GBMAXIBASKETBALL
About Us
THE NATIONAL PERFORMANCE PROGRAMME FOR MASTERS BASKETBALL PLAYERS
GBMAXIBASKETBALL
What Is Maxibasketball?
Maxibasketball is a competitive category for players retired from regular basketball, and who wish to continue playing in high performance competitions against players in their age group.
In the UK, maxibasketball is also referred to as ‘masters’ basketball but you will find the term maxibasketball more commonly used at international events in Europe and worldwide.
Maxibasketball is divided into competition categories which rise in 5-year increments, e.g. 35+, 40+, 45+ years, and so on. Since 1991, masters championships have been provided by FIMBA and in more recent history by the European Seniors Basketball Association (ESBA), which are privately operated entities. However, in a landmark development for the sport in December 2025, the Federation of International Basketball (FIBA) recognised the masters age category from 40+ upwards and from 2026 has introduced the FIBA Masters Open to its cadre of international competitions. The FIBA Masters Open 2026 is an exciting new instrument in FIBA’s long-term participation strategy, serving to strengthen its vision of one, global basketball community.
GB Maxibasketball is well placed to ensure Great Britain plays it part in promoting this ethos by providing a platform for players to continue playing and to represent their national federation.
Some Maxibasketball Facts
GB Maxibasketball were the first team from Great Britain to compete in a world maxibasketball tournament in 2019, with the Women’s 50+ team attaining the country’s first ever world championship medal. In the following six years, we have grown from two teams to eleven teams and won twenty medals in British, European and World masters competitions.
GBMAXIBASKETBALL
Medal history
Santander, Spain 2019: gold medal (F50)
Helsinki, Finland 2019: 4th place medal world championship (F55)
Malaga, Spain 2022: gold medal (F35); silver medal (M35); 4th place medals (M40 & F50) European championship
Santander Spain 2023: gold medal (F50)
Murcia, Spain 2023: gold medal (M55 & F55)
Santander, Spain 2024: silver medal (F55)
Pesaro, Italy 2024: silver medal (M35); bronze medal (F35) – European championship
Murcia, Spain 2024: gold medal (F55)
Dublin, Ireland 2024 & 2025 – gold medal (M50)
GB Masters 2024 & 2025: gold medals (F35)
Santander, Spain 2025: bronze medal (F50)
Ticino, Switzerland 2025: bronze medals (M35 & F35) – world championship
10 teams competed in the European Championship 2026 in Athens, with our GB F40+ and GB M55+ teams winning bronze medals – the first British teams to do so in their age category. Our GB Maxis M50+ competed in the inaugural FIBA Masters Open 2026 tournament in Corinth-Loutraki and were placed 5th overall. GB Maxibasketball was the only representative team from Great Britain in this tournament – another first for our national performance programme.
GBMAXIBASKETBALL
Who We Are
GB Maxibasketball is a national high quality programme for male and female players aged 35+ years of age and beyond.
The programme was originally established towards the end of the 2017/18 basketball season to encourage former high level players back into basketball, and to provide the opportunity for some of these players to ultimately represent their country on the international stage.
The GB Maxibasketball programme produced the first ever British basketball teams to compete on a World Maxibasketball stage. Two female teams travelled to Espoo, Helsinki – Finland’s capital city – to compete in the 15th FIMBA World Maxibasketball Championships 2019. They represented Great Britain in the 40+ and 50+ competition categories, with their 50+ team achieving a world championship 4th place medal. Nicknamed ‘GB Maxis’, their success had led to the expansion of the programme during 2020 and we now organise male and female teams to compete in internationally recognised World and European maxibasketball championships.
In December 2020, the GB Maxibasketball programme was recognised by Basketball England for its excellence in providing a performance environment for teams operating at high level, when it was included in the Basketball England Talent Pathway for elite players. The ‘Talent Pathway’ contains four tiers of progression and showcases the various stages of development for basketball players from the age of 11 through to senior GB representation. For the first time ever, the pathway has been extended to include GB representation at maxibasketball level, and working with Basketball England, Basketball Scotland and Basketball Wales, GB Maxibasketball delivered the first ever Tri-Nations 35+ Masters event at the National Basketball Performance Centre in Manchester in June 2024.
Following the world governing body (FIBA) landmark recognition of the age category in December 2025, the home nation governing bodies have aligned to recognise the masters age group as integral to its basketball community, and has taken the formal decision to include it in the Great Britain national teams performance pathway.
GB Maxibasketball stands ready to support the coordination of masters teams within the Great Britain performance pathway.
GBMAXIBASKETBALL
UK & GLOBAL STRUCTURES
The graphic here shows the IOC recognised basketball organisations and the European and World competitions they organise at all age groups from U16 to Masters. FIBA also runs 3×3 competitions. The governing bodies in Britain are also shown, as well as the GB national teams from U16 to Seniors and Masters national teams.
On the domestic front, there are a good number of older players still playing in local leagues, and there are annual tournaments being run in the UK that many social masters teams compete in, such as the Yorkshire Masters, the Midland Masters, the Strathclyde Masters and the GB Masters. There are also further opportunities further afield in Europe and globally.
Let’s talk about MaxiBasketball
We welcome all enquiries about the GB Maxibasketball national performance programme. We are happy to provide further information on how to join, either as a Player, Coach or member of our Support Team. You can register your interest for the 2026/27 season using the REGISTRATION LINK, or you hit the ‘GET IN TOUCH’ button and leave us a message. We will get back to you as soon as we can.