ZZ Leiden | |||
---|---|---|---|
Leagues | Dutch Basketball League | ||
Founded | 1958 | ||
History |
BS Leiden (1958–1967) Mercasol Leiden (1967-1977) Parker Leiden (1977–1983) Elmex Leiden (1983–1986) Zorg en Zekerheid Leiden (2006–present) |
||
Arena | Vijf Meihal | ||
Capacity | 2,000 | ||
Location | Leiden, Netherlands | ||
Team colors | Blue, Navy, White, Green |
||
Main sponsor | Zorg en Zekerheid | ||
President | Marcel Verburg | ||
Team manager | Rob van Hooven | ||
Championships |
3 Dutch Championships 2 Dutch Cups 2 Dutch Supercups |
||
Uniforms | |||
|
Bona Stars Leiden, known for sponsorship reason as Zorg en Zekerheid Leiden or ZZ Leiden, is a basketball club based in Leiden, Netherlands that plays in the Dutch first division Dutch Basketball League (DBL). Their home games are played at Vijf Meihal, which has 2,000 seats.
ZZ Leiden has won the national championship three times, the NBB Cup twice, the Dutch Basketball Supercup twice as well.
On September 23, 1958 the club was founded as Bona Stars by Ton Kallenberg, a physical education professor at a school in Leiden. In 1967 the club entered the eredivisie, the highest professional basketball league in the Netherlands under the name BS Leiden. When Parker became the main sponsor of the club in 1977 Leiden won its first national championship. In 1983, Leiden was forced to leave the eredivisie, due to the absence of a main sponsor. The team played five years in the Promotiedivisie, the highest non-professional league, before pulling out of the Dutch basketball pyramid.
On February 16, 2006 it was announced that Leiden would return at the highest stage in the Netherlands. The team got a new main sponsor in Zorg en Zekerheid and would play its games in the Vijf Meihal.
After being quarter- and semifinalist in a few seasons, Leiden returned to the top of the Netherlands in 2010. Leading players of the ZZ team were Danny Gibson, who was named the DBL Most Valuable Player Award in 2009–10, and Seamus Boxley. The club won its first NBB Cup, by beating ABC Amsterdam in the championship game. In the Semi-final, heavy favorites Groningen were defeated. In the Playoffs Semi-finals, ZZ once again faced Groningen. The team put up an impressive fight against the top seed, but eventually fell short 3–2.