Skyliners Frankfurt

The foundation

In 1999, Gunnar Woebke, then manager and former player of TV Tatami Rhöndorf moved his team from Bad Honnef to its current location. The declared goal was to place the team in a big arena in a large city to become a top team in the Basketball Bundesliga and in Europe in the near future. In Bad Honnef, this did not seem possible. After going through several options – including the idea to send the team to Cologne – Sylvia Schenk, the director of Frankfurt's sports department officially announced Frankfurt as the team's new location. Franz-Ludwig Solzbacher, a businessman from Bad Honnef helped organize the Skyliners' first steps but remained patron of the TV Rhöndorf and bought a second division license from EnBW Ludwigsburg to keep Rhöndorf from being relegated.

Later years

In its first season as a German elite team it managed to win the German Cup competition. In 2004, they won their first and only Bundesliga title, beating Baskets Bamberg in the finals by 3–2 victories. The following year, the Skyliners had a repeated appearance in the finals, but this time the Baskets Bamberg took the title by 3–2 victories. As in the year before, both teams were almost equally strong.

In 2004 and 2010, the Skyliners finished as runner-up in the German Cup competition, falling against the same opponent with identical victory splits again.

Throughout the years, the Skyliners have been known for their numerous appearances at European competitions such as the Euroleague, Saporta Cup and the Eurocup Basketball.

In 2015, the team reached the EuroChallenge Final Four, but the Germans lost both games to finish in fourth place. In the 2015–16 season, Fraport had once again an impressive European campaign, this time in the newly established FIBA Europe Cup. In the Final, Skyliners beat Pallacanestro Varese 66–62 to win its first European cup in history.^[2]

After preventing a relegation to the second tier ProA in the 2021/22 Basketball Bundesliga season by receiving a wildcard, the team again finished 17th in the 2022/23 season and relegated. ^[3] Denis Wucherer was announced as new head coach for the following 2023/24 season.^[4]

The Skyliners play their home games at the 5,002 seat Fraport Arena (until summer 2011, it was called Ballsporthalle Frankfurt).

Total titles: 3

Worldwide

• FIBA Intercontinental Cup

Runners-up: 2016

European competition

• FIBA Europe Cup
  • Champions: 2015–16
• FIBA EuroChallenge
  • Fourth place: 2014–15

Domestic competition

• Basketball Bundesliga^[5]
  • Champions: 2003–04
    • Runners-up: 2004–05, 2009–10
• BBL-Pokal^[5]
  • Winners: 2000
    • Runners-up: 2004, 2010

Current roster

Fraport Skyliners roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. No. Nat. Name Ht. Age G 1 Albrecht, Bruno 1.89 m (6 ft 2 in) 22 – (2001-10-28)28 October 2001 G 2 McClain, Kevin 1.91 m (6 ft 3 in) 27 – (1996-10-21)21 October 1996 G 3 Warnholtz, Aiden 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in) 24 – (2000-02-04)4 February 2000 F 4 Samare, Jordan 2.02 m (6 ft 8 in) 22 – (2002-01-12)12 January 2002 G 6 Coplin, Booker 1.91 m (6 ft 3 in) 26 – (1997-11-19)19 November 1997 SG 8 Vrcic, Bruno 1.97 m (6 ft 6 in) 23 – (2000-11-24)24 November 2000 C 9 Ajayi, Josh 2.01 m (6 ft 7 in) 27 – (1996-12-27)27 December 1996 G 10 Onyia, Alvin 1.77 m (5 ft 10 in) 23 – (2000-11-25)25 November 2000 G 15 Henry, Cameron 1.98 m (6 ft 6 in) 25 – (1999-03-08)8 March 1999 PF 21 Brenneke, Lorenz 2.04 m (6 ft 8 in) 24 – (2000-01-02)2 January 2000 SF 22 Onyejiaka, Justin 1.95 m (6 ft 5 in) 19 – (2004-06-06)6 June 2004 C 25 Knauf, Jacob 2.10 m (6 ft 11 in) 27 – (1997-03-12)12 March 1997 F 33 Völler, Marco 1.99 m (6 ft 6 in) 35 – (1989-01-06)6 January 1989 PF 44 Adekunle, Nolan 2.00 m (6 ft 7 in) 21 – (2002-05-04)4 May 2002 F 55 Muenkat, David 2.01 m (6 ft 7 in) 23 – (2000-07-02)2 July 2000 F 98 Hecker, Felix 1.92 m (6 ft 4 in) 25 – (1998-08-07)7 August 1998	Head coach Denis Wucherer Assistant coach(es) Klaus Perwas Sepehr Tarrah Legend (C) Team captain Injured Roster Updated: March 28, 2024

Retired numbers

Skyliners Frankfurt retired numbers
No	Nat.	Player	Position	Tenure	Date retired
11		Pascal Roller	PG	1999–2011	October 4, 2011[6][7]

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.

The second team of Skyliners plays in the ProB, the German third division. To develop its young players further, the Skyliners have merged some of their youth departments with Eintracht Frankfurt Basketball.^[8]

Manufacturer

Sponsor

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Skyliners Frankfurt.

• Official website (in English and German)
• Teamcheck Deutsche Bank Skyliners
• Video of the FIBA Europe Cup Final at youtube.com