Science City Jena is a basketball club based in Jena, Germany that plays in the Basketball Bundesliga. Their home court is the Sparkassen Arena, which seats 3,000. Their current head coach is Mike Taylor.
The team was known as Erdgas Baskets Jena through the 2006 season, then as POM Baskets Jena, then Science City Jena in 2007. After being renamed to Medipolis SC Jena in 2021 due to sponsoring reasons, the name Science City Jena was again used from the 2024/25 season on. In the 2015–16 season, they won their first ProA title and promoted to the Bundesliga.
Contents
History
Although never a big sport in the former East Germany, basketball was played in Jena since the 1960s. In 1994, a new basketball program was found in the "Turn- und Sportverein (TuS) Jena". Starting in the lower divisions the club gained promotion to the second division (2. Liga Süd) in 2001. Once established in professional sports the club started to become a basketball only organization with the founding of the Baskets Jena GmbH which now holds the license.
The biggest success so far has been the promotion to the 1st division (BBL) in 2007. The stay in the top league lasted only one year with the club finishing last after an eventful year. With the promotion, the team switched to the bigger "JenArena" which allowed attendances up to 3.000 in a temporary construction. Financial difficulties in maintaining the "JenArena" led to a return to the gym "Werner-Seelenbinder-Halle".
In the 2015–16 season, Jena won the ProA championship by beating SC Rasta Vechta in the Finals and was promoted back to the Bundesliga.
In 2021, the team changed its name from Science City Jena to Medipolis SC Jena.
For the 2024–25, the team changed its name back to Science City Jena.
Honours
ProA
Champions: 2015–16
Players
Notable players
Johannes Voigtmann
Adam Pecháček
Mark Davis
Julius Jenkins
Immanuel McElroy
Kyle Weaver
Ike Iroegbu