16 season, Fraport had once again an impressive European campaign, this time in the newly established FIBA Europe Cup. In the Final, Skyliners beat Pallacanestro Varese 66–62 to win its first European cup in history.[2]

Trophies

Current roster

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

Fraport Skyliners Frankfurt roster
Players Coaches
Pos. # Nat. Name Ht. Wt. Age
C 0 Nigeria Ibekwe, Ekene 2.08 m (6 ft 10 in) 31 – (1985-07-19)19 July 1985
PG 4 United States Vaughn, Kwame 1.90 m (6 ft 3 in) 26 – (1990-05-31)31 May 1990
C 6 Germany Agva, Mahir 2.06 m (6 ft 9 in) 20 – (1996-06-26)26 June 1996
C 8 Germany Oldenburg, Tim 2.02 m (6 ft 8 in) 24 – (1992-06-16)16 June 1992
PG 9 United States Little, John 1.82 m (6 ft 0 in) 32 – (1984-09-24)24 September 1984
PG 10 Germany Merz, Max 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in) 22 – (1994-02-01)1 February 1994
SF 12 Germany Ilzhöfer, Stefan 2.01 m (6 ft 7 in) 21 – (1995-03-22)22 March 1995
PG 13 Germany Zeeb, Garai 1.86 m (6 ft 1 in) 19 – (1997-04-06)6 April 1997
G/F 17 Germany Bonga, Isaac 2.03 m (6 ft 8 in) 17 – (1999-11-08)8 November 1999
G 22 United States Graves, Antonio 1.91 m (6 ft 3 in) 31 – (1985-04-17)17 April 1985
SG 23 United States Robertson, Quantez (C) 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in) 31 – (1984-12-16)16 December 1984
C 24 United States Morrison, Mike 2.06 m (6 ft 9 in) 27 – (1989-10-31)31 October 1989
G 30 Canada Scrubb, Philip  1.91 m (6 ft 3 in) 24 – (1992-11-27)27 November 1992
F 31 Denmark Shields, Shavon 2.01 m (6 ft 7 in) 22 – (1994-06-05)5 June 1994
F 41 Germany Kiel, Niklas  2.07 m (6 ft 9 in) 19 – (1997-09-04)4 September 1997
Head coach
Assistant coach(es)
Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • Injured

Roster
Updated: 20 October 2016

Depth chart

Pos. Starting 5 Bench 1 Bench 2 Bench 3
C Mike Morrison Tim Oldenburg
PF
SF Philip Scrubb Stefan Ilzhöfer Isaac Bonga
SG Quantez Robertson Garai Zeeb
PG Max Merz Isaac Bonga

Head coach position

Notable former players

To appear in this section a player must have either:

Season by season

Season Tier League Pos. Postseason German Cup European competitions
1999–00 1 Bundesliga 3 Semifinalist Champion Played Saporta Cup
2000–01 1 Bundesliga 8 Quarterfinalist Fourth position Played Euroleague
2001–02 1 Bundesliga 3 Semifinalist Third position Played Euroleague
2002–03 1 Bundesliga 7 Quarterfinalist – Played ULEB Cup
2003–04 1 Bundesliga 1 Champion Runner-up Played ULEB Cup
2004–05 1 Bundesliga 2 Runner-up Fourth position Played Euroleague
2005–06 1 Bundesliga 14 – – Played ULEB Cup
2006–07 1 Bundesliga 13 – – –
2007–08 1 Bundesliga 4 Semifinalist – Played ULEB Cup
2008–09 1 Bundesliga 7 Quarterfinalist Third position Played EuroChallenge
2009–10 1 Bundesliga 2 Runner-up Runner-up –
2010–11 1 Bundesliga 3 Semifinalist Fourth position Played EuroChallenge
2011–12 1 Bundesliga 9 – – Played Eurocup
2012–13 1 Bundesliga 15 – – –
2013–14 1 Bundesliga 11 – – –
2014–15 1 Bundesliga 6 Quarterfinalist – EuroChallenge Fourth place
2015–16 1 Bundesliga 3 Semifinalist Third position FIBA Europe Cup – Champion

Arena

The Fraport Skyliners play their home games in the 5,002 seat Fraport Arena (until summer 2011 it was called Ballsporthalle Frankfurt).

Junior team

The second team of Skyliners plays in the ProB, the German third division. To develop its young players further, the Skyliners have merged some of their youth departments with Eintracht Frankfurt Basketball.[3]

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

Fraport Skyliners Juniors roster
Players Coaches
Pos. # Nat. Name
G 5 Germany Niklas Pons
C 6 Germany Mahir Agva
G 7 Germany Lennart Okeke
G 10 Germany Max Merz
F 12 Germany Stefan Ilzhoefer
G 13 Germany Garai Zeeb
C 16 Germany Beat Weichsler
G/F 17 Germany Isaac Bonga
C 22 Germany Cosmo Gruehn
G 32 Germany Can Akbayir
G 33 Germany Michael Fuss
F 34 Germany Konstantin Schubert
F 41 Germany Niklas Kiel
G 51 Germany Jamin Knothe
Head coach

Germany Eric Detlev

Assistant coach(es)

Germany Sakir Murtezani

Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • Injured

Roster
Updated: 5 October 2016

Kit

Manufacturer

Year Manufacturer
1999–2000
Mazine
2000–2012
Nike
2012–2016
Peak [4]
Year Sponsor
2014–2016
Fraport[4]

References

  1. ↑ "Frankfurt Skyliners" (in German). Frankfurter Rundschau. Retrieved December 14, 2014.
  2. ↑ "Frankfurt Topple Varese For Maiden European Title". FIBA Europe. 1 May 2016.
  3. ↑ Teams der NBBL Südwest - Eintracht Frankfurt / FRAPORT SKYLINERS, nbbl-basketball.de. Retrieved 29 March 2016. (German)
  4. 1 2 Home | FRAPORT SKYLINERS, fraport-skyliners.de, Retrieved 30 September 2015. (German)
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