The German team meets Turkey in the final of the SEM basketball. Like the DBB team, the Turks came through the tournament unbeaten. The team is guided by an eccentric trainer and led by Center Alperen Sengün.
Two fists raised in the air – that is the cheering gesture by Ergin Ataman, the national coach of Türkiye. Ataman is one of the most successful coaches in Europe. The Turk has three times Euroleague won, the most important competition in the European club basketball: twice with Anadolu Efes Istanbul and the German Center Tibor Pleiß, and most recently in 2024 with Panathinaikos Athens at Final Four in Berlin.
Turkey roars through the tournament
Turkish national coach was also Ataman, but without much success. At the 2014 World Cup he was eighth and a year later at the Eurobasket his team landed in 14th place. He has been coaching his home country again since 2022, and this time his team is brewing through the tournament. Without defeat, the Turks made it into the final and meet Germany this Sunday (8 p.m. in the audio stream and in the live ticker at Sportschau.de), the only other undefeated team of the European Championship.
Jakob Rüger, Sportschau, 14.09.2025 7:55 p.m.
At this march towards the title, Ataman’s son Sarp also runs. The special thing: Sarp is only 15. He is not an official assistant, but always with the team. The evening before the European Championship final against Germany, the Turks train again. Media representatives are allowed to observe the last minutes of the unit, and when after a few moments the last player is also done with practice, Shane Larkin, the naturalized playmaker, can get Sarp. He is the last to throw the basket and now and then meet.
The 15 -year -old son assisted the trainer
A few minutes later, his father Ergin appears in the press room next door to the final press conference. The sports show asks father Ataman about the exact role of his son in the team: “He started working like an assistant coach during the tournament preparation. He helps with Scouting. He works individually with players, sometimes tells me great things before the game. And he has a lot of experience. “
The Turkish basketball national trainer Ergo Ataman
Frown in the press room and tense silence, as father Ataman justified the rich wealth of experience of the 15-year-old. “He won the Euroleague with me three times. He was always very close, at the bank, in the cabin. That is why he is one of the most experienced people at this tournament in trophies.”
Lachen in the room, but Ataman senior is not yet finished. “And he is ready. He is the most ready of all of us.” When asked whether his son Sarp will take both fists into the air when gaining the title like dad, Ataman grins his broadest grin of the entire press conference and says: “I think yes. I think yes.”
Greece humiliated in the semi -finals
It is more important than Sarps contribution, as Father Ergin the team stops. The head coach quickly gets to the point: “We have played a perfect tournament so far. We play every game with the same pace and the same aggressiveness and will not change that either. We will also compete in the final with the same strategy as always. My team is ready for the European championship title.”
In fact, the Turks only wiggled in the round of 16 in the KO phase. Then they struggled against the outsider Sweden 85:79 in the next round and benefited from some disputed whistles by the referees. Then they did Poland 91:77 and humiliated the Greeks in the semi -finals 94:68.
Schröder: “Alperen Sengün is the head of the snake.”
Germany should have a hard time in the final at reboundand that is also due to the Natural Power Alperen Sengün. The massive center Fish an average of eleven rebound from the board, the second best value of the tournament. He also achieved 21 points and has a good eye for clever passes. The NBA-Profi has to defend Germany together, because near the ring in one-on-one he is hard to keep. Sengün is one of the top candidates in the election to be the most valuable player in Eurobasket.
Dennis Schröder knows him from a season together at the Houston Rockets. The German captain says: “Alperen Sengün is a good boy. He was at the beginning with the Rocken Not so good English yet. I tried to help him. “ Schröder calls Sengün the “Head of the snake” And praises how well he leads the Turkish team. “But everything is not interested. We want to get gold and will try to stop him as a team.”
Most recently, both teams met at the Super Cup in Munich a month ago, a preparation tournament. The Turkish players surprised with their attitude at the time: they punched lost balls and aged as passionately as if it were a playback game. Germany won the test with luck 73:71. This game showed his team what it was for and that it does not need to worry about the other greats like Serbia and Greece, says Ergin Ataman.
“I’ve been the best coach in Europe over the past ten years.”
And then coach Ergin Ataman gets one more out at the press conference before the final. A journalist confronts him with the fact that as a club trainer he was much more successful than with the national team and to what extent he developed: “You can say it is my ego. You can say that it is the reality, but over the past ten years I have been the best coach in Europe. Wherever I was, I got the titles. The only difference to work in the club is: I always have to talk English and my English is not perfect. Here I understand Turkish. Maybe my players are therefore better and everything is easier and everything is easier.”
Ataman then reaffirms: “When I’m in the final, I win.” And finally he announces what it will look like, and you don’t have to speak English perfectly. “I will take both fists into the air.” The cheering gesture from father Ergo, who will probably also show his son Sarp.