For the first time in twelve years, the German women’s basketball team is playing in a European championship. The success of the national team stands in stark contrast to the structures in the Bundesliga, which lost touch with Europe years ago.
When big things happen in German basketball, Dirk Nowitzki is usually there too. Like in Manila at the end of April. National player Sonja Greinacher sent greetings from the banquet, next to her in the picture a cheerful Nowitzki. Both belonged to the delegation of the German Basketball Federation (DBB), which had flown to the Philippine capital for the award of the 2026 World Cup, and which was awarded the contract there.
In three years, the best women basketball players in the world will play in Berlin for the World Cup title, DBB President Ingo Weiss immediately called the home World Cup to “lighthouse project” from: The promotion of basketball for women and girls will be the “Focus of the work of the entire German basketball family‘ said Weiss.
DBB team at the European Championship
It is to be hoped that the head of the association will follow up this announcement with action. Because there are a lot of construction sites for women basketball players. Sonja Greinacher, the World Cup ambassador who traveled to Manila, is a good example of this. The 30-year-old is one of the most experienced players in the national team that starts the European Championship against France on Thursday (June 16, 2023).
But Greinacher was recently no longer active in the hall, except for the national team, but in 3×3 basketball: That’s modern street ball-Variant played on a half field and also part of Olympic elite sport promotion. Greinacher’s employer is the Bundeswehr. She trains at the base in Hanover and is otherwise several months a year on the road with the 3×3 national team, at the tournaments of the World Series.
Too few perspectives – 3×3 instead of Bundesliga
The national player has now completely turned her back on club basketball. Most recently she was active in the Polish league, where she had significantly better prospects as a professional basketball player than in the German Bundesliga. This also applies to the other top German players who are all active abroad: First and foremost Satou Sabally, who plays in the US professional league WNBA is considered a coming star, but has renounced the EM.
Emily Bessoir, another top talent, plays with a scholarship UCLAone of the most famous collegeteams in the United States. Center player Marie Gülich was three years in the WNBA, she is now a fixture at Spanish top club Valencia and has just won the championship there. It has been a long time since there were so many talents in the DBB team, which was able to qualify for a major tournament for the first time in twelve years.
Victory parade through Zaragoza – Leonie Fiebich as MVP in Spain
Leonie Fiebich is also playing in Spain, in Zaragoza. The 23-year-old is even there MVP, voted Most Valuable Player of the Season. She won the Spanish Cup with Zaragoza, in the final in front of 10,000 fans. During the subsequent victory parade, the team drove through the city on a double-decker bus and celebrated with the fans.
“I had constant goosebumps, something I hadn’t experienced before” says Fiebich, who also experiences in everyday life in Spain how important women’s basketball can be. In comparison, the conditions in the Bundesliga are “already sad“, says Fiebich and laments, not for the first time, the “unprofessional structures” at the German clubs.
Bundesliga in the school gymnasium, league page without statistics
In the women’s basketball league (DBBL), smaller clubs still predominate, most of which make their living from voluntary work or from the lifeblood of a few club managers. Wasserburg was the last place to see where this could lead, for almost two decades the dominant team in the Bundesliga with six championship titles alone between 2011 and 2017. After the long-standing management and a local sponsor withdrew, the remaining structures in the club also collapsed away, the former series champion crashed into the 2nd league.
Anyone watching a home game of the current German champions, the Rutronik Stars Keltern, feels like they got caught in a time machine and were spat out again in the 1980s: Keltern plays in the hall of a school sports center, without grandstands, often not before more than 100 spectators. A dreary atmosphere that scares fans and especially potential sponsors.
The Bundesliga games are largely closed to the public anyway, there are pictures on a streaming portal behind a payment barrier. So far, the DBBL has also had little presence on social media, for example in the form of highlight videos.
Part of the league’s catastrophic public image is that there are no up-to-date game dates and statistics on the official DBBL website. The fact that the Bundesliga only has twelve clubs and the regular season lasts six months doesn’t help to increase visibility either.
missing economic Standards – mid-season bankruptcy
Most recently there were only eleven clubs in the first division after the Rheinland Lions, leaders at the time, had to file for bankruptcy. The club from Bergisch-Gladbach had probably lived beyond its means, especially when it came to the salaries of the players. But this was only noticed when it was too late, namely in the middle of the season. Also because the league has failed for years to enforce binding standards in licensing and to demand real proof of economic stability.
