Belfius Mons-Hainaut

	Belfius Mons-Hainaut
Founded	1959
Hall	Mons Arena ; (4000 seats)
Homepage	www.monshainaut.be
president	Ronald Gobert
Manager	Thierry Wilquin
Trainer	Yves Defraigne
league	Scoooreleague ; 2012/13: 2nd place
Colours	White / blue / green
home	Away
	successes
	Belgian Cup Winner 2006, 2011; ; Vice FIBA EuroCup 2008

Belfius Mons-Hainaut ( German Belfius Bergen in Hainaut ) is a Belgian basketball club from Mons in Hainaut in Wallonia . The professional first team has been sponsored by Dexia -Bank since 2001 and was therefore known as Dexia Mons-Hainaut between 2001 and 2012 before the bank was renamed Belfius .

history

The club was founded in 1959 as Union St. Joseph Quaregnon in a merger of "BC Borain " and "Jeunesse Sportif" in Quaregnon , a suburb of Mons. At first you didn't have your own hall, but played on open courts before later moving to a school sports hall.

In 1991 the promotion to the top national league succeeded for the first time, which one had to leave immediately after a 14th place in the championship. A year later followed the immediate return to the top division and the move to the Halles de Jemappes in Jemappes , a district of Mons. In the 1995/96 season they played for the first time internationally in the European club competition Korać Cup . After a third place in the national championship in 1998, the association, which now for the name sponsor changed Belgacom Union Quaregnon-Mons called his name in the new brand of the former state-owned telecommunications -Monopolisten Belgacom and stood now on as Telindus Union Mons-Hainaut on .

2001 Telindus became the name sponsor of the Flemish competitor BC Ostend and the Dexia-Bank took over as name sponsor. In 2003 they achieved a second place in the regular season with coach Yves Defraigne , who had previously played for the club himself, and George Evans , but failed again in the play-offs when they made it into the final series for the championship. In 2005 Defraigne finally had to leave the club and the Croatian Nikša Bavčević took over as coach for the 2005/06 season in the new Mons Arena . With him and the players from the USA Omar Cook and Thomas Kelati won a national title with the Belgian Cup for the first time after the final victory over the regional rival from Hainaut, Spirou BC Charleroi . In the European club competition FIBA Europe League they reached the quarter-final play-offs, which were lost to the later Russian finalist BK Chimki . Also in the championship one could reach the final series for the first time, but had to hand over the title to Telindus Oostende, in whose ranks the German national player Denis Wucherer played among others . In the following season the successes could not be repeated and the first participation in the ULEB Cup 2006/07 ended with only one win in ten group games frustratingly.

In 2007, Chris Finch took over as coach, who had won the Belgian championship with Euphony Bree in 2005 and had been responsible for the new British national basketball team since 2006 in preparation for the 2012 Olympic Games . With him they reached the final in the FIBA EuroCup, the successor to the FIBA Europe League and the predecessor of the EuroChallenge , which was lost by just one point to the Latvian club Barons LMT from Riga , whose ranks included the Latvian national player Raimonds Vaikulis, a former player of the Belgian association. This missed the first title win by a Belgian club team in a European competition. Then the 37-year-old George Evans and the British international Michael Lenzly , formerly active in the German basketball league for TBB Trier , left the club. Evans himself went to the German first division team in Trier, where his former coach Yves Defraigne was already working, while he moved from the German club Caleb Green to Hainaut. In the championship it was not until the following year 2009 that a finals were made; however, the series went to defending champion and regional rival Spirou BC. Coach Finch then moved to the NBA Development League for the Rio Grande Valley Vipers and the Houston Rockets coaching staff in the NBA .

In 2009, the Israeli national coach Arik Shivek became the new coach. After a rather disappointing season in 2009/10, they again won the Belgian Cup in the final against record winners and defending champion Ostend in 2011 and came third in the championship. In the following season they successfully qualified against Beşiktaş Milangaz for the Eurocup 2011/12 , where they were eliminated in the first group stage, while Beşiktaş won the EuroChallenge 2012. As a result of the restructuring of Dexia-Bank, which was badly hit as a result of the banking crisis , the club's name was also changed to Belfius Mons-Hainaut in March 2012 . In the championship succeeded after a fifth place in the regular season, the move into the play-off semi-final series against the main round first Ostend. For the following season 2012/13 Yves Defraigne was then again committed as a coach. In the 2012/13 season they failed again in the play-offs to defending champion Ostend, but only in the final series, which went straight to the team from Flanders in three games.