National team head-coach Ken Diederich has said it many times over the last years: In order to become better as a national team, Luxembourg needs more professional players. The 13-men roster for the games in August includes 4 full professional players (Grün, Laurent, Kovac and Rugg). However, some other players are on their way of possibly becoming professional players in the future (Delgado, Vujakovic, Diederich).
Thomas Grün (Gladiators Trier) is an „established player, he is captain in Trier and has a big role in that team, he knows what he will do next season and possibly for more years to come » says national team head-coach Ken Diederich.
Alex Laurent, who will play in the second league in Belgium next season for Courtrai. „Just like Thomas, Alex is an established player, he will now take a new challenge in Belgium with a club that has the clear ambitions to move up to the first league. He has signed a 2-year contract so that he will try to help the club achieve this goal. »
Ben Kovac, who will continue to play for Den Helder Suns (Netherlands) in his second season as a professional player has „made himself a name last season and now he will continue to get better next season. I think Ben has the potential to move to a stronger league in the future, we will see what will be possible for him over the next years.“
For Ivan Delgado „the situation is different, he needs to find a club where he can show that he has value as a professional player and I am sure that he can do it because the potential is clearly there.“
Oliver Vujakovic, one of the main players in team Luxembourg, has not made a decision yet where he will play next season, it is possible that he will play in a differrent club in Austria next season or stay in Tirol. „Oli has been on the path to become a professional player and I am sure he can and will do that in the future. »
Jonathan Diederich (18) is a young player who has the goal of becoming a professional player, he is studying and playing at the basketball academy on Urspring (Germany) and clearly a player to watch in the future. „He wants to become a professional player, that is why I nominated him to our roster, I want to see what he can do. We need more professional players and players like Jonathan will clearly be a big part of the future for our national team. »
Games coming up in August
Our men’s national team will play the second round of the qualification tournament for the World Cup 2023 in August against Sweden and Portugal. Head-coach Ken Diederich nominated 13 players that are part of the roster to start the training camp:
Delgado Ivan (Etzella)
Grün Thomas (Gladiators Trier, Gemrmany)
Gutenkauf Philippe (Etzella)
Melcher Bob (Amicale)
Kalmes Joé (T71)
Kovac Ben (Den Helder Suns, Netherlands)
Laurent Alex (Kortijk Spurs, Belgium)
Rugg Clancy (Basket Esch)
Vujakovic Oli (Tirol Raiders, Austria)
Wolff Mathis (Sparta)
Diederich Jonathan (Ehingen Urspring academy, Germany)
Verbeelen Yannick (Sparta)
Konen Tom (Amicale)
Head-coach: Ken Diederich
Assistant-coaches: Pit Rodenbourg, Denis Toroman
