A successful era is coming to an end at FC Bayern Basketball: Captain Nihad Djedovic is leaving the five-time German champions after nine years in Munich to join CB Unicaja Málaga in the strong Spanish league for a two year contract. Djedovic, 32, is Bayern's unmatched record player with 291 BBL appearances, scoring 3,244 points in the Bundesliga for an average of 11.1 points. In the EuroLeague, the guard wore the FCBB jersey 115 times (8.6 ppg), in the EuroCup it was 45 games (8.3 ppg).
In Munich, Nihad Djedovic celebrated three championships (2014, 2018, 2019) and two Cup victories (2018, 2021), three years ago he was named Finals MVP after the finals series against Alba Berlin (3-0) with 15.2 points and five assists per game. Afterwards, he had to struggle with injury misfortune for almost three years before he was able to return to his old strength in recent months.
"This is not goodbye for me, I'm just saying until we meet again."
Nihad Djedovic
"Munich will remain my home"
"In professional sports, not all plans always work out. The club and I agreed at short notice that it was best for both sides to go our separate ways. The ACB is the most attractive league in Europe and I feel honored to continue my career with one of the most traditional clubs. It will be a great challenge. I'm also excited because I started my career in Spain and my parents live there. But that won't change the fact that Munich is and will remain my home and that I feel FC Bayern and everyone there like my family. Those were incredible nine seasons in the red and white jersey, a path with many ups and downs, with everything an athlete can experience. The most important thing was that I had the opportunity to win titles that are forever. This is not goodbye for me, I just say: until we meet again! Until then, I'd like to thank everyone at the club who supported me here for so long; also the fans who were always there and made an incredible atmosphere in the Audi Dome - I'll miss it."
The Bosnian-born player with a German passport had spent the first seven years of his life in Munich, moving to FC Barcelona's youth program in 2007. Via Spain (30 ACB games for Barcelona and mainly Santiago de Compostela), the Italian league, Istanbul and Berlin, he joined Bayern in 2013. Since 2019, he was team captain. His two children were born in Munich.
"Nihad has left his mark on the club"
"Nihad is leaving now, but he will remain a close friend and all doors will always be open to him in Munich," said Bayern general manager Marko Pesic, who bid farewell to Djedovic at a specially convened press conference at the Audi Dome. "Nihad has shaped this club with his passion for basketball and his fighter's heart like hardly anyone else. We are very grateful to him for what he has done here. Nine years is an incredible time in professional sports, which says everything about him and his merits. Despite the farewell, which will not be easy for everyone, we are also happy for Nihad that he can once again tackle such an interesting challenge."
Unicaja Malaga has been one of the top clubs in Europe's strongest league for decades, and the club from the Andalusian Costa del Sol was one of the A-licensed clubs in the EuroLeague for 15 years. The 2006 Spanish champions won the EuroCup in 2017 and now participate in the Fiba Champions League.