Gisa Lions MBC lands a coup with a new sports director

“Mario Zurkowski could easily coach any club in the first women’s basketball league,” says MBC Managing Director Martin Geissler. The pride that his club has managed to convince the coveted basketball expert to get involved cannot be overheard. The 35-year-old from Gelsenkirchen trained the Rheinland Lions successfully until they were forced to relegate.

Zurkowski will not work as a head coach for the women’s basketball team at Gisa Lions MBC, but as a sports director. The new coach will be Timur Topal. After a season to forget, the Gisa Lions MBC are starting the season with a strong new leadership duo. Geissler speaks of a “new level”. “It’s extraordinary because it doesn’t exist at other locations in the DBBL either. Halle had never had a basketball expert as a sports director before.”

The duo Topal/Zurkowski know each other from a time together with the Rheinland Lions. In 2020/21, both led the team into the Bundesliga and in the following season straight away to the runners-up and the cup semi-finals. Back then, Zurkowski was the head coach and Topal was his assistant. Success had a stale aftertaste. The Rheinland Lions took over financially, were broke and stopped playing at the beginning of the year as table leaders.

Because there was only one relegation, the Gisa Lions SV Halle, which had merged with the Mitteldeutsche BC before the end of the season and spent a playoff place as a goal, held the class. They wanted to build one of the leading locations in women’s basketball in Germany under the name Gisa Lions MBC. However, the attempt initially failed and MBC Managing Director Geissler admitted some mistakes: “We certainly have a lot of experience when it comes to organization and men’s basketball, but to be honest – we didn’t know that much about women’s basketball.”

In addition, head coach Katerina Hatzidaki and manager Katharina Fikiel were not green. That’s why it was important to Geissler when making the new appointment that the coach and sporting director get along well with each other. “The relationship of trust has to be there. It’s about developing the club together,” said the MBC managing director and believes: “This cast goes well together.”

There should be a clear separation between coach and sports director. According to Geissler, the coach will be able to realize himself and implement his ideas. “It’s important to me to act as a team, on and off the field. It’s important to communicate honestly and directly so that you build trust,” explained Topal, who especially praises the professional structures and the fans.

According to Geissler, what Topal, who was most recently head coach of Rutronik Stars Keltern in the Bundesliga, lacks in experience, Zurkowski has. He therefore relies on his expertise: “He knows how to put together a successful team in the shortest possible time and is good at assessing the players.”

Playmaker Joyce Cousseins-Smith put the 35-year-old in touch with Zurkowski. She moved to Halle from the “bankruptcy estate” of the Rhineland Lions at the beginning of the year, but was unable to stop the slide.