Germany men's national basketball team


The Germany national basketball team represents Germany in international basketball competition. They are organized by the German Basketball Federation, the governing body for basketball in Germany. Currently, Germany is ranked 18th in the FIBA World Rankings.
Germany's biggest achievements to date have been competing in 24 appearances at the EuroBasket winning the gold in 1993, and silver in 2005 respectively. Germany has also made six appearances at the World Cup, with their best finish coming in 2002, when the national team won bronze.

History

The team is the successor of the West Germany national basketball team, that represented West Germany in international competition. Between 1955 and 1973, Germany temporarily competed with an East German national basketball team as well.

EuroBasket 1951

The first German presence in the European Basketball Championship was at EuroBasket 1951 in Paris. West Germany finished the preliminary round with a 1–2 record, finishing in third place in their group. They were again 1–2 in the first classification round, but this combined with a three-way tie-breaker put them second in that group. They then lost the classification 9th–12th place game and the 11th/12th game to finish in 12th place in the then 18 team tournament

EuroBasket 1953

West Germany competed again at the EuroBasket 1953 in Moscow. Their 1–2 record in preliminary pool play put them third in their four-team group, relegating them to the classification rounds. In the first round, they again finished in 3rd place with a 1–2 record. They then beat Lebanon 58–56 in the 13th–16th place semifinals to advance to the 13th/14th place game, in which they were defeated by Romania.

EuroBasket 1955

At the EuroBasket 1955 in Budapest, West Germany again was 1–2 in the preliminary round, taking third place in the four-team group to be relegated to the classification tournament. They won one game in the first classification round, losing 3 to take fifth place of the five-team group despite having scored exactly as many points as their opponents over the course of the four games. Their final game was a match-up against Denmark for 17th place, which West Germany won 51–49.

EuroBasket 1957

West Germany competed in Sofia for the EuroBasket 1957. They had no success in the preliminary round, losing all three decisions. They were relegated to the classification round, in which they were able to gather a few victories. They finished the round in the fifth position at 3–4, taking 13th place overall.

A "new" competitor

At the EuroBasket 1959, East Germany's national basketball team entered the tournament when their counterpart from West Germany did not qualify. Altogether, East Germany's team only qualified for the EuroBasket five times.

After German reunification

Until the German reunification in 1990, the team played as the West Germany national basketball team. In decades of competitive basketball, West Germany only had moderate success with a few strong showings in the 1980s. This was because in that time, the NBA made it near-impossible for German internationals to play on both their NBA teams and the national team. For this reason, important players like Detlef Schrempf, Uwe Blab or Christian Welp often were unavailable in big tournaments.

An unexpected title

The win of the 1993 edition of the European Basketball Championship at home in Germany, thanks to superb clutch play of tournament MVP Welp, came totally unexpected. The team won the election to "Team of the Year" by the German press. There was a huge wave of enthusiasm, but arguably due to lack of infrastructure and professionalism, tangible results were rare. German basketball stayed in the shadows, the next generation of youth shunning the native league while being glued to the NBA with Michael Jordan. For the next three EuroBaskets, the national team did not come close to repeating the success.
helped Germany to compete among the world elite.

