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 club has won six German Championships, and five German Cups in its history.
Founded in 1946, Bayern's basketball section had early success in the 1950s and 1960s, before mostly disappearing from the national first level in the following three decades. The team had a resurgence in 2010s and has since been among Germany's best teams, as well as a EuroLeague regular.
Bayern plays its domestic home games at BMW Park, which was opened in 1972, while international games are played at the SAP Garden, which opened in 2024.
FC Bayern Munich Basketball also has a reserve team that plays in German third-tier level ProB.
Bayern Munich was founded in 1900 when a number of football enthusiasts split from a Munich gymnastics club (MTV 1879). The basketball section was founded in 1946 after one former football player started the team after retiring from his former sport.
Bayern 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.
Bayern was one of the founding members of the Basketball Bundesliga in 1966.
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).
In 2008, Bayern Munich, led by then-president Uli HoeneÃÂ and then vice-president Bernd Rauch, announced its plans to return the club to its former glory, and return to the top level Basketball Bundesliga. Two years later, in 2010, Bayern Munich's club members voted in favor of a one-time financial injection in the team, with the aim of bringing it back to the first division. Following its new financial funding, the team announced national team head coach Dirk Bauermann. In 2011, the team became fully professional.
Success in the domestic area followed quickly, as in the 2012âÂÂ13 season the club reached the BBL semifinals, where it lost 3âÂÂ2 against the reigning champions Brose Baskets.
Thanks to a wild card, Bayern Munich played in the EuroLeague in the 2013âÂÂ14 season. This was its first appearance in the top European championship, and it reached the Top 16 stage in its debut.
On 18 June 2014, Bayern won its third national title when it beat Alba Berlin 3âÂÂ1 in the Finals. It was the first title for the team in 59 years, its last having been in 1955. The star player of the team was Malcolm Delaney, who won both the MVP and Finals MVP awards.
In the 2014âÂÂ15 season, Bayern failed to win a title. In the BBL Finals they were defeated by Brose Baskets, 3âÂÂ2. The team had to wait until 2018 for its next championship, as they beat Alba Berlin 3âÂÂ2 in the Finals that year. By winning the BBL, Bayern also qualified for the following EuroLeague season.
In the following years, Bayern Munich became a power house in the BBL, as well as a regular in the EuroLeague.
The team's home arena is called BMW Park, which seats 6,700 spectators.
The team's home arena for EuroLeague games is called SAP Garden, which seats 12,500 spectators.
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50 Greatest EuroLeague Contributors <br> Nominated:
EuroLeague Basketball 2010âÂÂ20 All-Decade Team <br> Nominated:
EuroCup Basketball MVP of the Week
NBA G League International Challenge Finals MVP
Bayern Munich was featured in the NBA 2K15, 2K16 & 2K17 video games.
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.