The 2009-born talent is one of Bayern’s leaders already at the U19 level domestically
Caspar Vossenberg accepting his roles on different teams for Bayern
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Caspar Vossenberg has been following the Adidas NextGen EuroLeague for the last two years and he was excited to play this year at the continent’s top youth club competition. Despite being two years younger than the rest of the players, the FC Bayern Munich talent has shown why he is one of the next big hopes in German basketball.
Vossenberg was born in 2009, making him available to play in the next two editions of the NextGen EuroLeague. But he hasn’t played like a youngster not ready for the moment. He is averaged 15.7 points, 3.3 rebounds, 1.7 assists and 2.0 steals through his first three games for an average performance index rating of 15.0.
“My expectations were high since it’s the biggest U18 tournament in Europe. The competition is very good and you can tell that every team gives their all and wants to win,” Vossenberg said.
Vossenberg has followed the last two years of the competition, admitting even watching the Friday games while at school before taking in the weekend games. And he also watched the NextGen Finals in Berlin last year.
Vossenberg is spending his first season with Bayern, havinf made the move to southern Germany on a multi-year deal after playing 2023-24 with German second division team ART Giants Dusseldorf.
It was there that he learned his first real lessons in taking different roles with different teams as he starred for Dusselfdorf’s U16 JBBL team and also practiced with the pro team in the ProA.
“I learned just how much of a different level the ProA is compared to the JBBL. But I also learned how to accept two different roles. You can be the leader in the JBBL, but you can’t show up in the ProA and just say give me the ball and do what you want. You have to take a different role and accept it,” said Vossenberg, who averaged 24.3 points and 12.4 rebounds in the U16 league but did not make an appearance in the ProA.
Vossenberg started with football like almost all German youngsters while growing up in Duisburg and was about 5 or 6 years old when he decided to play basketball. He says he was 12 or 13 when he first dreamed of becoming a professional basketball player.
He joined Düsseldorf in 2023 but then after last season was looking for another club and one of his main choices was Bayern.
“When my parents and I were in Munich, we didn’t need much time to decide that we will go to Munich. When we were there it was pretty clear I would transfer to Munich,” he remembered. “One of the most important reasons was the FC Bayern Campus. It’s crazy that you can live there in the dormitories. It’s giant, big rooms, good food and other requirements you need as an athlete. On top of that, I had heard positive things about FC Bayern.”
Vossenberg also liked the idea that Bayern would give him a chance to play in different teams over the course of his development. This is his final season at the U16 level and he has averaged 28.0 points and 8.0 rebounds in three games in the JBBL. He has been worth 5.5 points and 2.8 rebounds in the U19 NBBL league and has also 1.9 points in 7 minutes in seven games in the third division ProB.
“You can see the difference of the levels between U16, U19 and then third division. I have a different role in each team - which I would like to change long term. That would be important for my career because it’s important for me to take different roles in the higher level teams,” he said.
I have a different role in each team - which I would like to change long term. That would be important for my career
Of course, there is also Bayern’s pro team that plays in the German League and the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague. And the management has shown a commitment to play young players. Ivan Kharchenkov, who starred for Bayern last season at the NextGen EuroLeague, is averaging more than 7 minutes per game in the EuroLeague. And fellow 2006-born talent Ivan Volf also made his EuroLeague debut at 18 years of age.
But being in Munich also has had its challenges for Vossenberg. Whereas Dusseldorf was less than 30 kilometers from his hometown of Duisburg, Munich is nearly 650 kilometers away.
“It’s really far away from home, and you have to leave all your family and friends back home. But that was not going to stop me from transferring because it would get in the way of my dream. So I decided to leave everything behind and start the next step of my career here,” he said,
Vossenberg also has already made his first in-roads in the German youth national team ranks. He played last spring in the famous U18 national team competition Albert Schweitzer Tournament for a German U17 team. And he is expected to be one of the leaders of the German team this summer at the FIBA U16 EuroBasket 2025. Vossenberg is part of a very highly talented 2009 generation, including Fabian Kayser, who is also playing at the NextGen EuroLeague Munich tournament with U18 Real Madrid, Roko Jerkic, Djordje Klaric, Jona Drücke and Lucai Anderson.
“I think it’s mega cool that our 2009 generation is so strong. Of course, our goal is to qualify for the FIBA U17 Basketball World Cup and also win a medal this year,” Vossenberg said of the U16 EuroBasket, from which the top five teams book their tickets to the 2026 U17 World Cup. “But it’s important for us to have a good 2009 generation in general for German basketball. And it is fun to have a strong generation and play with the best players from your country.”
And to have another role to play and figure out how he fits within the team - just like he has started doing in earnest in the last two seasons.