By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
Bayern Munich general manager Marko Pesic commented on how basketball is getting more popular in Germany after the national team won the gold medal in the 2023 World Championship and players of the squad becoming more recognizable.
“The basketball boom that happened after the World Cup is incredible,” Pesic said in an interview with Mozzart. His father Svetislav Pesic is the coach of Serbia, the team that lost to Germany in the World Cup final. “Here, we recently played in Würzburg, the team coached by Sašo Filipovski, the hall was sold out. As everywhere where the game is played, all the halls are sold out. A different approach can also be felt in the players. Andreas Obst is not exactly like Bastian Schweinsteiger, but people recognize him on the street.”
Obst, a player of Pesic’s Bayern Munich, was the leading scorer of Germany in the semifinal triumph over Team USA with 24 points. While previously unknown to audiences outside Europe, he became viral with his performance and key plays, including a late three after putting Indiana Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton on skates.
Pesic mentioned that while Germany still has a long way to go compared to how big basketball is in countries like his native Serbia for example, the national team’s bright future can help in hoops becoming more and more established.
“Not everything that is marketed is true,” Pesic said. “It’s not exactly like in Serbia, although it’s better if it’s not like in Serbia. German basketball is on the rise, not only because of the national team that will dominate for the next three or four years, I won’t say that it will dominate like the Spanish national team did, but it will be a factor. Denis Schroeder is 29-30 years old, so he will definitely be there for another cycle, I believe that the team will stay together. I think over four million people watched the final with Serbia. And how many watched in Serbia? But it can’t be compared because Germany is a bigger country, so some other things can’t be compared either.”