German basketball players miss World Cup bronze against Spain

The German basketball players ended their remarkable run at the home World Cup in Berlin without their historic first medal. Leonie Fiebich's team clearly lost the bronze game against the vice-European champions Spain 58:81 (36:40) and came away empty-handed despite the surprising move into the semi-finals.

Nyara Sabally (13 points) and Alexis Peterson (13) impressed for the German team, but it wasn't enough for a win. In front of 12,187 spectators in the arena, Germany held up better than ten days ago, when the World Cup opener was lost 53:83 to Spain.

But in front of Dirk Nowitzki and Dennis Schröder it wasn't enough to pull off a surprise coup like the one against European champions Belgium in the quarter-finals. Iyana Martin stood out for the Spaniards with 22 points.

For the first time in five years, no basketball medal

Fourth place remains a success for national coach Olaf Lange's team and the best result in history. The result is even more valuable given the absence of star player Satou Sabally, who had to cancel her participation early due to the consequences of a concussion. The older of the two Sabally sisters is considered the best German player.

An impressive series of medals comes to an end after brilliant years for the German Basketball Federation (DBB). Since 2022, the association has always won precious metal at major events at least once. The World Cup and European Championship titles for the men's national team around Captain Schröder and Olympic gold for the 3x3 women in Paris were the highlights.

The DBB will still see the ten days of women's basketball in the capital as a success across the board. The Lange team exceeded expectations in terms of sport. And a total of around 230,000 people attended the games in the arena at Ostbahnhof and the Max Schmeling Hall.

Nowitzki: “Greater appreciation”

Chancellor Friedrich Merz was also among the spectators. “I want this atmosphere for the whole country, I want it especially for the German Olympic bid,” said the CDU leader, who was there right at the start. Nowitzki became a permanent guest in the final round and spoke of a “summer fairy tale” in Berlin. «The appreciation has increased, for women and men. You can see that,” said the basketball icon.

The crowning glory of the home tournament was to be against the strong Spaniards, against whom they had lost so clearly at the start of the World Cup. «We get the chance to return the favor. We are very grateful for that - there is no better opponent to end the tournament with,” said head coach Lange.

23 second lead over two days

As was the case the day before in the 64:86 semi-final against France, the bronze game also showed that the absolute world leader is still a long way away. Fiebich and Co. threw better and higher percentages from the field in the first quarter than their opponents. But because the Spanish team forced the hosts to lose the ball and dominated under the basket, Germany fell behind by double digits.

Against France, Germany allowed themselves 25 ball losses - although there weren't that many this time, the two games showed some parallels. In the semifinals, Lange's team was in the lead for a total of eleven seconds. In the bronze game there were twelve and the score was 2-0.

Whenever Germany seemed to be getting back into the game, Spain had the right answer. A 15:3 run at the start of the second half put the favorites on the road to victory, but after that it wasn't really close anymore. In the final quarter, the German team fell apart and couldn't do much offensively. For Spain Women, it is the fourth medal at a World Championships after bronze in 2010, silver in 2014 and bronze in 2018.