Bayer Giants Leverkusen
Leagues	ProB
Founded	1961; 64 years ago (1961)
History	TuS Bayer 04 Leverkusen 1961–1983 TSV Bayer 04 Leverkusen 1983–2000 Bayer Giants Leverkusen 2000–present
Arena	Ostermann-Arena
Capacity	3,500
Location	Leverkusen,North Rhine-Westphalia
Head coach	Michael Koch
Team captain	Dennis Heinzmann
Championships	14German Championships 10German Cup 3ProB
Website	www.bayer-basketball.de
Home Away

Bayer Giants Leverkusen is a professionalbasketball club, part of theTSV Bayer 04 Leverkusen sports club based inLeverkusen,Germany. It currently plays inProA, the second division of German basketball.

Based on the number of titles, Bayer Leverkusen is the most successful team in the history of German Basketball with a record-14 championships and 10 Cups.^[1] In 2009, theBayer company cut down sponsorship and the club went down to Germany'sProB (third division) to restructure. The license for theBasketball Bundesliga was transferred to the newly formedGiants Düsseldorf.

The team is currently coached by two of its legends:Hansi Gnad andMichael Koch.^[2]

Founded asTuS Bayer 04 Leverkusen in 1961, the club moved up to first divisionBasketball Bundesliga in 1968. The club won 5national championships and 4German Cups as TuS 04 Leverkusen before it changed its name and continued its dominance asTSV Bayer 04 Leverkusen. Until today, the club has won more national titles than any other German basketball team.^[3]

The first success came in 1970 when TuS 04 won the double under coachGünter Hagedorn with more Trophies and participations in European competitions following during the 1970s. From 1970 until 1977 the club played in 5 Cup Finals winning four titles. In 1985 and 1986 Bayer won the German Championship again before establishing itself as a powerhouse in the 1990s with constant presence in theFIBA Euroleague after winning 7 championships in a row (1990–96) with coachDirk Bauermann.

After the team lost three of its key players on afree transfer in the summer of 1996 (Michael Koch,Chris Welp andHenning Harnisch)Alba Berlin was the team that broke Bayer's dominance with the last success being the 2nd place in the league in 2000. The last participation in Europe's top competition was in the 2000-01 season when the club as German's runners-up played in theSuproleague.

To the disdain of all of its supporters, in 2008 theBayer company decided to make dramatic cuts in its sponsorship for the team and simply focus on itsfootball operations and amateur athletics. This move forced the club's basketball team to cede itsBasketball Bundesliga license to the newly formedGiants Düsseldorf and move down to Germany's 4th DivisionRegionalliga to restructure. Thousands of club supporters gathered in the streets ofLeverkusen to protest the company's move.^[4][5] Giants won the Regionalliga and promotion to theProB in their first season.

In 2013, the club promoted to theProA League, but it was relegated to theProB two years later. In 2019 Bayer returned to theProA, German basketball's second tier, but relegated in 2023. In the 2024/25 season, the Giants lost only one of their 34 games. The club ultimately won the ProB championship against the SBB Baskets. They subsequently moved up to the ProA.^[6]

• German Champions
  • Winners (14-record): 1970, 1971, 1972, 1976, 1979, 1985, 1986, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996
  • Runners-up (6): 1977, 1980, 1987, 1988, 1989, 2000
• German Cup:
  • Winners (10): 1970, 1971, 1974, 1976, 1986, 1987, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1995
  • Runners-up (2): 1977, 1989
• ProA
  • Runners-up (1): 2021
• ProB
  • Winners (3-record): 2013, 2019, 2025
• 1. Regionalliga
  • Winners (1): 2009

The club has competed for 21 seasons in European competitions organized byFIBA Europe from 1970 until 2003.^[7]

• FIBA Euroleague/Suproleague : 11 times (1970–71, 1971–72, 1972–73, 1990–91, 1991–92, 1992–93, 1993–94, 1994–95, 1995–96, 1996–97, 2000–01)
• Cup Winners' Cup: 4 times (1974–75, 1987–88, 1989–90, 1997–98)
• Korac Cup: 5 times (1975–76, 1988–89, 1998–99, 1999–00, 2001–02)
• FIBA Regional Conference: 1 time (2002–03)

9 September 1984

Bayer 04 Leverkusen

86–109

Seattle SuperSonics

Wilhelm-Dopatka-Halle,Leverkusen

Bayer Giants Leverkusen roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. No. Nat. Name Ht. Wt. Age PF 1 Oldham, C.J. 2.02 m (6 ft 8 in) 34 –(1991-02-26)26 February 1991 PG 2 Ziring, Viktor 1.87 m (6 ft 2 in) 27 –(1998-04-30)30 April 1998 PG 3 Kahl, Luca Finn 1.91 m (6 ft 3 in) 28 –(1997-06-01)1 June 1997 PG 8 Langley, Kobe 1.84 m (6 ft 0 in) 24 –(2000-12-31)31 December 2000 G 10 Brach, Sebastian 1.90 m (6 ft 3 in) 23 –(2002-02-22)22 February 2002 F 11 Lynch, Ricardo 2.01 m (6 ft 7 in) 27 –(1998-11-09)9 November 1998 G/F 15 Nicholas, Donte 1.96 m (6 ft 5 in) 38 –(1987-03-13)13 March 1987 G 21 Williams, John 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in) 26 –(1999-02-21)21 February 1999 C 22 Heinzmann, Dennis (C) 2.16 m (7 ft 1 in) 34 –(1991-01-22)22 January 1991 PG 24 Nita, Calin 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in) 20 –(2005-02-10)10 February 2005 C 51 Urbansky, Sören-Eyke 2.14 m (7 ft 0 in) 25 –(2000-03-29)29 March 2000	Head coach Michael Koch Assistant coach(es) Hansi Gnad Mauriz Golka Legend (C) Team captain Injured Roster Updated: October 20, 2025

• 
  Denis Wucherer
• 
  Demond Greene
• 
  Hansi Gnad
• 
  Kristjan Kangur

To appear in this section a player must have played at least two seasons for the club AND either:

– Set a club record or won an individual award as a professional player.
– Played at least one official international match for his senior national team at any time.

Coach	Start	End
Pascal Chatziathanasiou	1965	1968
Günter Hagedorn	1969	1973
Bernd Röder	1975	1976
Dragoş Nosievici	1977	1978
Chris Lee	1980	1984
Jim Kelly	1984	1989
Dirk Bauermann	1989	1998
Calvin Oldham	1998	2002
Heimo Förster	2002	2005
Achim Kuczmann	2005	2008
Achim Kuczmann	2011	2018
Hans-Jürgen Gnad	2018	2024
Michael Koch	since 2024

• TSV Bayer 04 Leverkusen (handball)
• Bayer 04 Leverkusen (football)

• Team Homepage(in German)

• Basketball teams established in 1961
• Bayer 04 Leverkusen
• Basketball teams in North Rhine-Westphalia
• 1961 establishments in West Germany
• Basketball in West Germany
• Basketball teams in Germany
• Sport in Leverkusen

• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Articles with German-language sources (de)