By Cesare Milanti / info@eurohoops.net
Basketball has been mostly a thing for Eastern and Southern Europe over the course of the years. The Baltics, the Balkans, and countries shaped by the Mediterranean have been expressing the royalty of European basketball talents – and that has lasted for quite some time.
However, in most recent times, Scandinavian countries have emerged as undiscovered places where to hoop, and do it accordingly to their huge ambition of making it to the elite of the Old Continent.
Finland has been proving it, especially thanks to a star-caliber player in the NBA like Lauri Markkanen, while Sweden has tried more with a collective effort. The result? Basketball is the most uprising sport in the country, and that’s also thanks to Melwin Pantzar.
Starting in his own country with the Solna Vikings’ youth system and emerging as a projected talent with the national team, his future took an unexpected turn when his genuine misjudgment played a part.
“To be honest, I didn’t even know that Madrid had a basketball team. Being from Sweden, I didn’t have that much knowledge about basketball. I was just surprised that they even had a basketball team. When they called me, it sounded fun, and I wanted to see how it would work out,” he told Eurohoops.
Thanks to an invitation by Stella Azzurra, he did participate in a tournament in Hungary, attracting Real Madrid‘s scouting attention. From then on, everything changed.
Embracing the Basque family in Bilbao
The guy who didn’t know Real Madrid had a basketball team eventually made it to one of the most prominent and attracting youth system in all of Europe’s basketball scene.
He stayed there from 2016 to 2019 and grew a lot. “I can’t even explain what I learned in Madrid compared to Sweden. Everybody was extremely professional and took care of us perfectly. What surprised me mostly were the small details about Spanish basketball, and high basketball IQ”, he said.
Everything changed in the summer of 2023, as the Swedish connection stayed strong in Bilbao. He had shown huge capacities for three years at Valladolid, and he could take the torch from Ludde Hakanson.
“I signed with Bilbao pretty early, and before coming here, I basically asked him about the coach, the city, the management, the staff; he told me only good things about everybody here,” Pantzar said about UCAM Murcia’s guard and one of his countrymen playing in the ACB.
Following one promising campaign in one of Europe’s toughest domestic leagues, the Swedish playmaker and his teammates wrote history for the black-and-white club, winning the FIBA Europe Cup.
“It was just an amazing moment, the first trophy in the club’s history,” he said. “We’ll always be so proud and happy to have these fans. Winning in front of these people is the best thing. They always come and support us, even when we don’t perform well or the results are bad,” Pantzar added.
¿Esto que ha sido? 🖤❤🏆 pic.twitter.com/ZTtH47VUSl
— Surne Bilbao Basket 😎 (@bilbaobasket) April 25, 2025
“When you see them on the street, they say only positive things about you. They want to push the team, It’s all love. When you see how many people came out, we didn’t expect that.”
Celebrating close to the Nervion River, which last year saw a huge wave of red-and-white Basque fans celebrating the football side of Athletic Bilbao lifting up the Copa del Rey trophy after 40 years, Jaume Ponsarnau’s players couldn’t believe their eyes.
“Basque people feel like family. If you’re part of it, like me being with Bilbao, they really treat you well. They want to take care of you, support and respect you. That’s what makes Basque people really lovely.”
“I wanted to see the celebration, but it was impossible to get to it. You were walking around and seeing people drinking all day, boats going around on the river; it was a beautiful moment. We sense that Athletic supports us, and we obviously support them by going to San Mames at times,” he added.
Winning in front of a crazy atmosphere
Bilbao’s trajectory to lift their first-ever trophy, beating PAOK in the FIBA Europe Cup Finals, was exceptional. Losing by 19 points against JDA Dijon in the first leg of the Semi-Finals, they came back once returning to Miribilla, in front of rocking fans.
With 10 wins out of 10 games played in front of their people, they confirmed themselves against Massimo Cancellieri’s team in Game 1 of the Finals, getting the 72-65 advantage over the Greeks.
