| Bayern Munich | |
| Leagues: | Basketball Bundesliga EuroLeague |
| History: | FC Bayern Munich Basketball (1946–present) |
| Arena: | BMW Park |
| Capacity: | 6,700 |
| Location: | Munich, Germany |
| Colors: | Red, white |
| President: | Herbert Hainer |
| Retired Numbers: | 2 (6, 24) |
| Coach: | Gordon Herbert |
| Captain: | Vladimir Lučić |
| Sponsor: | Siegmund |
| Championships: | 6 German Championships 5 German Cups |
| Website: | fcb-basketball.de |
| H Body: | E2231A |
| H Pattern B: | _bayern2223h |
| H Shorts: | E2231A |
| H Pattern S: | _bayern2223h |
| A Body: | FFFFFF |
| A Pattern B: | _bayern2223a |
| A Shorts: | FFFFFF |
| A Pattern S: | _bayern2223a |
| 3 Body: | 002D73 |
| 3 Pattern B: | _bayern2223t |
| 3 Shorts: | 002D73 |
| 3 Pattern S: | _bayern2223t |
FC Bayern München Basketball GmbH, commonly referred to as Bayern Munich, is a professional basketball club, a part of the FC Bayern Munich sports club, based in Munich, Germany. The club competes domestically in the Basketball Bundesliga (BBL) and internationally in the EuroLeague.
The team plays its home games at BMW Park, which was opened in 1972.
FC Bayern Munich Basketball also has a reserve team that plays in German third-tier level ProB.
Bayern Munich has a long basketball tradition. Besides its most successful years in the 1950s and 1960s (German Championships in 1954, 1955, and German Cup in 1968), the club enjoyed remarkable popularity in 1956, when it even drew 40,000 fans to an open-air test game against Lancia Bolzano, once a top basketball club from Italy. Later, in 1966, the club was a founding member of the Basketball Bundesliga.[1]
In the following years, the club slowly, but surely, faded into obscurity, and in 1974, was even relegated to the German 2nd Division. For a long time after that, the club never completely recovered, and only had a few successful years (Bayern moved up to the Basketball Bundesliga in 1987, and stayed there until 1989).[1]
In 2008, the declared goal of the team was to return to the club's former glory, and return to the top German League, which it eventually did. In the near future, the club seeks to become a major force in European basketball, so that Bayern Munich will not only be well known for its football (soccer) operations, but also for its basketball operations as well.[2] In the 2012–13 season the club reached the semifinals, where it lost 3–2 against the reigning champions Brose Baskets.
Thanks to a wild card,[3] Bayern Munich played in the EuroLeague in the 2013–14 season. This was its first appearance in the top European championship, and it reached the Top 16 stage. On 18 June 2014, Bayern won its third national title when it beat Alba Berlin 3–1 in the Finals. It was the first title for the team since 1955; 59 years before. Star player of the team was Malcolm Delaney, who won both the MVP and Finals MVP.
In the 2014–15 season, Bayern failed to win a title. In the BBL Finals they were defeated by Brose Baskets, 3–2. The team had to wait until 2018 for its next championship, as they beat Alba Berlin 3–2 in the Finals that year. By winning the BBL, Bayern also qualified for the following EuroLeague season.
See main article: Rudi-Sedlmayer-Halle. The team's home arena is called BMW Park, which seats 6,700 spectators.
See main article: SAP Garden. SAP Garden is a planned 12,500-seat indoor arena, to be built in Olympiapark, Munich. It will not be completed until spring 2024 at the earliest.[4]
| FC Bayern Munich retired numbers | |||||
| No | Nat. | Player | Position | Tenure | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 | 2010–2014 | ||||
| 24 | 2010–2014 | ||||
Winners (6): 1953–54, 1954–55, 2013–14, 2017–18, 2018–19, 2023–24
Runners-up (4): 1950–51, 2014–15, 2020–21, 2021–22
Winners (5): 1968, 2018, 2021, 2023, 2024
Runners-up (1): 2014
Winners (2): 1986–87, 2010–11
Runners-up (2): 1982–83, 1983–1984
Winners (1): 2019
Runners-up (1): 2015
ProA Young Player of the Year
