Crailsheim Merlins, currently referred to as HAKRO Merlins Crailsheim for sponsorship reasons, is a professional basketball club based in Crailsheim, Germany. Established in 1986, the club plays in the ProA, the second league of professional basketball in Germany. The club is a part of the multi-sports club TSV Crailsheim. Home games are played in the Arena Hohenlohe, which has a capacity of 3,000 people.
History The club was founded on 31 January 1986 by a group of students. Until 1994, the team was only active at the lower local leagues and had problems in finding a hall to play at. A year later, the club found a new home in the barracks of departed American armed forces. In 2001, the Merlins managed to get promoted to the German second division, now the ProA, for the first time. A new home arena was found again, in the form of a renovated market hall.
In the 2013–14 season Merlins promoted to the Basketball Bundesliga, by reaching the ProA Finals. The club managed to avoid relegation in its first season in the league, because Artland Dragons was relegated the club received a wild card. However, in the following 2015–16 season the team was relegated once again after finishing last. In the 2020–21 season, coach Tuomas Iisalo guided the Merlins to their first Bundesliga playoff appearance in club history. Iisalo left Crailsheim at the conclusion of the 2020–21 campaign, Sebastian Gleim was named the new head coach.
In the 2021–22 season, Crailsheim made its European debut as it was placed in the regular season of the FIBA Europe Cup. On 13 October 2021, the Merlins recorded an away win over Bakken Bears in their debut. The same season, the Merlins also reached the final of the 2021–22 BBL-Pokal, its first final appearance in the national cup. The Merlins eventually lost to 86–78 to ALBA Berlin.
Sponsorship names
Due to sponsorship reasons the team has been known as: Proveo Merlins: 2007–2009 HAKRO Merlins Crailsheim: 2018–present
Honours BBL-Pokal Runners-up: 2021–22 ProB Winners: 2008–09
Players Current roster
Notable players
Head coaches Period Name 1986–1989 Dieter Wolfarth 1989–1990 no head coach 1990–1993 Markus Schmidt 1993–1994 Zoran Borovnica 1994–1997 Zlatko Nikolić 1997–1999 Matthias Braun 1999–2002 Zoran Banozic 2002–2004 Velibor Balabanović 2004 Marian Thede 2004–2008 Arne Alig 2008–2012 Ingo Enskat 2012 – November 2014 Willie Young November 2014 – March 2016 Ingo Enskat March 2016 – May 2021 Tuomas Iisalo May 2021 – May 2022 Sebastian Gleim May 2022 – November 2023 Nikola Marković November 2023 – May 2024 Jussi LaaksoMay 2024 – April 2026 David McCrayMay 2026 – present Florian Flabb
Season by season SeasonTierLeagueGerman CupEuropean competitions 2009–10 ProA 2010–11 ProA 2011–12 ProA 2012–13 ProA 2013–14 ProA 2014–15 BBL 2015–16 BBL 2016–17 ProA 2017–18 ProA 2018–19 BBL 2019–20 1 BBL 10 Round of 16 2020–21 1 BBL 5 Group stage 2021–22 1 BBL 9Runner-up FIBA Europe Cup 2022–23 1 BBL 13 Quarterfinals FIBA Europe Cup 2023–24 1 BBL 17 First round 2024–25 2 ProA Round of 16 2025–26 2 ProA First round 2026–27 2 ProA First round
References
External links
Team profile at Eurobasket.com