The Nowitzki era

But then, German basketball got a lucky break when a lanky youth named Dirk Nowitzki tried his luck with the Dallas Mavericks and became a superstar. He created new enthusiasm for basketball in Germany, and in his slipstream, the national team had a renaissance.
In 2001, Germany played Turkey and was one second away from the final, when Turkey nailed a buzzer beater to send the game into overtime. Turkey won, and demoralized Germany lost the third-place match and ended fourth.
However, success at last came in 2002, when Nowitzki inspired Germany to win the bronze medal at the 2002 World Cup. Nowitzki was also named MVP of the tournament
One year later, however, the team suffered its worst setback in years. In the EuroBasket 2003, which was also the qualifier for the 2004 Olympic Games, the talented, but inexperienced team blundered through a tournament, blowing late-game leads with appalling anti-clutch play. Germany was eliminated early and failed to qualify for the Olympics.
Before the EuroBasket 2005, expectations were not too high. The German roster was depleted by injury, and remembering the disaster of two years ago, nobody dared to dream of a medal. However, an inspired Dirk Nowitzki powered the team into the finals, eliminating favorites like Spain and Slovenia on its way. In the finals, the team was blown out by Greece, but Nowitzki was named MVP again, and the team won the election to "Team of the Year" by the German press again.
At the 2006 World Cup in Saitama, Germany won most of its first-round matches, only losing to Spain. In the knock-out phase, Germany fought a tough match versus underdogs Nigeria, ending in a 78–77 win when Nigerian star Ime Udoka missed a last-second layup. In the quarter-finals, Germany played top favorite USA, and managed to play an excellent first half, trailing only 39–41. However, led by Carmelo Anthony, the USA outplayed Germany 20–8 in the third quarter and won 65–85. In the consolation round, Germany lost 73–75 against France, losing a lead in the last 18 seconds with two turnovers.
Germany qualified for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing by taking the final spot with the third place in the qualification tournament in Athens, Greece.

Nowitzki's later years and retirement

Two years later, Germany qualified for the 2010 World Cup as a wild card. They were eliminated from the competition following an overtime game with Angola, and would finish with a 2–3 record, beating Serbia and Jordan. At the EuroBasket 2011, Germany qualified for the second round with wins over Israel, Italy and Latvia, but in the second round they only managed a win over Turkey, losing to Spain and Lithuania, and failed to reach the knockout stage. Nowitzki competed in both these tournaments and announced his retirement from the team following the 2011 EuroBasket.
became Germany's leading player.
Following an unbeaten qualifying campaign, Germany participated in EuroBasket 2013. Drawn in Group A, they kicked off the tournament with a surprise win over France, but then suffered losses to Ukraine, Belgium and Great Britain, the latter two eliminating them from contention. They won their final game over Israel 80-76 but it was not enough, France, Ukraine and Belgium qualified from the group.

Nowitzki's return

Germany then qualified for the next edition of the EuroBasket in 2015, despite a turbulent qualification which saw two defeats to Poland. In September, following qualification, Germany was announced as one of the four new hosts of the tournament following the relocation from Ukraine. In the same month, Dirk Nowitzki announced that he would come out of retirement to play for the team in this tournament. The team was drawn into the Group B, seen by many as the "Group of Death", with Spain, Italy, Turkey, Serbia and Iceland. In the end the team put up an competitive effort in defeat. Ending the tournament with a 1–4 record, with all their loses by single digits.

EuroBasket 2017

was the first tournament after Dirk Nowitzki went back into retirement from international play. The national team surprised many with their best performance at the EuroBasket since 2005. Led by rising star Dennis Schröder, they finished second in their preliminary round group with victories against Ukraine, Georgia, and Italy. Their 3–2 record was enough to move on to the knockout stage. There, they pulled an upset against France in a hard-fought tussle 84–81. The next game the team came up short, falling to the eventual bronze medalist Spain 84–72. While the team didn't finish the way they wanted, the stellar efforts of Schröder stood out. Who finished the tournament second in scoring for the second consecutive EuroBasket, this time at.

EuroBasket 2021

Germany will co-host the EuroBasket 2021, and they have automatically qualified for the 2021 tournament. It will make it the twenty-fifth successive time that Germany has qualified for the event overall. Berlin will host a few group phase matches and will host the final phase matches, while Cologne will host several group phase matches as well.

Competitive record

FIBA World Cup

Olympic Games

EuroBasket

Results and fixtures

EuroBasket 2021 Qualifiers">EuroBasket_2021_qualification#Qualifiers">EuroBasket 2021 Qualifiers

Group G">EuroBasket_2021_qualification#Group_G_2">Group G

Team

Current roster

Roster for the EuroBasket 2021 Qualifiers matches played on 21 and 24 February 2020 against France and Great Britain.

