# Bakken Bears

Bakken Bears is a Danish professional basketball club based in Aarhus. The club plays in the Basketligaen, the top tier basketball league in Denmark.
Founded in 1953, the club has won the Basketligaen 20 times and holds the record for the most championships and has won 11 Danish Cups. Along with their domestic play, the club is a regular in European competitions. The Bears are a three-time semifinalist of the FIBA Europe Cup.

## History

Bakken Bears was formed in 1953 under the name of Aarhus Basketball Forening, or simply ABF. From 1962, the club was known as Skovbakken Basketball. Bears has been in the top Danish league almost every year since then and won its first title in 1958. Since then, the club has won a number of domestic titles and is now the most winning sports team in the history of the city of Aarhus.
In the years 2005 to 2009, Bakken Bears was a part of Aarhus Elite A/S, an elite sports organization in Aarhus that includes ia. AGF Football (soccer). In the last months of 2009 a group of local businessmen, sponsors and fans bought the team.
When Bakken Bears hosted Team FOG Næstved in Game 1 of the league semifinals in March 2009, 4,816 spectators watched the game in Aarhus Arena, which set an all-time attendance record for basketball in Denmark.
In the summer of 2018, the Bears' development team EBAA entered the Basketligaen as well.
On 27 March 2018, Bakken Bears qualified for the first time ever for a semifinal of a European competition, by eliminating ESSM Le Portel in the quarterfinals of the FIBA Europe Cup.

## Players
### 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.
* Chris Christoffersen
* Daniel Mortensen
* Darko Jukić
* Kaido Saks
* Jonathan Galloway
* Tony Bishop
* Maurice Acker
* DeVaughn Akoon-Purcell
* Jeffrey Crockett
* Ryan Evans
* Shawn Glover

### Individual awards
#### Basketligaen MVP

* Eric Bell – 2003
* DeVaughn Akoon-Purcell – 2017
* Ryan Evans – 2019

#### Basketligaen Finals MVP

* Chris Christoffersen – 2013
* Kenny Barker – 2014
* DeVaughn Akoon-Purcell – 2017
* Jeffrey Crockett – 2018
* Tobin Carberry – 2019
* Michel Diouf – 2021
* Marvelle Harris – 2022

## Honours
### Domestic competitions

* Basketligaen
** Winners (21) : 1957–58, 1996–97, 1998–99, 1999–00, 2000–01, 2003–04, 2004–05, 2006–07, 2007–08, 2008–09, 2010–11, 2011–12, 2012–13, 2013–14, 2016–17, 2017–18, 2018–19, 2019–20, 2020–21, 2021–22, 2022–23
*** Runners-up (8) : 1962–63, 1964–65, 1989–90, 1997–98, 2002–03, 2005–2006, 2009–10, 2014–15
* Danish Cup
** Winners (13): 1999, 2000, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2016, 2018, 2020, 2021, 2023
*** Runners-up (7) : 1980, 1995, 2002, 2005, 2012, 2014, 2022

### European competitions

* FIBA Europe Cup
** Semi-finalist (3): 2017–18, 2019–20, 2021–22
* European North Basketball League
** Champions (1): 2024

## Season by season

| Season | Tier | League | Pos. | Danish Cup | European competitions | European competitions |
| 2010–11 | 1 | Basketligaen | 1st | Champion | | |
| 2011–12 | 1 | Basketligaen | 1st | Runner-up | | |
| 2012–13 | 1 | Basketligaen | 1st | Champion | | |
| 2013–14 | 1 | Basketligaen | 1st | Runner-up | 3 EuroChallenge | T16 |
| 2014–15 | 1 | Basketligaen | 2nd | Round of 16 | 3 EuroChallenge | RS |
| 2015–16 | 1 | Basketligaen | 2nd | Champion | 3 FIBA Europe Cup | R32 |
| 2016–17 | 1 | Basketligaen | 1st | Semifinalist | 3 Champions League | RS |
| 2017–18 | 1 | Basketligaen | 1st | Champion | 3 Champions League | QR2 |
| 2017–18 | 1 | Basketligaen | 1st | Champion | 4 FIBA Europe Cup | SF |
| 2018–19 | 1 | Basketligaen | 1st | Quarterfinalist | 3 Champions League | QR2 |
| 2018–19 | 1 | Basketligaen | 1st | Quarterfinalist | 4 FIBA Europe Cup | QF |
| 2019–20 | 1 | Basketligaen | 1st | Champion | | |
| 2020–21 | 1 | Basketligaen | 1st | Champion | | |
| 2021–22 | 1 | Basketligaen | 1st | Runner-up | 4 FIBA Europe Cup | SF |
| 2022–23 | 1 | Basketligaen | 1st | Champions | 3 Champions League | L16 |

## Head coaches

* Steffen Wich