Kataja BC
| Kataja | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Error creating thumbnail: File missing | |||
| Leagues | Korisliiga | ||
| Founded | 1949 | ||
| Arena | Motonet Areena | ||
| Capacity | 2,500 | ||
| Location | Joensuu, Finland | ||
| President | Jukka Törmälä | ||
| Head coach | Petri Virtanen | ||
| Championships | 2 Finnish Leagues 4 Finnish Cups | ||
| Retired numbers | 4 (9)(11) (14) (15) | ||
| Website | katajabasket.fi | ||
|
| |||
Kataja Basket Club (eng. Juniper) is a professional basketball club of sports club Kataja from Joensuu, Finland. The team plays in the Korisliiga, the highest tier of Finnish basketball. In 2015, Kataja won its first national championship, after it beat Bisons Loimaa 3–2 in the Finnish Finals.
History
[edit | edit source]The basketball activity of the club started in 1955. In 1961, the team started playing in the Joensuu Sports Hall. The team started in provincial competitions, but quickly promoted to the national level in the 1960s. From 1976 till 1980, the team played continuously in the highest Finnish division. In the 2001–02 season, the team won its first trophy when it won the Finnish Cup. In 2015, the first championship of Kataja was realized after a 3–2 Finals series win against Bisons Loimaa. In the 2012–13 season, Kataja started participating in European competitions when it entered the EuroChallenge. The team immediately reached the quarterfinals of the competition, and has played in Europe every season since.[1]
Achievements
[edit | edit source]- Champions (4): 2002, 2011, 2012, 2023
Players
[edit | edit source]Retired numbers
[edit | edit source]| Kataja Basket Club retired numbers | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Nat. | Player | Position | Tenure |
| 9 | United States | Leon Huff | C | 1975–1978, 1979-1980, 1993-1994 |
| 11 | Finland | Eero Oksava | G | 1963–1980 |
| 14 | Finland | Petri Virtanen | G | 2005–2007, 2008-2016 |
| 15 | Finland | Sami Lehtoranta | C | 2005–2014 |
Current roster
[edit | edit source]| Kataja BC roster | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | Coaches | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Finland Teemu Turunen
Updated: July 8, 2025 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Notable players
[edit | edit source]- 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.
- Finland Fiifi Aidoo[2]
- Finland Antti Kanervo
- Finland Sami Lehtoranta
- Finland Pekka Markkanen
- Finland Topias Palmi
- Finland Ilari Seppälä
- Finland Jukka Toijala
- Finland Petri Virtanen
- Finland Teemu Rannikko
- Canada Daniel Mullings
- Nigeria Amanze Egekeze
- United States Rion Brown
- United States Robert Arnold
- Canada Elijah Lufile
.svg){kind=link}
Season by season
[edit | edit source]| Season | Tier | League | Pos. | Finnish Cup[a] | European competitions | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010–11 | 1 | Korisliiga | 2nd | Champion | |||
| 2011–12 | 1 | Korisliiga | 2nd | Champion | |||
| 2012–13 | 1 | Korisliiga | 3rd | 3 EuroChallenge | QF | 6–8 | |
| 2013–14 | 1 | Korisliiga | 2nd | — | 3 EuroChallenge | RS | 2–4 |
| 2014–15 | 1 | Korisliiga | 1st | 3 EuroChallenge | RS | 0–6 | |
| 2015–16 | 1 | Korisliiga | 5th | 3 FIBA Europe Cup | R32 | 5–7 | |
| 2016–17 | 1 | Korisliiga | 1st | 3 Champions League | RS | 6–8 | |
| 4 FIBA Europe Cup | R16 | 0–2 | |||||
| 2017–18 | 1 | Korisliiga | 6th | 3 Champions League | QR3 | 1–1–2 | |
| 4 FIBA Europe Cup | R2 | 4–8 | |||||
| 2018–19 | 1 | Korisliiga | 5th | 4 FIBA Europe Cup | R2 | 8–8 | |
| 2019–20 | 1 | Korisliiga | 7th[b] | 4 FIBA Europe Cup | RS | 3–5 | |
| 2020–21 | 1 | Korisliiga | 7th | ||||
| 2021–22 | 1 | Korisliiga | 4th | ||||
| 2022–23 | 1 | Korisliiga | 3rd | ||||
| 2023–24 | 1 | Korisliiga | 4th | 4 FIBA Europe Cup | RS | 2–6 | |
| 2024–25 | 1 | Korisliiga | 4th | ||||
- ^ The Finnish Cup competition was inactive from 2014–2018.
- ^ On 13 March 2020, the season was ended prematurely due to the coronavirus pandemic.[3]
References
[edit | edit source]- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ Fiifi Aidoo siirtyy Espanjan kolmannen sarjatason seuraan (Helsingin Sanomat), 11 August 2020. Accessed 9 February 2021.(in Finnish)
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
External links
[edit | edit source]- Official site (in Finnish)