Depth chart

International influence

In Germany, professional basketball is known for developing players whose parents or grandparents are immigrants. The national team routinely uses many players who have family roots in Africa, Eastern Europe, United States or others, but have grown up in Germany, speak fluent German and are native Germans by law. The last point is especially important, as the new FIBA rules prevent the use of more than one "naturalized" citizen per country. Famous examples of these allochthonous players are:
While most German players develop through the club system, several players over the years have played U.S. college basketball. Past and present national team players who have done so include:

Centers

source

Past rosters

;As Germany
1936 Olympic Games: finished 17th among 21 teams
1 Bernhard Cuiper, 2 Robert Duis, 3 Karl Endres, 4 Emil Göing, 5 Otto Kuchenbecker, 6 Emil Lohbeck, 7 Hans Niclaus, 8 Kurt Oleska, 9 Siegfried Reischies, 10 Heinz Steinschulte
----
;As West Germany
1951 EuroBasket: finished 12th among 17 teams
3 Kurt Siebenhaar, 4 Ulrich Konz, 5 Felix Diefenbach, 6 Wolfgang Heinker, 7 Rudi Hohner, 8 Rudolf Beyerlein, 9 Franz Kronberger, 10 Willi Leissler, 11 Markus Bernhard, 12 Gunter Piontek, 13 Oskar Roth, 14 Theodor Schober, 15 Harald Muller, 16 Arthur Stolz
----
1953 EuroBasket: finished 14th among 17 teams
3 Kurt Siebenhaar, 4 Theodor Schober, 5 Richard Mahrwald, 6 Gunter Piontek, 7 Friedrich Mahlo, 8 Hans Bayer, 10 Hartmut Kruger, 11 Oskar Roth, 12 Rolf Heinker, 13 Gerd Konzag, 14 Rudolf Beyerlein, 15 Richard Griese, 16 Markus Bernhard
----
1955 EuroBasket: finished 17th among 18 teams
4 K. Pfeiffer, 5 L. Waldowski, 6 R. Vogt, 7 Rudolf Beyerlein, 8 E. Friebel, 9 Kurt Siebenhaar, 10 Theodor Schober, 11 Oskar Roth, 12 Arthur Stolz, 13 U. Schmitt, 14 Harald Muller, 15 Richard Griese, 16 K. Brehm
----
1957 EuroBasket: finished 13th among 16 teams
3 Auxer, 4 Lamade, 5 Horst Stein, 6 R. Vogt, 7 Arthur Stolz, 8 Rigauer, 9 Gerhard Biller, 10 Ottmar, 11 Hans Brydniak, 12 Peter, 14 Klaus Schulz, 15 Richard Griese, 16 Scherer
----
1961 EuroBasket: finished 16th among 19 teams
4 Hans Gruttner, 5 Horst Stein, 6 Richard Pull, 7 Arthur Stolz, 8 Hannes Neumann, 9 Hans Brydniak, 10 Klaus Weinand, 11 Oskar Roth, 12 Gerhard Biller, 13 Volker Heindel, 14 Klaus Schulz, 15 Jürgen Langhoff
----
1965 EuroBasket: finished 14th among 16 teams
4 Klaus Urmitzer, 5 Heinz Neef, 6 Hans-Dieter Niedlich, 7 Dietmar Kienast, 8 Hannes Neumann, 9 Bernd Roder, 10 Klaus Weinand, 11 Dieter Sarodnik, 12 Klaus Jungnickel, 13 Udo Wolfram, 14 Klaus Schulz, 15 Jorg Kruger
