For the German championship of Alba Berlin: Concept beats money – sport

Professional sport is a fast-moving business and sometimes it is helpful to look back at the moment of great success. On Sunday, Alba Berlin won the German championship in Munich, for the second time in a row and for the tenth time in the club’s history. But five years ago it didn’t necessarily look like the former series champion would be as successful again in the foreseeable future.

In 2016, the Berliners failed in the first play-off round 0: 3 against Frankfurt, the following year against FC Bayern 1: 3. The last championship was dated in 2008 and Bamberg and Munich had clearly overtaken Alba with great financial commitment. Bamberg has now said goodbye to the top, Bayern still have more money, but Alba is again the measure of all things in terms of sport.

In the four seasons under coach Aito Garcia Reneses, the Berliners have always reached the finals in both national competitions – and now even won the direct duel with Munich in the play-offs for the first time. It is the well-deserved reward for a strategy that is not primarily aimed at quick titles, but rather for development. Manager Marco Baldi likes to tell the anecdote how he was advised in the not so successful years to invest less energy in the youth, in popular sport and in social projects and rather to bundle the money with the professional team.

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Alba has resisted this impulse, which is widespread in sport – and it is now paying off. With Niels Giffey, Tim Schneider, Malte Delow and Jonas Mattisseck, four Berliners from their own offspring belong to the core of the team. The breadth of the squad and the trust in their own talents made the difference in the physically incredibly challenging series against Bayern with four games in five days.

Alba has the ideal staff for this strategy in sports director Himar Ojeda and the coaching team led by Reneses. It is impressive how the players develop year after year and how every painful departure has been compensated for so far. Marius Grigonis, Martin Hermannsson, Landry Nnoko, Rokas Giedraitis – Ojeda has always found successors that fit into the game concept. At the end of this season, important players will also leave, probably even Captain Giffey. It hurts, but Alba’s strategy will also make up for these losses.

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