Maik Zirbes (born 29 January 1990) is a German professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player for Benfica of the

Liga Portuguesa de Basquetebol The Liga Portuguesa de Basquetebol ( en, Portuguese Basketball League), also known as Liga Betclic for sponsorship reasons, is the top men's professional club basketball league in Portugal. History From the 2008–09 season onward, the competit ...

. He also represents the senior

German national basketball team The Germany men's national basketball team (german: Deutsche Basketballnationalmannschaft or ''Die Mannschaft'') represents Germany in international basketball competition. The team is directed by the German Basketball Federation (''Deutscher B ...

in the international competitions. Standing at , he plays the

center Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentrici ...

position.

Early career

Zirbes first played soccer, but opted to focus on basketball when he was 12 years old. He started his basketball career in the youth set up of

TBB Trier Gladiators Treves, for sponsorship reasons known as Römerstrom Gladiators Trier, is a professional basketball club based in Trier, Germany. The club plays in the ProA. Their home arena is Trier Arena, which has a capacity of 5,495 people. From 19 ...

before signing his first professional contract with TBB at the age of 17. In the 2008–09 campaign, Zirbes was named Most Valuable Player of the German youth league NBBL.

Professional career

Zirbes played with

until signing a three-year contract with

Brose Baskets Brose Bamberg is a German professional basketball team from Bamberg, Franconia / North Bavaria. The club has won the German Championship title nine times and the German Cup five times. The club currently plays in the German top tier Basketba ...

in June 2012. On 5 August 2014, Zirbes signed a two-year deal with the Serbian team

Crvena zvezda Fudbalski klub Crvena zvezda ( sr-Cyrl, Фудбалски клуб Црвена звезда, lit=Red Star Football Club, ), commonly known as Red Star Belgrade in English-language media, is a Serbian professional Association football, foot ...

. In his first 2014–15 season with the club, Crvena zvezda won the

Adriatic League The ABA League, renamed to the ABA League First Division in 2017, is the 1st-tier regional men's professional basketball league that originally featured clubs from the former Yugoslavia (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, North Mac ...

championship, the

Serbian League The Serbian League () is the third level football league in Serbia. It consists of four groups, namely Belgrade, East, Vojvodina, and West. The winner of each group earns promotion to the Serbian First League. History 1992–1995 In the summer of ...

championship and the

Radivoj Korać Cup The Radivoj Korać Cup ( sr, Куп Радивоја Кораћа / Kup Radivoja Koraća) is the men's national basketball cup of Serbia. It is run by the Basketball Federation of Serbia and is named after a Serbian basketball legend and FIBA Ha ...

. In June 2015, he exercised his player option for the 2015–16 season. On 13 June 2016, Zirbes signed a two-year contract with the Israeli club

Maccabi Tel Aviv Maccabi Tel Aviv ( he, מכבי תל אביב) is one of the largest sports clubs in Israel, and a part of the Maccabi association. Many sports clubs and teams in Tel Aviv are in association with Maccabi and compete in a variety of sports, such ...

. On 24 January 2017, Zirbes returned to Germany and signed with

Bayern Munich Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), also known as FC Bayern (), Bayern Munich, or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. It is best known for its professional men's football team, which pla ...

on loan, till the end of the season. On 30 July 2017 Zirbes signed a two-year contract extension with Bayern Munich. On 17 July 2018, Zirbes returned to Crvena zvezda. During his one-year stint with

KK Crvena zvezda Košarkaški klub Crvena zvezda ( sr-cyrl, Кошаркашки клуб Црвена звезда, ), commonly referred to as KK Crvena zvezda mts for sponsorship reasons or simply Crvena zvezda, is a men's professional basketball Sports club, ...

, Zirbes averaged 7.7 points and 4 rebounds in just over 15 minutes per game. His best game was on 8 October 2018 in a 87–71 win against

KK Budućnost KK Budućnost (, ), currently known as Budućnost VOLI () for sponsorship reasons, is a professional basketball Sports club, club based in Podgorica, Montenegro. The club competes in Montenegrin Basketball League, Adriatic League and EuroCup Bas ...

in the round 2 of the

ABA League The ABA League, renamed to the ABA League First Division in 2017, is the 1st-tier regional men's professional basketball league that originally featured clubs from the former Yugoslavia (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, North Mace ...

regular season, where he scored 19 points and grabbed 6 rebounds in 22 minutes. After being cut from the roster for the

Basketball League of Serbia The Basketball League of Serbia ( sr, Кошаркашка лига Србије, Košarkaška liga Srbije; abbr. КЛС or KLS), is a top-tier men's professional basketball league in Serbia. Founded in 2006, it is run by the Basketball Federatio ...

