Women's Basketball World Cup: Can Germany harness a boom?

Women's Basketball World Cup: Can Germany harness a boom? September 14, 2026The world's best players showcased their sport at the Women's Basketball World Cup in Berlin, which wrapped up on September 13. Germany, led by Leonie Fiebich and Nyara, improved with every game throughout the preliminary and intermediate round of the 10-day tournament. In the quarterfinals, Germany beat European champions Belgium, delivering what was arguably their best-ever performance. The final weekend though, revealed the team still isn't quite ready to compete with the world's elite over a full 40 minutes. Germany lost to France in the semifinals before losing to Spain in the match for third place. Despite their disappointment, the Germans still saw the tournament as a huge success. "We simply aren't good enough yet," said Fiebich after the Spain match. "We played the tournament with a lot of euphoria and beat the European champions, Belgium. But it's hard to keep overperforming. Still, we will get better." The World Cup marked a climax of the positive development seen in German women's basketball in recent years. In 2024, the team qualified for the Olympic Games for the first time, where the women also won a surprising gold in the 3x3 basketball. At the 2025 EuroBasket, Germany's women finished fifth. The next women's EuroBasket is next year and if Germany qualify, they should be medal contenders. "I think it's important to harness the pain the players are feeling right now," Germany head coach Olaf Lange said. "Because in our day-to-day work over the coming months and years, we need to improve individually. That requires a lot of motivation, and this pain acts as fuel for improvement." The support from Germany fans could hardly have been greater. A total of around 230,000 tickets were sold for the World Cup and although visiting fans were present, the crowds were made up primarily of Germans. Only three play for German clubs While the national team is just a few steps away from establishing itself among the world's elite, Germany's top women's basketball league (DBBL) lags well behind the international competition. Most players from the World Cup squad play abroad. Fiebich, Nyara Sabally and her sister Satou, who missed the tournament due to injury, as well as Luisa Geiselsöder and Frieda Bühner, play in the WNBA. Team captain Marie Gülich is moving to a club in Australia after the World Cup, having previously played in Taiwan. Emily Bessoir, Lina Sontag, and Alexis Peterson-Smalls play in Spain. Clara Bielefeld currently plays US college basketball. Only three Germany players; Alexandra Wilke, Emma Eichmeyer, and Britta Daub, play for DBBL clubs, although both Eichmeyer and Daub have previously played abroad. In Germany, they simply can't earn a living from playing basketball. Wilke, for example, works as a teacher at a secondary school. DBBL level 'semi-professional' Lange, who was a coach in the league from 1995 to 2002, describes it as "semi-professional," and says it has gone downhill since he left. "Back then, the top clubs had better structures than they do today—and we are in 2026. That says it all. Things are really going backwards," he lamented during his post-tournament press conference. "I have to ensure that our top players go abroad. As long as nothing changes in the league, it will be difficult to sustain this success." Professionalization efforts Changes are needed to ensure the national team's continued success. Ireti Amojo took over as DBBL president in March. The former Germany player is a TV pundit and podcaster and has also worked in management of the women's program of top men's club ALBA Berlin. She has introduced several measures aimed to professionalize conditions at DBBL clubs. "We aim to hire full-time youth development coaches. We also want to increase arena capacities," Amojo told daily newspaper TAZ prior to the World Cup. "Currently, some venues hold a maximum of 600 spectators, and if interest grows – as it is now – we will need larger arenas." 'Too late to capitalize on a World Cup boom' However, the top division is not the whole story; even if the Women's Basketball World Cup were to trigger a surge of young girls taking up the game in Germany, most clubs would be ill-prepared to handle them. This is partly due to a shortage of coaches, but also because there is a lack of basketball facilities, making court time scarce. "We should have started five years ago so that we could say now: 'We are capitalizing on the momentum of the World Cup and ensuring that all these kids who have become basketball fans can play the sport in clubs across Germany,'" Amojo told Magenta Sport after the World Cup final. "We are too late. We lack the structures to harness this interest and provide all the children fascinated by basketball with the opportunity, under perfect training conditions, to develop into the next Leonie Fiebich or Nyara Sabally." Still, Amojo thinks the World Cup may just prove to be a much-needed spark for future development. "It was the kind of proof we all needed, because people are quick to dismiss it, claiming that no one in Germany is interested in women's basketball. Now we've seen that people in Germany are interested in women's basketball," she said. "We already have a few levers we want to use to work on the structures. And this certainly shouldn't be the end of things." This article was originally written in German. Edited by: Jonathan Harding