The clubs continue to stew in their own juice with their amateur sport structures, and the gap to the foreign leagues has increased even further over the years. The DBBL clubs also play practically no role in European competitions. “If we continue as we have been, we can close the shop in a few years“, says Martin Geissler, Managing Director at Mitteldeutsche BC.
Alba and MBC as a counter model in the DBBL
Alongside Alba Berlin, the MBC is one of the clubs in the men’s BBL that are also represented in the women’s Bundesliga. Above all, Alba has shown what is possible when you build on professional structures: The Berliners, with the connections from their school sports program, have expanded women’s and girls’ basketball over the past ten years. In the meantime, more than 400 basketball players play in the club, across all age groups.
The Alba women surprisingly made it to the top as a promoted team playoff-Semifinals. The games took place in front of more than 2,000 spectators in the Sömmeringhalle. In an atmosphere that suddenly felt like Bundesliga basketball.
More BBL addresses on the way to the women’s national league
The club management in Berlin is convinced that there is enough economic potential in women’s basketball even in Germany, which has a rather underdeveloped basketball culture. And she is not alone in this: other professional locations such as Göttingen, Heidelberg or Rostock are also pushing their women’s teams into the Bundesliga. And at FC Bayern, where the women’s team has just been promoted to the 3rd division, the development is being followed with interest.
Former national player Marlies Askamp recently even demanded in the magazine “BIG” that the BBL clubs should be obliged to promote their women’s teams more and bring them at least into the 2nd division.
Fear of displacement – like in women’s football
A development similar to that in women’s football could possibly take place in the DBBL: that the entry of the BBL brands, with their greater economic power, will displace the smaller traditional locations in the women’s Bundesliga.
Ireti Amojo, coordinator for women’s and girls’ basketball at Alba Berlin, believes this fear is unfounded. Clubs from smaller towns could also grow in their niche, says Amojo, referring to her former club, Herner TC: “They don’t need a men’s basketball club that invests in the structures because they’re already the top address in Herne. A lot of people come there, and the city is also involved and supports the association.“
In order to further develop women’s basketball in the long term, the clubs would have to invest in better conditions for the players, says the former national player: medical care, more travel comfort, hotel accommodation for away games.
DBB puts pressure on – World Cup 2026 in their own country
The DBB is also pushing for more professional structures and is primarily focusing on the 2026 home World Cup. Together with the league, the association has launched an “Agenda 2030” and laid down the most urgent tasks for women’s basketball: intensifying youth work, participation in international competitions, more playing time for German players, and above all: professionalization the Bundesliga.
Hardly any of this has been implemented so far. The DBB sees the league as primarily responsible – and refers to the basic contract with the DBBL, which was only renewed last year, which is responsible for the Bundesliga as an independent organization. The league will be given more advice and support in the future, including in terms of personnel, according to the DBB, which is also a partner in the Bundesliga. However, there will be no direct financial help for the league from the association.
The commitment of clubs like Alba or the MBC is also welcomed at the DBB and seen as a role model for the other league locations. At the same time, however, it also offers the opportunity to distract from one’s own omissions: Because the German Basketball Association has also neglected the development of women’s basketball for decades.
national coach Thomas with short-term contract
Wherever there is a lack of coaches and training times for girls’ teams in the youth sector, the association is also responsible for helping to set up structures. There is currently only one full-time trainer for the women’s area at the DBB. The current national coach, Canadian Lisa Thomaidis, was only signed shortly before the European Championships, so for the time being she only has one contract for the tournament. A construct that makes sustainable development difficult, even in the national team.
The DBB also admits that it has done too little to develop women’s basketball in recent years. “We need a rethink: professional management in the clubs, a minimum budget. A quota for German players. Everything that is also standard in the BBL, just on a different level” says Deputy Managing Director Armin Andres.
Hosting the home World Cup has increased the pressure even more. “We have to start making changes now. Together with the league that we will support. There are only three years left until the World Cup.“Three years to make up for more than 30 years of stagnation.