The German basketball players have completed the World Cup qualification with their tenth success in the twelfth game as group winners. In the tight “final” for first place in season J, the team of national coach Gordon Herbert prevailed in Espoo on Monday evening (February 27th, 2023) with 87:81 (46:43) against hosts Finland.
Both Germany and Finland were already qualified for the World Cup before the game. The World Championship will take place from August 25th to September 10th in the Philippines, Japan and Indonesia.
Captain Voigtmann with a strong 23 points
Herbert again had no NBA professionals available, Johannes Voigtmann (Armani Milan) was the only professional from a Euroleague club. Therefore, as in the victory over Sweden on Friday in Frankfurt (73:66), many young talents were used. Jason George, Jonas Richter and Nelson Weidemann from Chemnitz made their debuts against the Swedes, and the trio was also on the floor in Finland.
Captain Voigtmann stood out against the Finns with 23 points and even narrowly missed a “triple double” with nine assists and nine rebounds. In the tight final phase, Voigtmann also ensured the lead with 38 seconds to go and then scored the decisive points from the free-throw line.
Three other DBB players hit double digits
In addition to Voigtmann, David Krämer (16), Karim Jallow (14) and Jonas Richter (10) scored double digits, Herbert’s team shone with a strong three-point quota and ended up scoring 15 of 24 attempts from “downtown”.
The selection of the German Basketball Association (DBB) had already booked the ticket for the World Cup in Bamberg in mid-November by beating the Finns. The two defeats came in the opening game of the first group stage against Latvia and in Slovenia.
Draw for World Cup on April 29th in Manila
The draw for the World Cup finals will take place in Manila on April 29. It is not yet clear whether the German team will play their preliminary group in the Philippines, in Indonesia (Jakarta) or in Japan (Okinawa). The World Cup knockout stage and finals will be held in the Philippines.
The World Association FIBA only wanted to announce the detailed procedure for the draw after the qualification had been completed. It is already certain that the top favorite USA will contest its preliminary round in the Philippines. The three co-hosts were each allowed to choose a guest nation. Slovenia will play the group stage in Japan, Canada will play the preliminary round in Indonesia. In addition, the seeding for the draw will be based on the teams’ positions in the official FIBA World Ranking.
Vice World Champion Argentina misses qualification
Vice world champions Argentina surprisingly missed out on participating in the World Cup finals. At the end of qualifying on their own arena, the Argentines lost 75:79 to the Dominican Republic, which snagged the last World Cup ticket in the Americas group.