It is not unusual for Marko Pesic to speak of the opponent with great respect before games. In the Euroleague this is usually due to the quality of the opponents. Even in the Bundesliga, the managing director of the FC Bayern basketball team strives to always treat his next opponent with recognition, which in turn is due to his sportsmanship and politeness. But when Pesic recently spoke about the upcoming game with the Würzburg Baskets, you could see that he showed genuine respect. “The game will be a real benchmark,” said the 47-year-old, on his team’s way to securing first place in the main round of the Basketball Bundesliga (BBL). This appreciation is justified. Würzburg, alongside second-placed Chemnitz and fourth in the table and behind Berlin, is well on its way to qualifying directly for the playoffs, which requires sixth place.
The Würzburgers have had some smashing successes against these supposed heavyweights and have left behind a number of traditional clubs such as Bonn, Oldenburg and Ludwigsburg – including the Bamberg Baskets. Since the 104:65 humiliation in February, which cost Bamberg’s coach Oren Amiel his job, Würzburg has been the sporting number one in Franconia.
There are good reasons for that. Those responsible for sport combine a great deal of basketball expertise. Sports director Kresimir Loncar has played at the top European level for years. The naturalized former Croatian international knows what professionals need to feel comfortable. Coach Sasa Filipkovski understands players; together with assistant coach Dejan Mihevc, he has sensitively formed a collective that works on and off the field. All three are well connected, the scouting is excellent, and of course the results are too. But “we can’t lose” against Bayern, says managing director Steffen Liebler, “but we want to put on a big show.” And why shouldn’t there be a surprise, like the 76:75 triumph against Berlin?
The Würzburgers, who were founded in 2007 and, in addition to a great tradition, can also look back on some successes (fourth place in the Bundesliga in 2012 and participation in the Uleb Cup, BBL quarter-finals in 2016 and Fiba Europe Cup 2018/19), were there in the recent past mostly concerned with staying in the league or with financial survival. But now the Baskets also want to create the economic basis for better times. Five shareholders will soon be responsible for this: Liebler will strengthen the team of shareholders in the future with the proven Jochen Bähr and Jürgen Meissner. For this purpose, the former partner Christian Schenk will be reanimated as such. And in Wolfgang Heyder, the club has brought in another very prominent face. An experienced and well-connected quintet will therefore lead the Würzburg basketball players in the future.
Wolfgang Heyder is leaving Baskets Bamberg, Anton Gavel is returning as coach
Heyder only recently left the Bamberg Baskets; his work as youth coordinator was no longer needed after the change in shareholders: the ideas of the new management and him were “simply too far apart,” as he says. Heyder didn’t leave with a grudge, this statement is important to him; rather, he let Bähr and Liebler convince him to work together after years of courtship.
In Würzburg, the 67-year-old, who as managing director shaped Bamberg’s great years with six championships and three cup victories, will primarily be involved in youth work, his core competence. They are already well positioned, with four homegrown players in the professional squad: Felix Hoffmann, Maximilian Ugrai, Julius Böhmer and Elijah Ndi. “The youth issue has always been close to my heart,” says Heyder, and he could also contribute his expertise to the plans for a new hall. He has gained experience in this regard both in Bamberg and most recently at Löwen Erfurt. In the future, Liebler will not only have “an enormous amount of expertise and know-how” in the new management quintet, he is also hoping for additional partners and financial sources from the well-known and well-connected club owners.
Neither Heyder nor Liebler want to know anything about a changing of the guard in Franconian basketball; the conditions are still too far apart for that. “Bamberg has completely different economic opportunities,” says Liebler. Heyder believes that sporting expertise will also increase noticeably again with the new coach Anton Gavel. The Ulm master coach will return to the place of his greatest sporting successes as head coach next season. Incidentally, it wasn’t because he didn’t feel valued by the Swabians, as was assumed to his annoyance: “I always felt valued in Ulm. As a young coach, I was given the chance to work on the sidelines in the ProB without any major previous experience coach, exactly the same trust was placed in me later for the BBL,” he explained. “I am very grateful to those responsible for this.” His move was solely for personal reasons; he was returning home. Wolfgang Heyder, with whom he celebrated Bamberg’s great successes, has just left.
2024-04-12 15:30:44
#Würzburg #Baskets #challenge #Bayern #layoffs #Sports