----
1971 EuroBasket: finished 9th among 12 teams
4 Helmut Uhlig, 5 Rolf Dieter, 6 Dieter Pfeiffer, 7 Jurgen Loibl, 8 Gerd Brand, 9 Rainer Pethran, 10 Jochen Pollex, 11 Klaus Urmitzer, 12 Holger Geschwindner, 13 Jürgen Wohlers, 14 Dietrich Keller, 15 Norbert Thimm
----
1972 Olympic Games: finished 12th among 16 teams
4 Helmut Uhlig, 5 Klaus Weinand, 6 Dieter Kuprella, 7 Karl Ampt, 8 Hans-Jörg Krüger, 9 Rainer Pethran, 10 Jochen Pollex, 11 Joachim Linnemann, 12 Holger Geschwindner, 13 Jürgen Wohlers, 14 Dietrich Keller, 15 Norbert Thimm
----
1981 EuroBasket: finished 10th among 12 teams
4 Hans-Gunther Ludwig, 5 Joseph Waniek, 6 Sebastian Brunnert, 7 Matthias Strauss, 8 Jorg Heidrich, 9 Klaus Zander, 10 Michael Pappert, 11 Volkert Asshoff, 12 Holger Arpe, 13 Lutz Wadehn, 14 Armin Sowa, 15 Ingo Mendel
----
1983 EuroBasket: finished 8th among 12 teams
4 Christoph Körner, 5 Frank Hudson, 6 Uwe Brauer, 7 Matthias Strauss, 8 Ulrich Peters, 9 Klaus Zander, 10 Michael Pappert, 11 Armin Sowa, 12 Detlef Schrempf, 13 Uwe Blab, 14 Lutz Wadehn, 15 Gunther Behnke
----
1984 Olympic Games: finished 8th among 12 teams
4 Christoph Körner, 5 Vladimir Kadlec, 6 Uwe Brauer, 7 Uwe Sauer, 8 Ulrich Peters, 9 Klaus Zander, 10 Michael Pappert, 11 Armin Sowa, 12 Detlef Schrempf, 13 Uwe Blab, 14 Ingo Mendel, Christian Welp
----
1985 EuroBasket: finished 5th among 12 teams
4 Ulrich Peters, 5 Stephan Baeck, 6 Christoph Körner, 7 Uwe Sauer, 8 Michael Jackel, 9 Christian Welp, 10 Uwe Blab, 11 Armin Sowa, 12 Detlef Schrempf, 13 Lutz Wadehn, 14 Burkhard Schröder, 15 Gunther Behnke
----
1986 FIBA World Cup: finished 16th among 24 teams
4 Ralf Risse, 5 Armin Andres, 6 Michael Koch, 7 Jan Villwock, 8 Rainer Greunke, 9 Holger Arpe, 10 Christian Welp, 11 Armin Sowa, 12 Hansi Gnad, 13 Lutz Wadehn, 14 Gunther Behnke, 15 Burkhard Schröder
----
1987 EuroBasket: finished 6th among 12 teams
4 Armin Andres, 5 Christoph Körner, 6 Michael Koch, 7 Henning Harnisch, 8 Jens Kujawa, 9 Christian Welp, 10 Sven Meyer, 11 Michael Pappert, 12 Hansi Gnad, 13 Lutz Wadehn, 14 Gunther Behnke, 15 Michael Jackel
----
;As Germany
1992 Olympic Games: finished 7th among 12 teams
4 Gunther Behnke, 5 Henrik Rödl, 6 Armin Andres, 7 Stephan Baeck, 8 Arndt Neuhaus, 9 Henning Harnisch, 10 Uwe Blab, 11 Detlef Schrempf, 12 Hansi Gnad, 13 Kai Nurnberger, 14 Jens Kujawa, 15 Michael Jackel
----
1993 EuroBasket: finished 1st among 16 teams
