Donar to return as Donar Groningen BV after bankruptcy – The Northern Times

Basketball fans from Groningen were all too worried when their team, Donar, declared bankruptcy on July 31st. It seemed that the historic team was on the verge of closing its doors for good following irregular spending by former treasurer Ronald Arkema.

What can be now classified as their 8th revival, Donar was granted a license to compete by the BNXT League for the upcoming 2023-24 season as reported by the Groninger Internet Courant. 

The license was transferred to a new entity called Donar Groningen BV, which will be led by general manager Jacob Komplien, the man in charge of the task force meant to save Donar in the first place back in July.

A return with a number of conditions

Despite Donar being one of the most successful teams in Dutch basketball history, their spending has left the team on the brink of extinction multiple times throughout their existence. 

That is why the BNXT has made a number of conditions to prevent the team from going bankrupt again as well as punishing the newly formed Donar Groningen BV for the mistakes made by those in charge in the past.

Among the conditions is a reduced budget, a third less than what they had in 2019, and no former board members will be allowed to form part of the new team. They are also expected to go through thorough balance sheet checks to prevent such a collapse from happening ever again.

You can find the full legal document here.

What fans can expect

Although success has long been expected from one of the Netherlands’ oldest basketball teams, fans might just be glad that there will be basketball played at the Martiniplaza. The players are still yet to be fully revealed but they can count on head coach Andrej Stimac and technical director Drago Pasalic to return. 

The newly formed Donar Groningen BV will play their first pre-season game against the English Leicester Riders on Friday in Veendam. The Martiniplaza hosts its first game of its new tenant on the 20th of September, with the first league game in Groningen on the 23rd of September against Den Bosch. 

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