International Basket-ball Club (IBBC) Geneva has its origins in the creation in 1951 of an amateur basketball section for employees of Sécheron SA, one of Geneva’s major industrial companies founded in the 19th century.
Sécheron Sport won its first title in the annual tournament of the Geneva Corporate Basketball Association in 1952, and the Swiss Corporate Championship title in 1954. Its junior team was Swiss vice-champion in 1953, and several of the best young players played with Etoile-Sécheron in Switzerland’s top national basketball division, Ligue A, during the 1950s. In 1957, Sécheron Sport created its first women’s team. Sécheron Sport merged with Etoile-Sécheron in 1958 to form Sécheron BBC, one of Switzerland’s biggest clubs, with three senior men’s, two women’s and three junior teams. The club maintained a men’s team in Ligue A until the early 1960s.
The gradual decline in the number of young apprentices employed by Sécheron SA in the 1980s forced Sécheron BBC to look for reinforcements, particularly within Geneva’s international community. Following the regular arrival of more and more “international” players, particularly from the International Labor Office (ILO), the club was renamed BIT/Sécheron, with a team playing in either the 2nd or 3rd ACGBA league over the next few years.
As the club became predominantly made up of male and female players employed by international organizations, permanent missions and other private companies based in Geneva, the club was renamed International Basket-ball Club de Genève (IBBC) in 1993. One of the men’s teams, which played two seasons in the Groupement Autonome de Basket-Ball Genève (GAB), returned to the ACGBA championship in 2006. Since then, IBBC has entered two men’s teams in the ACGBA. A women’s team was created in 2001, regularly placing in the top half of the ACGBA’s 2nd women’s league.
Achievements since 1980 (men’s teams)
1982: SECHERON, Champions, 3rd League, ACGBA
1986: BIT/SECHERON, Champions, 3rd League, ACGBA; Winner of the Bernex Basket Tournament Cup
2007: IBBC 2, Champions, 4th League, ACGBA
2008: IBBC 1, Champions, 3rd League, ACGBA
2010: IBBC 2, Champions, 3rd League, ACGBA
2011: IBBC 1, Champions, 3rd League, ACGBA; Cup Winner ESL Vernier Veterans Tournament
2015: IBBC 1, Champions, 3rd League, ACGBA
2018: IBBC 1, Coupe genevoise winners for the 2017-2018 season
2023: IBBC, Champions, 3rd League, ACGBA
Achievements since 1980: women’s teams
2016: Coupe genevoise winners for the 2015-2016 season
2024:
- Champions, 2nd League, ACGBA
- Coupe genevoise (“Eric Filliettaz” Cup) Winners for the 2023-24 season
- Promoted to 1st League (LN1), Swissbasket for the 2023-24 season
United Nations Inter-Agency Games (Majority of IBBC players in Geneva team)
Gold medals: 1993, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2022, 2023
Silver medal: 1996
Bronze medal: 1995, 1997, 1998, 2004, 2006, 2008