Koln99ers, members of the Basketball Bundesliga (BBL) since the club was formed in 1999, have dramatically made an insolvency application.

This follows the withdrawal of support from their main sponsor, RheinEnergie power company. While the team, under coach Sascha Obranovic, were preparing for a ULEB match against Ovarense Aerosoles of Portugal, the club management were making their application.

All the players, coaches and employees have been informed but the club, based in the industrial heartland of Cologne in Germany,  were still hoping to fulfil their fixture against Ovarense. If they were to win, Koln99ers would be in the next round of 32 teams in the ULEB Cup.

'The disappointment of the team and fans is being deeply felt'


The disappointment of the team and fans is being deeply felt. “You can imagine that the team and organisation have reacted with sadness,” said 99ers press agent Jan Odendahl. The decision also came as a shock to the BBL.

League management director Jan Pommer was holping to make contact as quickly as possible with the insolvency administrator to examine whether there would be any chance that the club could continue in business.

“Currently we cannot overlook the situation,” he said. “Our responsibility is to speak to the administrator and find out how he sees the situation,” he added.

On the basis of this information, the BBL management will have to decide about whether the Koln99ers can further take part in any competitions. If the decision is negative, their contract would have to be terminated according to Section 16 of the license statute.

There are two variants. "Either the administrator stops all efforts to carry on, or he sees potential," explained Pommer. He emphasised that the central task of the BBL is that all-round fairness should be shown by retention of the club. "We do not want a distortion of competition," he added.

The next few days will decide whether Koln99ers can compete against Tuebingen on Saturday. If further participation is not possible then the team will be withdrawn from competitions and their results expunged from the league records, leaving 17 teams to continue in the BBL.