The 2025-26 easyCredit BBL tips off on September 26 and the league looks ahead to crowning their 60th champion in a season tagged as “The League of Champions” after Germany added the FIBA EuroBasket 2025 title to their crown from the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2025. The league once again has 18 teams and 6 German head coaches while a number German internationals and big names have come back to the league. Below is our season preview.
In this section, we break out our English language skills and inform you about the latest news from the German easyCredit Basketball Bundesliga. If you’re short on time but still want your fill of Germany’s top basketball league then you are in the right place. Every week David Hein (Taking The Charge) brings you up-to-date in German basketball – the easyCredit BBL short and sweet:
60th season Bundesliga - “The League of Champions”
The easyCredit BBL is back for their 60th season and the 2025-26 starts a couple weeks after Germany’s national team won the FIBA EuroBasket 2025 - adding to their title from the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023. Because of that, the league is using for this season the tagline: “The League of Champions - Champions Made in Germany”. Of the 15 national team players from the EuroBasket and/or FIBA World Cup teams, 12 of them made their professional debut with a Bundesliga club – only Tristan Da Silva (Orlando Magic), David Krämer (Oberwart Gunners) and Joe Voigtmann (TuS Jena) did not. Eleven of the 15 champions were also developed over many years in a BBL club’s youth program (Voigtmann was with TuS Jena, Maodo Lo played with DBV Charlottenburg and Tristan and Oscar Da Silva came up at International Basketball Academy Munich IBAM). So the German league and their youth ranks had a strong impact on Germany winning the two titles.
Once again 18 teams and 6 German coaches
The easyCredit BBL once again will have 18 teams after only 17 clubs competed in the league last season. Another intriguing fact about the 2025-26 season is that it starts with six German coaches: Klaus Perwas (Frankfurt), Anton Gavel (Bamberg), Björn Harmsen (Jena), Benka Barloschky (Hamburg), Christian Held (Vechta) and Jacques Schneider (Trier). This is the most to start a season since 2014-15 had Sebastian Machowski (Oldenburg), Thorsten Leibenath (Ulm), Mike Koch (Bayern), Mathias Fischer (Bonn), Ingo Freyer (Hagen) and Henrik Rödl (Trier).
Germans and big names coming back
The level of the Bundesliga is improving which also has resulted in a number of Germans returning to their homeland. Seven current or past national team players with a combined 166 caps came back to the league for this season: EuroBasket champion Leon Kratzer (Munich, 31 games), Christian Sengfelder (Ulm, 35), Maik Zirbes (Trier, 75), Bennet Hundt (Berlin, 11), Joshua Obiesie (Braunschweig, 7), Robin Christen (Jena, 3), and Mike Kessens (4, BCL champion 2023 with Bonn, EuroCup champion 2024 with Paris). Kessens already briefly played with Berlin at the end of last season, but after two successful years in Paris he has now fully returned to his former club in Bonn.
Many foreign players have also come back, including some prominent names. Tommy Kuhse (a MVP candidate in 2023-24 with Vechta), Kaza Kajami-Keane (FIBA Europe Cup champion 2024 with Chemnitz, Finals MVP), and Stefan Jovic (champion with Munich in 2018 and 2019) returned to their former teams. Bayern also signed Kamar Baldwin (2021-22 in Göttingen) and high-flyer Isiaha Mike (2020–22 in Chemnitz) while Josh Hawley (2023 champion with Ulm) is now in Braunschweig and Ulm added Mark Smith (2022-23 in Göttingen).
Those are the major league-wide topics coming into the season. Following is a review of each team simply with the top storyline.
Bayern ready for sixth three-peat in league history
Five times in the history of the German Bundesliga has a club won at least three consecutive championships (Leverkusen 3 titles - 1970-1972; Leverkusen 7 - 1990-1996; Berlin 7 - 1997-2003; Bamberg 4 - 2010-2014; Berlin 3 - 2020-2022). FC Bayern Munich are the clear favorites to accomplish it for the sixth time with a roster full of stars including six freshly-crowned European champs.
What does Year Two of Harrelson and next youngsters hold in Ulm?
ratiopharm ulm have reloaded their roster with a couple of strong Germans - Christian Sengfelder and (still only 23 year old) Len Schoormann - while also bringing in three more highly-talented international youngsters (Diego Garavaglia of Italy and the French duo Mohamed Diakite and Meissa Faye). How will head coach Ty Harrelson use them now in year two in Ulm?
Heidelberg find themselves in new role
MLP Academics Heidelberg reached the Semi-Finals of the playoffs last season for the first time in 50 years and ended up keeping a number of their leading players. How will they deal with the pressure of higher expectations of repeating their performance from last season?
Brae Ivey primed as Würzburg’s next MVP contender
The last two point guards who arrived from German clubs to Fitness First Würzburg Baskets became league MVP. Does that mean former Veolia Towers Hamburg playmaker Brae Ivey is the top candidate to follow in the footsteps of Otis Livingston and Jhivvan Jackson? The chances would be good if he can bring Würzburg back to the Semi-Finals.
Post Jesus era: Can Papazoglou keep up Braunschweig momentum?