50 Greatest EuroLeague Contributors
Nominated:
EuroLeague Basketball 2010–20 All-Decade Team
Nominated:
EuroCup Basketball MVP of the Week
NBA G League International Challenge Finals MVP
| Season | Tier | League | German Cup | European competitions | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | BBL Süd | 4th | ||||||
| 1 | BBL Süd | 4th | Champion | |||||
| 1 | BBL Süd | 3rd | ||||||
| 1 | BBL Süd | 6th | ||||||
| 1 | BBL Süd | 4th | ||||||
| 1 | BBL Süd | 6th | ||||||
| 1 | BBL Süd | 5th | ||||||
| 1 | BBL Süd | 8th | ||||||
| ... | ||||||||
| 2 | 2. BBL Süd | 2nd | ||||||
| 2 | 2. BBL Süd | 2nd | ||||||
| 2 | 2. BBL Süd | 4th | ||||||
| 2 | 2. BBL Süd | 3rd | ||||||
| 2 | 2. BBL Süd | 1st | ||||||
| 1 | BBL | 10th | ||||||
| 1 | BBL | 11th | ||||||
| 2 | 2. BBL Süd | 5th | ||||||
| 2 | 2. BBL Süd | 5th | ||||||
| 2 | 2. BBL Süd | 6th | ||||||
| 2 | 2. BBL Süd | 11th | ||||||
| ... | ||||||||
| 2 | 2. BBL Süd | 12th | ||||||
| ... | ||||||||
| 2 | 2. BBL Süd | 12th | ||||||
| ... | ||||||||
| 2 | 2. BBL Süd | 15th | ||||||
| ... | ||||||||
| 2 | ProA | 8th | ||||||
| 2 | ProA | 8th | ||||||
| 2 | ProA | 1st | ||||||
| 2011–12 | 1 | BBL | 5th | |||||
| 2012–13 | 1 | BBL | 4th | align=left bgcolor=#CC9966 | Third position | |||
| 2013–14 | 1 | BBL | 1st | align=left bgcolor=#97DEFF | Fourth position | |||
| 2014–15 | 1 | BBL | 2nd | Quarterfinalist | ||||
| 2015–16 | 1 | BBL | 4th | Runner-up | ||||
| 2016–17 | 1 | BBL | 4th | Runner-up | ||||
| 2017–18 | 1 | BBL | 1st | Champion | bgcolor=#cc9966 align=center | |||
| 2018–19 | 1 | BBL | 1st | Quarterfinalist | 11th | |||
| 2019–20 | 1 | BBL | 5th | Round of 16 | — | |||
| 2020–21 | 1 | BBL | 2nd | Champion | ||||
| 2021–22 | 1 | BBL | 2nd | Quarterfinalist | ||||
| 2022–23 | 1 | BBL | align=center bgcolor=#CC9966 | 3rd | Champion | 15th | ||
| 2023–24 | 1 | BBL | 1st | Champion | 15th | |||
| Season | Achievement | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|
| EuroLeague | |||
| 2013–14 | Top 16 | 6th place in a group with CSKA Moscow, Real Madrid, Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv, Galatasaray, Lokomotiv Kuban, Partizan and Žalgiris | |
| 2014–15 | Regular season | 5th place in a group with FC Barcelona, Fenerbahçe Ülker, Panathinaikos, EA7 Milano and PGE Turów | |
| 2015–16 | Regular season | 5th place in a group with Fenerbahçe, Khimki, Crvena zvezda Telekom, Real Madrid and Strasbourg | |
| 2020–21 | Quarterfinals | eliminated 3–2 by A|X Armani Exchange Milan, 79-78 (L) & 80-69 (L) in Milan, 85-79 (W) & 85-82 (W) in Munich, 92-89 (L) in Milan | |
| 2021–22 | Quarterfinals | eliminated 3–2 by Barcelona, 77-67 (L) & 75-90 (W) in Barcelona, 66-75 (L) & 59-52 (W) in Munich, 81-72 (L) in Barcelona | |
| EuroCup | |||
| 2011–12 | Regular season | 3rd place in a group with Spartak Saint Petersburg, Benetton Treviso and Cedevita | |
| 2014–15 | Eighthfinals | eliminated by Valencia Basket, 80–58 (L) in Valencia and 60–94 (L) in Munich | |
| 2015–16 | Quarterfinals | eliminated by Galatasaray Odeabank, 99–89 (W) in Munich and 72–59 (L) in Istanbul | |
| 2016–17 | Quarterfinals | eliminated 2–1 by Unicaja, 91–82 (W) in Munich, 82–67 (L) in Málaga and 69–74 (L) in Munich | |
| 2017–18 | Semifinals | eliminated 2–0 by Darüşşafaka, 76–74 (L) in Istanbul and 83–87 (L) in Munich | |
| FIBA Saporta Cup | |||
| 1968–69 | Second round | eliminated by AŠK Olimpija, 81–101 (L) in Munich and 94–46 (L) in Ljubljana |
| Official Shirt Sponsor | BayWa AG | |
| Official Sport Clothing Manufacturer | Adidas AG |
Bayern Munich was featured in the NBA 2K15, 2K16 & 2K17 video games.[5] [6] [7]
The official FC Bayern Basketball NBA 2K19 esports team "Bayern Ballers Gaming" was founded in April 2018. The Ballers quickly became one of the best virtual basketball teams in the world: together with their coach Swen Müller, the team continued to climb the NBA 2K ProAM world ranking, making them one of the Top 5 European teams.[8]