4 Moritz Kleine-Brockhoff, 5 Henrik Rödl, 6 Michael Koch, 7 Christian Welp ', 8 Teoman Öztürk, 9 Henning Harnisch, 10 Gunther Behnke, 11 Stephan Baeck, 12 Hansi Gnad, 13 Kai Nürnberger, 14 Jens Kujawa, 15 Michael Jackel
----
1994 FIBA World Cup: finished 12th among 16 teams
4 Henning Harnisch, 5 Michael Koch, 6 Sascha Hupmann, 7 Henrik Rödl, 8 Hansi Gnad, 9 Gunther Behnke, 10 Kai Nurnberger, 11 Patrick King, 12 Detlef Musch, 13 Arndt Neuhaus, 14 Oliver Herkelmann, 15 Mike Knorr
----
1995 EuroBasket: finished 11th among 14 teams
4 Ingo Freyer, 5 Henrik Rödl, 6 Michael Koch, 7 Detlef Musch, 8 Denis Wucherer, 9 Christian Welp, 10 Teoman Öztürk, 11 Patrick King, 12 Hansi Gnad, 13 Kai Nürnberger, 14 Ademola Okulaja, 15 Michael Knörr
----
1997 EuroBasket: finished 12th among 16 teams
4 Henrik Rödl, 5 Jörg Lütcke, 6 Gerrit Terdenge, 7 Vladimir Bogojević, 8 Denis Wucherer, 9 Henning Harnisch, 10 Sascha Hupmann, 11 Jürgen Malbeck, 12 Patrick Femerling, 13 Ademola Okulaja, 14 Tim Nees, 15 Alexander Kühl
----
1999 EuroBasket: finished 7th among 16 teams
4 Henrik Rödl, 5 Jörg Lütcke, 6 Kai Nürnberger, 7 Vladimir Bogojević, 8 Denis Wucherer, 9 Drazan Tomic, 10 Patrick Femerling, 11 Gerrit Terdenge, 12 Stephen Arigbabu, 13 Ademola Okulaja, 14 Tim Nees, 15 Dirk Nowitzki
----
2001 EuroBasket: finished 4th among 16 teams
4 Mithat Demirel, 5 Ademola Okulaja, 6 Robert Garrett, 7 Marko Pešić, 8 Stefano Garris, 9 Drazan Tomic, 10 Marvin Willoughby, 11 Stipo Papić, 12 Stephen Arigbabu, 13 Patrick Femerling, 14 Dirk Nowitzki, 15 Shawn Bradley
----
2002 FIBA World Cup: finished 3rd among 16 teams
4 Mithat Demirel, 5 Ademola Okulaja, 6 Jörg Lütcke, 7 Marko Pešić, 8 Pascal Roller, 9 Henrik Rödl, 10 Misan Haldin, 11 Stefano Garris, 12 Stephen Arigbabu, 13 Patrick Femerling, 14 Dirk Nowitzki ', 15 Robert Maras
----
2003 EuroBasket: finished 11th among 16 teams
4 Mithat Demirel, 5 Ademola Okulaja, 6 Jörg Lütcke, 7 Marko Pešić, 8 Sven Schultze, 9 Steffen Hamann, 10 Misan Haldin, 11 Stefano Garris, 12 Stephen Arigbabu, 13 Patrick Femerling, 14 Dirk Nowitzki, 15 Robert Maras
----
2005 EuroBasket: finished 2nd among 16 teams
4 Mithat Demirel, 5 Robert Garrett, 6 Demond Greene, 7 Marko Pešić, 8 Denis Wucherer, 9 Pascal Roller, 10 Misan Haldin, 11 Sven Schultze, 12 Stephen Arigbabu, 13 Patrick Femerling, 14 Dirk Nowitzki ', 15 Robert Maras
----
2006 FIBA World Cup: finished 8th among 24 teams
4 Mithat Demirel, 5 Ademola Okulaja, 6 Sven Schultze, 7 Robert Garrett, 8 Johannes Herber, 9 Steffen Hamann, 10 Demond Greene, 11 Pascal Roller, 12 Guido Grünheid, 13 Patrick Femerling, 14 Dirk Nowitzki, 15 Jan Jagla
