Erik Braal - Wikiwand

Dutch professional basketball coach

Born (1971-05-16) May 16, 1971 (age 54)

NationalityDutch

Erik Braal
Heroes Den Bosch
Braal as coach of the West-Brabant Giants in 2010
Position	Head coach
League	BNXT League
Personal information
Born	(1971-05-16) May 16, 1971 (age 54) Werkendam, Netherlands
Nationality	Dutch
Coaching career	2003–present
Career history
Coaching
2003–2008	Rotterdam
2008–2010	West-Brabant Giants
2011–2013	Aris Leeuwarden
2013–2015	Oberwart Gunners
2015–2020	Donar
2021–present	Heroes Den Bosch

Career highlights
5× Dutch League champion (2016–2018, 2022, 2025) 4× Dutch Cup champion (2017, 2018, 2024, 2025) 4× Dutch Supercup champion (2016, 2018, 2022, 2025) 4× DBL Coach of the Year (2006, 2008, 2017, 2018) FIBA Europe Cup Coach of the Year (2018)

Erik Braal (born May 16, 1971) is a Dutch professional basketball coach, currently serving as head coach for Heroes Den Bosch. He was the head coach of Donar from 2015 until 2020. Braal was the most successful coach ever for the club with seven trophies won.

Braal was head coach of Rotterdam Basketbal for five years, from 2003 till 2008.^[1] After that he became head coach of West-Brabant Giants. He led the team to the Dutch Finals for the first time in club history, in 2009–10.

In 2011 he signed with Aris Leeuwarden.^[2] In 2012–13 he led Aris to the Finals, also for the first time in history. His team surprised everyone by beating heavy favorite EiffelTowers Den Bosch in the semifinals.

In March 2014, he signed with Austrian team Oberwart Gunners.^[3] Oberwart Gunners fired Braal during the 2004 / 2015 season due to poor results.

In June 2015, he signed a two-year deal with Donar Groningen.On 14 April 2020, Donar announced Braal's contract would not be extended in mutual consent. Braal won the most trophies in club history, with seven in total.^[4]

On 15 June 2021, Braal signed a 2-year contract with Heroes Den Bosch.^[5] He won the 2021–22 Dutch national championship with Den Bosch after beating ZZ Leiden 3–2 in the Dutch finals.

In the 2024–25 season, Braal guided Heroes to the double, winning both the Dutch Cup and the DBL finals.^[6]

Honours

Donar

2× Dutch Basketball League: (2016, 2017, 2018)
2× Dutch Supercup: (2016, 2018)
4× Dutch Cup: (2017, 2018, 2024, 2025)

Heroes Den Bosch

2× Dutch national champion: (2022, 2025)^[6]
2× Dutch Cup: (2024, 2025)^[7]
2× Dutch Supercup: (2022, 2025) ^[8]

Individual awards

4× DBL Coach of the Year: (2006, 2008, 2017, 2018)
FIBA Europe Cup Fan Vote Coach of the Year: (2018)^[9]

References

↑ Rob Kramp (2011-10-31). "Coach Erik Braal heeft energie en kennis getankt in sabbatical". Volkskrant.nl (in Dutch). Retrieved 2014-06-29.
↑ Clay Rupert (2011-05-23). "Coach Erik Braal naar Aris". Rijnmond.nl. Retrieved 2014-06-29.
↑ "Erik Braal naar Oberwart Gunners in Oostenrijk". Basketball.nl. Archived from the original on 2014-08-11. Retrieved 2014-06-29.
↑ "Donar en Braal gaan uit elkaar". Basketball League. Retrieved 14 April 2020.
↑ "Heroes Den Bosch verwelkomt head coach Erik Braal - Heroes Den Bosch - Basketball". Heroes Den Bosch. 15 June 2021. Retrieved 15 June 2021.
1 2 "Heroes Den Bosch met afstand de beste in Nederland". BNXT League. 2025-06-06. Archived from the original on 2025-06-06. Retrieved 2025-06-06.
↑ "Basketballers Den Bosch winnen heerlijke bekerfinale van dapper Donar". nos.nl (in Dutch). 2025-03-23. Retrieved 2025-03-24.
↑ "Basketballers Heroes Den Bosch veroveren Supercup". Omroep Brabant (in Dutch). 2022-09-28. Retrieved 2023-03-02.
↑ "Winners of FIBA Europe Cup Fan Vote announced". FIBA Europe Cup. 4 May 2018. Retrieved 26 March 2022.

v t e Heroes Den Bosch current roster
0 Mikalauskas 2 Van Vliet 3 Beens 4 Cork 11 Flood 13 Koehler 20 van Bree 21 Dijkstra 24 Walton 26 Veinot 35 Withers 90 Kloof
Head coach: Braal Assistant: De Kraker

Coaching positions

v t e Feyenoord Basketball – managers
Braal (2003–2008) Stansbury (2008–2009) Jezerkic (2009–2011) Wiel (2011–2013) Steenmetz (2013–2014) Salomon (2014–2018) Den Os (2018–2019) Stalman (2019) van Helfteren (2019–)

v t e LWD Basket – managers
Roorda (2006–07) van den Bosch (2007–08) Miller (2008–11) Braal (2011–13) Molthoff (2013–14) Simpson (2014–15) Schuurs (2015–16) Stoppels (2016–17) van den Bosch (2017–19) van Dijk^(c) (2019) Naciri (2019–21) Van Sliedregt (2021–) (c) = caretaker manager

Donar – managers

Bruin (1967–1971)
Skála (1971–1973)
Perrier (1973–75)
Kloppenburg (1976–1977)
Parks (1977–1978)
Stewart (1977–1978)
Champione (1979–1980)
Kamman (1980)
Van Gent (1980–1982)
Sheridan (1982–1983)
Kamman (1983–1985)
Castelein (1985–1986)
Clements (1986–1988)
Jansen (1988–1991)
Scheepstra (1991–1992)
Pinas (1993–2002)
Boot (2003–2007)
Clarós (2007–2008)
Van den Berg (2008–2011)
Salem (2011–2012)
Skelin (2013–2015)
Braal (2015–2020)
Rudež (2020–2021)
Miller (2021)
Otten (2021–2022)
Štimac (2022–2024)
Dourisseau (2024–)

Individual awards

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