Basketball Comeback in Deutschland
Trier’s fans are expecting Saibou to be tough
Status: 19.11.2023 | Reading time: 2 minutes
Joshiko Saibou at a German national team game in June 2021
Source: picture alliance/dpa/Axel Heimken
Former national basketball player Joshiko Saibou was heavily criticized in 2020 during the Corona crisis. Now it is appearing in Germany again for the first time in three and a half years. He receives clear messages from the fans.
The controversial basketball professional Joshiko Saibou played a competitive game in Germany for the first time since the Corona controversy in 2020. The 33-year-old is now under contract with second division club Medipolis SC Jena and made his season debut with Jenas 95:83 at Römerstrom Gladiators Trier. Former German international Saibou contributed twelve points and five assists.
The development player played in the BBL for Alba Berlin and Würzburg, among others. In the summer of 2020, he was dismissed without notice by Telekom Baskets Bonn after taking part in a demonstration against the government’s Corona measures.
The club accused him of violating “the well-known protective rules” by taking part and thereby posing “a permanent risk of infection”. Saibou then moved to the French club Reims and six months later moved on to Dijon. He only returned to Germany in September 2023.
Video on Instagram caused Saibou’s career to take a hit
The home fans from Trier criticized the professional with harsh words on a banner. Saibou was first a “role model to everyone” and only then did his “mask fall,” the followers wrote, among other things.
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At the 2021 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Saibou was in the German squad, which sparked some criticism. The association defended the player, who “stands 100 percent by the values of the national team”.
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“I don’t believe in conspiracy theories and I never have. I have a clear stance on discriminatory groups, no matter what kind,” said Saibou in an interview with the German Press Agency in June 2021. At no time did he spread a single conspiracy theory, neither in person nor on social media. “It’s a shame to have to justify something you absolutely didn’t do,” he said.
What is documented, among other things, is an Instagram video published by Saibou in May 2020 under the hashtag “#AppellandenVerstand”, in which he said about the Corona restrictions: “You are repeating what television, newspapers and politicians are telling you. Don’t question anything.” He continued: “Even when people are beaten down and arrested. This is for the good of everyone.” Saibou emphasized this with a raised index finger and at the end of the video by putting on a protective mask and saying: “So. Mince your words.”
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