A BNXT League at double speed: “The gap is widening between Belgium and the Netherlands”

The sign of an outrageous domination of Dutch teams against Belgian teams in this new common championship formula? This is in fact an easily identifiable delusion when we focus on collective performance. In this regard, the figures are relentless: since the start of the season, out of the 42 duels between a Belgian team and a team from the neighboring flat country, there have been 31 Belgian victories (i.e. a success ratio of 73%). The gap in level is even more marked when we analyze the differences in these meetings. On average, Belgian clubs won their matches against the Dutch with a difference of 22 points (including eight times by more than 30 points).

A reality which necessarily has repercussions in the ranking of the Belgian-Dutch competition, the last six places (out of 19) are occupied by clubs from the Netherlands. Leeuwarden is the only one to currently manage to climb into the top 5.

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Budgetary and structural differences

It's difficult, in these conditions, not to talk about a two-speed championship. We confronted Laurent Costantiello, ex-coach and general director of Liège Basket and now TV consultant for Proximus, with this brutal observation. Which doesn't really surprise him. “This balance of power between Belgian and Dutch clubs is not new. This was already the case in previous years even if the competition format was different. What has changed is that Den Bosch, Leiden and Groningen, considered the three flagship teams in the Netherlands, have lost ground in this first part of the season. Let's not forget that Leiden won the BNXT final twice against Ostend (in 2022 and 2023). These were teams that were fighting with the top teams in Belgium. But the gap now seems to be widening.”

The first explanation for this obviously remains the budget differences between the clubs of the two countries. “Overall, financial resources are more limited in the Netherlands. This encourages clubs to bet on a few foreigners of good caliber by mainly directing their game towards them. Which explains certain individual performances. But the players around them are therefore of lower quality and the depth of the squad is more measured compared to the Belgian teams.”

He also puts forward a justification in terms of organization. “Structurally, Belgian clubs are for the most part more advanced in terms of professionalism. Although everything is obviously not perfect, there is a certain continuity in development here. Where quite a few Dutch clubs still work in conditions which almost resemble semi-professionalism.”

Unfavorable results for Belgian clubs

Which ultimately raises the question of the true meaning of a bi-national league. “I am already surprised that this Belgian-Dutch competition was maintained this season. In the evaluation, there are not really any favorable repercussions for Belgian clubs in sporting, financial or commercial terms. Even Dutch TV has pulled out and no longer funds the league. This is never a good sign. In these conditions, I think that bringing two or three Belgian clubs up under certain specific conditions allowing them more easily to settle at the professional level would be more beneficial for Belgian basketball. And I'm not sure that the top teams in Belgian D2 are really inferior to the 'small' Dutch teams in the BNXT League.”

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