The Manchester Magic are an English basketball club from the city of

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

in the northwest of

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

. For the 2019-20 season, the Magic will compete in the National Basketball League Division 2 North. They play their home games at the Manchester Basketball Centre, which was part-funded by former NBA star John Amaechi. A sister team, the Manchester Mystics, compete in the top-tier Women's British Basketball League.

History

The Magic were first established in 1997, originally as a reserve squad for the nearby Manchester Giants, entering the newly founded NBL Division 3 for the 1997/1998 season and winning immediate promotion as league runner-up and playoff champions. A change in direction from their one-time parent club saw the fledgling team become independent mid-way through their first season in Division Two, choosing the City of Manchester Attitude as their new name. A first league title was to follow at the end of the 1999/2000 season, with the club joining the top flight just as the national league was being restructured, forming the short-lived NBL Conference. After rebranding as the Manchester Magic, the club enjoyed over a decade of success in the top tier of the English Basketball League, with the highlight being a triple title success in the 2007/2008 season, claiming the

National Cup The English National Cup is an annual basketball knock-out competition held between professional, semi-professional and amateur teams from the various divisions of the National Basketball League. For most of the competition's history, the draw ha ...

alongside the league and playoff titles. The team then took the shock decision to play in Division 3 for the 2011/12 season, in order "to forge a much closer link between the youngsters... and the men's team", in the words of club director Joe Forber. The club worked their way back up the English leagues in record time, winning Division 3 at the first attempt to earn a return to Division 2, and then gaining back-to-back promotions with a runner-up spot in Division 2 in the 2012/13 season. Since returning to Division 1, the Magic have claimed both the

and National Trophy in the 2014/15 season, alongside second-place finishes in both the league and the end-of-season playoffs.

Club honours

* 2007, 2008, 2015, 2016 National Trophy * 2015, 2016 EBL Division 1 League Champions * 2008 EBL Division 1 Playoff Champions * 2008, 2010 EBL Division 2 League Champions * 2000 EBL Division 3 League Champions * 2012 EBL Division 3 Playoff Champions * 1998

Season-by-season records

References

External links

Official Manchester Magic website
{{English Basketball League Basketball teams in England Sport in Manchester Basketball teams established in 1997