The Bayern Basketball team has a new team captain: Vladimir Lucic will lead the Munich team from next Saturday in the BBL opener at the Audi Dome against Ulm (Oct. 1, 18:00). The 33-year-old forward, now also captain of the Serbian national team, has been playing for Bayern since 2016. In 2021, he was voted "Player of the Decade" by the FCBB fans and was also the first player from a German club to be named to the EuroLeague's "First Team.
„Munich is my second home“
"For me personally, it's a very nice thing, I'm going into my seventh season here and I've felt like an integral part of this organization for a long time," Lucic said. "Munich and the club have become my second home. As I said, I'm very happy about that, although nothing will change in terms of how I'll be involved with the team on and off the court."
Lucic succeeds Nihad Djedovic, who moved to Malaga in the summer. Lucic's successor as co-captain is national player Andreas Obst, 26, who like colleague Nick Weiler-Babb will join team training for the first time on Tuesday after Germany won the bronze medal at the European Championships.
Co-captin Andreas Obst
Without the DBB duo, Elias Harris (fit again), Isaac Bonga (rehabilitation training) and for a short time also without Corey Walden (infection), the Bavarians won the "Trofeo d'Abruzzo" in Teramo, Italy, this last weekend. After the clear success on Saturday over the Italian first division team Pesaro (72-38, Lucic with 14 points), the team of head coach Andrea Trinchieri also prevailed in the final on Sunday against AEK Athens.
76-59 vs AEK Athen
The eight-time Greek champions led 21-12 after eight minutes, but Bayern turned the game around with a 12-0 run from that point on. In the end, it was 76-59 (45-31) for the FCBB, with playmaker Cassius Winston (8/11 from the field) and Ognjen Jaramaz scoring the most with 20 points each, as well as Lucic (12 points).
A tough opening program awaits Bayern next weekend: After the BBL opener against Ulm, the schedule continues two days later with an away game in Frankfurt (Oct. 3, 17:30) before the massively strengthened Turkish champions and EuroLeague co-favorites Fenerbahce Istanbul come to the Audi Dome for the premiere of the new season in the top division on the following Thursday (Oct. 6, 20:30).
(c) De Antonis, Martinez