After four years at the helm, Jesus Ramirez has been replaced by Konstantinos Papazoglou as head coach at Dennis Schröder’s Basketball Löwen Braunschweig. The team just missed reaching the Semi-Finals in their first playoffs since 2019. Can the new playcaller guide the young team back to the post-season?
New-look Chemnitz face tougher test in EuroCup
NINERS Chemnitz fans will have to get used to plenty of new faces with just three returning players from last season. On top of that, the club will face a tougher test with their first season in the EuroCup - meaning at least 18 international games compared to a total of eight games last year in the Regular Season and Play-ins in the Basketball Champions League.
Can Calles style bring ALBA back?
ALBA BERLIN were known for many years for their free-flowing style of play in the years of Aito Garcia Reneses and Israel Gonzalez as head coaches. Pedro Calles may be a Spanish coach but the new playcaller will have his team play a more deliberate defensive game. Can that bring success back to Berlin - along with fewer games having moved from the EuroLeague to the Basketball Champions League?
What is Wolves’ next step?
SYNTAINICS MBC had their most successful season in history by winning the German Cup and reaching the German playoffs. The club ended up seeing head coach Janis Gailitis leave but they brought in a highly-regarded Italian playcaller in Marco Ramondino. Weißenfels also managed to keep top leaders Charles Callison and Spencer Reaves. Where will their road take them this season after the surprise success last year?
Is Krunic the man for new-look Oldenburg?
EWE Baskets Oldenburg need to get out of their rut, missing the playoffs in three of the last four years. The team is brand new with Seth Hinrichs the only real returner and the club has a new managing director with Christian Andresen - with Srdjan Klaric serving as sports head. Oldenburg’s leadership decided to hand the reins to Predrag Krunic, who coached the club to their only league crown back in 2009. Time will tell how that move works out.
Can 30+ year olds hold up for Rostock?
Don’t look now but ROSTOCK SEAWOLVES in the off-season brought in loads of experience - but also got a lot older. Joining the returning Robin Amaize (31 years old), Dominic Lockhart (31) and Sid-Marlon Theis (32) are DeAndre Lansdowne (36), Owen Klassen (33) and Andy Van Vliet (30), leaving some to wonder how the sextet manage to get through the season. If they stay healthy, Rostock could challenge for the playoffs.
What will Riipinen’s Ludwigsburg look like?
After 12 years of having John Patrick being connected to the team, MHP RIESEN Ludwigsburg have truly moved on with the addition of Swedish head coach Mike Riipinen. The 38-year-old guided Norrköping to four straight Swedish league crowns before coming to BG Göttingen in January 2025, and he helped Sweden reach the Round of 16 of the FIBA EuroBasket 2025. Now we will see what Riipinen can do in Germany with his first chance to guide his own team with his own players.
Kuhse, Herkenhoff return, new coach Held to lead Vechta
RASTA Vechta once again will have a new look with two key returning players - Tommy Kuhse and Philipp Herkenhoff - while head coach Christian Held comes back to the sidelines after a season away from the game. The team will not have the extra burden of international games while also having a chance for young players to take a major step forward.
Hamburg offer continuity with open questions
Veolia Towers Hamburg will have some unusual continuity for this season with six main players coming back. Most of the new players have question marks, including coming in from smaller clubs in bigger leagues or lower-level leagues.
Bonn thinking long term - with hopes it works out
This could be the start of a strong two-year run for Telekom Baskets Bonn or the club could face struggles for the next two seasons. That is because Bonn have signed nine of the players on their squad to contracts until 2027 - hoping their first season makes the players that much better in 2026-27. This season could be considered a wait-and-see season.
Can Gavel break through with young, tall Bamberg in year two?
Year two of the Anton Gavel coaching era at BMA365 Bamberg Baskets has the club concentrating solely on the easyCredit BBL without any international competition. Gavel’s team also has two distinct characteristics: No player is older than 28 years and only two of them are shorter than 1.95 meters. Now it’s up to the 2023 league-winning coach Gavel to turn them into a successful group.
Perwas gets chance to shine on Frankfurt sidelines
SKYLINERS and Klaus Perwas go way back with the Osnabrück native serving as assistant coach or replacement for a fired or sick coach at Frankfurt since 2008. The club has finally given the reins full time to Perwas, who was an assistant coach for the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023-winning German national team. Frankfurt have put together a team that could be strong depending on how their group of German players can perform. And how Perwas manages as the main man in charge.
A decade later, Trier aim to avoid relegation
Ten years after they were relegated from the Bundesliga, VET-CONCEPT Gladiators Trier make their return to the league after winning the ProA title. Jacques Schneider is spending his second season as head coach - the youngest head coach in the league at age 33. Schneider is supported by veteran assistant coach Ralph Held as well as former coach Don Beck, the club’s president of basketball operations. The club retained nine players from last season, which remains to be seen if that will be strong enough for the first division. But the club wants to avoid relegation.
Jena back in Bundesliga with ProA MVP Braxton
Science City Jena make their return to the easyCredit BBL for the first time since 2019 after reaching the ProA Finals. The club would love to re-live the thrilling three-season run that ended in 2019. Björn Harmsen coached the team in the Bundesliga and has been back in Jena since 2023. The team’s main goal will be to avoid relegation and one of the main leaders will be Keith Braxton, who was named MVP of the ProA starring for VfL SparkassenStars Bochum.