But once things moved to Thessaloniki, they knew a crazy atmosphere was about to surprise them. “Before going there, we had two practices, with big speakers producing PAOK songs and chants. Coach decided to have it on for the whole practice, so we had to practice using signs to call plays,” he said.
“We were prepared to go there. A lot of people told me it would be a crazy place to be in. “It’s like hell,” they told me. But I didn’t believe it was that crazy,” Pantzar admitted.
It just hits different. 🔥
Thank you @PAOKbasketball fans for creating the perfect atmosphere for a historic #FIBAEuropeCup finals! 🙌 pic.twitter.com/Off2aNcL5I
— FIBA Europe Cup (@FIBAEuropeCup) April 24, 2025
“When I came there for my warmup, getting some shots, I was like, “Wow, this is a different place.” We wished to lift the trophy here in Bilbao, but winning it there shows how strong we were mentally. I have a lot of respect for their fans. They were amazing. I had never seen anything like it.”
Leading the team with a 17-point performance, he was eventually named MVP of the FIBA Europe Cup Finals, cementing his legacy as Bilbao’s hero in a historic night of celebrations.
Next to him, there was another Scandinavian: the Norwegian guard Harald Frey. “Playing with Harry is great. First of all, he’s a really good person. He’s always so supportive of everybody. He communicates well. That shows a good sign of leadership; playing with him, he just makes everything easier for you.”
“We are both point guards, but we can play together, which it’s something I really like. He can take up the ball, I can take up the ball. We crave each other. I’m just blessed to have him as a teammate.”
If Bilbao managed to get such a memorable win for the club, it was also thanks to the 2003-born versatile forward Thijs De Ridder, who’s expected to take over in the next few years. “Since the first day I saw him, I just knew that he would be different,” Pantzar commented.
“I can’t really see anybody that plays like him; with the energy, toughness, and determination he has. He will at least play in the EuroLeague, because he’s just that good. He’s so young, can improve a lot, and he’s just a hard worker. He will be special for Belgium.”
Making history with Sweden
The 2024-25 season will always be a special one for Melwin Pantzar, regardless of his future. Just a couple of months before dragging Bilbao Basket to their first-ever trophy, he was the face of Sweden’s qualification to EuroBasket 2025 – 12 years after their last participation.
“The whole trajectory has been just amazing. Since we have this new coaching cycle, we’ve been working a lot together. We had this common goal always in our heads to just make it to the next EuroBasket, and we completed it. We made it,” he shared his emotions.
“Doing it in front of our fans, in front of our people. It was just amazing. A lot of work we had been doing a lot of work in this to achieve. It was amazing. One of the best days of my life, for sure.”
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The great aspect lies in this being only the beginning for the whole movement of Swedish basketball. “It’s amazing that it’s growing, actually, and I think a big part of it is that the women’s national team is also winning games. We both qualified for EuroBasket,” he said.
Talent is there, not only in Europe. “We have a lot of Swedes doing well overseas, like Pelle Larson and Bobi Klintman. I think that’s the most important thing, and I’m just happy about it.”
Recently, going up against UCAM Murcia, that has become a Swedish derby between Melwin Pantzar on one side, and the Ludde Hakanson-Simon Birgander duo on the other. “It’s always fun playing against them or any Swedish national team member,” he said.
“Maybe they know some things about your moves, but you still got to play hard. It’s always fun to compete against Ludde because he’s been a role model for me and a lot of players in Sweden who are younger than him. Simon’s a really good center. Last year, he was almost the MVP of the ACB.”
The guy who would love to have Mondo Duplantis’ jumping ability, Alexander Isak’s pace, Sarah Sjostrom’s mentality, and Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s strength is ready to do big things for Sweden.
Even coming from the smallest environment, from the tiniest of places in the whole basketball scene. Even embracing his Gambian roots and his Swedish love, all the way to drag the whole Basque city of Bilbao. Melwin Pantzar is on his way to write more iconic and historic chapters.
PHOTO CREDIT: FIBA Europe Cup