----
2007 EuroBasket: finished 5th among 16 teams
4 Mithat Demirel, 5 Ademola Okulaja, 6 Stephen Arigbabu, 7 Robert Garrett, 8 Johannes Herber, 9 Steffen Hamann, 10 Demond Greene, 11 Pascal Roller, 12 Guido Grünheid, 13 Patrick Femerling, 14 Dirk Nowitzki, 15 Jan Jagla
----
2008 Olympic Games: finished 10th among 12 teams
4 Tim Ohlbrecht, 5 Philip Zwiener, 6 Sven Schultze, 7 Robert Garrett, 8 Konrad Wysocki, 9 Steffen Hamann, 10 Demond Greene, 11 Pascal Roller, 12 Chris Kaman, 13 Patrick Femerling, 14 Dirk Nowitzki, 15 Jan Jagla
----
2009 EuroBasket: finished 11th among 16 teams
4 Lucca Staiger, 5 Heiko Schaffartzik, 6 Sven Schultze, 7 Tim Ohlbrecht, 8 Konrad Wysocki, 9 Steffen Hamann, 10 Demond Greene, 11 Tibor Pleiß, 12 Elias Harris, 13 Patrick Femerling, 14 Robin Benzing, 15 Jan Jagla
----
2010 FIBA World Cup: finished 17th among 24 teams
4 Lucca Staiger, 5 Heiko Schaffartzik, 6 Per Günther, 7 Tim Ohlbrecht, 8 Christopher McNaughton, 9 Steffen Hamann, 10 Demond Greene, 11 Tibor Pleiß, 12 Elias Harris, 13 Philipp Schwethelm, 14 Robin Benzing, 15 Jan Jagla
----
2011 EuroBasket: finished 9th among 24 teams
14 Dirk Nowitzki, 12 Chris Kaman, 15 Jan-Hendrik Jagla, 9 Tim Ohlbrecht, 7 Sven Schultze, 6 Steffen Hamann, 4 Robin Benzing, 8 Heiko Schaffartzik, 11 Tibor Pleiß, 13 Lucca Staiger, 5 Johannes Herber, 10 Philipp Schwethelm
----
2013 EuroBasket: finished 17th among 24 teams
4 Alex King, 5 Niels Giffey, 6 Per Günther, 7 Philip Zwiener, 8 Heiko Schaffartzik ', 9 Karsten Tadda, 10 Lucca Staiger, 11 Tibor Pleiß, 12 Robin Benzing, 13 Bastian Doreth, 14 Andreas Seiferth, 15 Maik Zirbes
----
2015 EuroBasket: finished 18th among 24 teams
4 Maodo Lô, 5 Niels Giffey, 7 Alex King, 8 Heiko Schaffartzik ', Karsten Tadda, 9 Tibor Pleiß, 12 Robin Benzing, 14 Dirk Nowitzki, 17 Dennis Schröder, 21 Paul Zipser, 25 Anton Gavel, 77Johannes Voigtmann
----
2017 EuroBasket: finished 6th among 24 teams
4 Maodo Lô, 7 Johannes Voigtmann, 8 Lucca Staiger, 9 Karsten Tadda, 10 Daniel Theis, 12 Robin Benzing ', 17 Dennis Schröder, 18 İsmet Akpınar, 22 Danilo Barthel, 32 Johannes Thiemann, 33 Patrick Heckmann, 55 Isaiah Hartenstein
----
2019 FIBA World Cup: finished 18th among 32 teams
4 Maodo Lô, 5 Niels Giffey, 7 Johannes Voigtmann, 8 İsmet Akpınar, 10 Daniel Theis, 12 Robin Benzing , 17 Dennis Schröder, 21 Paul Zipser, 22 Danilo Barthel, 24 Maxi Kleber, 32 Johannes Thiemann, 42 Andreas Obst

Kit

Manufacturer

2014, 2015: Peak

Sponsor

2014, 2015: ING DiBa