After a long night of partying until the early hours of the morning, Germany’s basketball heroes from Manila were happy about their empty schedule. No training, no sweating, no optional throwing training, no media rounds.
For the last of a total of eight days in the Philippine place of happiness, the historic world champions around captain Dennis Schröder only had two very simple program items left: first a long lie-in and then a scheduled flight back home in the late afternoon.
For Schröder and Co., the rushing party began in the Mall of Asia Arena, where the World Cup gold winners left plenty of confetti on the floor and various beer cans in their dressing room after the coup. The captain then streamed the pure joy live from the team bus, which first drove to the Conrad team hotel on the Pasay City promenade – and later brought the pros to a specially rented bar at the Peninsula Hotel in Makati. What’s next for the world champions?
Reception in Frankfurt am Main
In the late afternoon (local time) we take a scheduled flight back home. First from Manila to Abu Dhabi and from there on to Frankfurt am Main, where there will be a celebratory reception at the sponsor ING on Tuesday (9:30 a.m.).
The professionals around Schröder and Franz Wagner as well as the officials around President Ingo Weiss are supposed to report on stage about the World Cup in Japan and the Philippines. Fans who want to welcome the world champions who land at 8:50 a.m. at the airport will probably wait in vain: the team will be taken directly to the city from there.
Back to the clubs
The reception of the world champions in Frankfurt, for which Mayor Mike Josef has also been announced, is the last joint item on the program after a six-week trip to Bonn, Hamburg, Berlin, Abu Dhabi, Okinawa and Manila.
The players then go back to their clubs. Schröder, the Wagner brothers Franz and Moritz and Daniel Theis expect the NBA season to start on October 24th. For the Bundesliga professionals around World Cup hero Andreas Obst, things even start again at the end of September. Schröder has announced a visit to Braunschweig to kick things off.
See you in February
The European Championship qualification for 2025 begins on February 22, 2024. As things stand, the home game against Montenegro will be the world champions’ first joint appearance. A venue is just as uncertain as the time.
Unlike the World Cup, national coach Gordon Herbert will not be able to rely on the entire squad: the four NBA professionals will not be there because their season is running at the same time in North America. There is at least progress in the dispute between the world association Fiba and the Euroleague. The Euroleague professionals from FC Bayern and Alba Berlin should be available for the qualifying games in the future.
