"Daily Mail" reported that Manchester United does not plan to form a basketball team. Reports that Manchester United are interested in creating a basketball club have surprised everyone at Old Trafford and left club officials quite confuse...
"Daily Mail" reported that Manchester United does not plan to form a basketball team.
Reports that Manchester United are interested in creating a basketball club have surprised everyone at Old Trafford and left club officials quite confused. In fact, this football giant won the British Basketball League championship 40 years ago.
Gianni Petrucci, president of the Italian Basketball Federation, previously told "Corriere dello Sport": "If Manchester United, the most popular football club in the world, has agreed, it must make sense."
Petrucci is also involved in the NBA European League plan, which is expected to be launched in the 2027-28 season and cover up to 12 cities.
But the "Daily Mail" understands that Manchester United has not agreed at all. The club's sole focus is to build successful men's and women's football teams, which is challenging enough in itself without the distraction of a basketball club.
Manchester United had gone through basketball in the mid-1980s, when they created a team to compete with the Manchester Giants, then merged with their rivals, but disbanded before the end of the third season. Manchester United's basketball team won the British Championship in 1985 and 1986 and has welcomed European powers including Real Madrid and Barcelona to Stretford Leisure Centre.
Former player and backbone of the Manchester basketball community, Geoff Jones, suggested that Sir Alex Ferguson taking over from Ron Atkinson may be related to Manchester United giving up on basketball. At the time, Manchester United was struggling to win its first league title since 1967 and the English club was banned from European competitions.
Jones recalled: "I think the football people at Manchester United were thinking, what have we done? The reality is, the basketball team was very successful. I remember we displayed the trophy in the stadium at Old Trafford. It would have made me very uncomfortable as a football player who had not won any honors."