, on 3 May 2019, Zirbes signed for the Guangxi Weizhuang of the

National Basketball League (China) The National Basketball League () is a professional basketball minor league in China, called Chinese Basketball League (CBL) before 2006. It is commonly known as the NBL, and this name (spelled out in letters) is often used even in Chinese. NBL ...

. On 26 September 2019, Zirbes signed with

Cedevita Olimpija Košarkarski klub Cedevita Olimpija ( en, Cedevita Olimpija Basketball Club), commonly referred to as KK Cedevita Olimpija or simply Olimpija, is a men's professional basketball club based in Ljubljana, Slovenia. The club competes in the ABA Le ...

of the Slovenian League. On 12 July 2020, Zirbes signed with

Shabab Al Ahli Shabab Al Ahli, is an Emirati professional basketball team located in Dubai. The team has competed in both the domestic UAE National Basketball League as well as the international FIBA Asia Champions Cup. Achievements * UAE National League ch ...

of the

UAE National Basketball League The UAE National Basketball League is the top professional basketball league in the United Arab Emirates. It was founded in 2013.Crvena zvezda Fudbalski klub Crvena zvezda ( sr-Cyrl, Фудбалски клуб Црвена звезда, lit=Red Star Football Club, ), commonly known as Red Star Belgrade in English-language media, is a Serbian professional Association football, foot ...

until the end of 2021, with an option to extend it for the season. He left the Zvezda on 21 June 2022. In August 2022, Zirbes signed for Benfica of the

National team career

EuroBasket Qualifier Austria vs Germany, 13 August 2014 - 019

Zirbes represented the German Junior National Teams at the

2008 FIBA Europe Under-18 Championship The 2008 FIBA Europe Under-18 Championship was an international basketball competition held in Greece from July 25, 2008 until August 3. The hosts, Greeks, emerged as the champions after beating the Lithuanians in the final, 57–50 to clinch th ...

and the

2010 FIBA Europe Under-20 Championship The 2010 FIBA Europe Under-20 Championship was the 13th edition of the FIBA Europe Under-20 Championship. The cities of Zadar, Crikvenica and Makarska, in Croatia, hosted the tournament. France won their first title. Netherlands and the Czech Rep ...

. He was handed his first

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. Caps typically have a visor, or no brim at all. They are popular in casual and informal se ...

with the senior

in August 2009, when Germany took on

the Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. In 2013, Zirbes was a member of Germany's roster at the 2013 EuroBasket, in Slovenia.

Career statistics

EuroLeague

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2012–13 , style="text-align:left;" rowspan="2",

Bamberg Bamberg (, , ; East Franconian: ''Bambärch'') is a town in Upper Franconia, Germany, on the river Regnitz close to its confluence with the river Main. The town dates back to the 9th century, when its name was derived from the nearby ' castle. C ...

, 23 , , 23 , , 19.7 , , .535 , , .000 , , .786 , , 5.0 , , .6 , , .7 , , .4 , , 8.2 , , 7.7 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2013–14 , 10 , , 9 , , 18.8 , , .508 , , .000 , , .652 , , 4.8 , , .7 , , .1 , , .2 , , 8.1 , , 6.7 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2014–15 , style="text-align:left;" rowspan="2",

, 24 , , 0 , , 13.0 , , .622 , , .000 , , .688 , , 3.3 , , .3 , , .5 , , .4 , , 5.2 , , 6.2 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2015–16 , 27 , , 26 , , 25.2 , , .604 , , .000 , , .677 , , 6.1 , , .7 , , .9 , , .6 , , 12.4 , , 14.3 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2016–17 , style="text-align:left;", Maccabi , 15 , , 2 , , 15.2 , , .682 , , .000 , , .780 , , 3.0 , , .3 , , .3 , , .3 , , 8.1 , , 8.1 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan=2, Career , 84 , , 58 , , 19.4 , , .574 , , .000 , , .691 , , 4.8 , , .6 , , .4 , , .4 , , 8.7 , , 9.3

References

External links

Maik Zirbes
at aba-liga.com
Maik Zirbes
at eurobasket.com
Maik Zirbes
at euroleague.net

at fiba.com * {{DEFAULTSORT:Zirbes, Maik 1990 births Living people ABA League players Basketball League of Serbia players Brose Bamberg players Centers (basketball) Expatriate basketball people in China FC Bayern Munich basketball players German expatriate basketball people in Serbia German expatriate sportspeople in China German expatriate sportspeople in the United Arab Emirates German men's basketball players KK Cedevita Olimpija players KK Crvena zvezda players Maccabi Tel Aviv B.C. players People from Bernkastel-Wittlich S.L. Benfica basketball players Sportspeople from Rhineland-Palatinate