Basketball: Dennis Schröder leads Germany to qualifying success against Israel – Sport

Nevertheless, success was important and all results will be taken into consideration. In the next qualifying phase, the selection of the German Basketball Federation (DBB) will definitely be against Poland from the end of August, while the Netherlands, Latvia and Austria are fighting for the other two places in the parallel relay. The best three teams in the new group of six will fly to the World Cup in Qatar (August 27 to September 12, 2027).

“We want to win both games,” Schröder said with a view to Israel and the final match against Cyprus in Bamberg on Monday (7 p.m./MagentaTV). Part one of the plan worked. The best German thrower was Schröder with 20 points, and Christian Sengfelder (16) and Kay Bruhnke (15) also had double-digit scores. The German team clearly won the first leg in Ulm at the end of November (89:69).

Schröder is not only the only world champion in the current international match window, but also the only NBA professional that Mumbrù nominated for his squad. “Some are injured, some don’t have a contract. Some are super tired because they have played more than 80 games,” said the Spaniard, explaining his choice of players. The Wagner brothers Franz and Moritz, Tristan da Silva and Isaiah Hartenstein are missing, among others. A large Bayern block around Andreas Obst is also not available.

In Riga, where the DBB team beat Turkey in the European Championship final on September 14, 2025, they got off to a dream start. The German team with the European champions Schröder and Leon scratch led 10-0 after a good 80 seconds, but after that the guests, who were not well-rehearsed in this composition, made many mistakes. Three newcomers came into play: Sananda Fru, Simonas Lukosius and Michael Rataj. After four successful threes in a row, three sunk by Sengfelder, there was a small cushion at the break.

In the strong third quarter (31:18), Schröder and Co. pulled away decisively, also because the team now had fewer turnovers. Tim Schneider took the first 20-point lead (71:51/28th), but in the final phase Israel was no longer able to create any real tension despite an intermediate spurt.

A mandatory win is due on Monday against Cyprus, which no longer has a chance of progressing. There is still a small chance of first place in the group if Croatia, which had inflicted the only defeat on the DBB team so far in Zagreb at the end of February, unexpectedly loses at home to Israel. But the points are more important.