MUNICH (FIBA U18 European Championship 2016) - Germany is known throughout the world as being a superpower in the world of football. But Richard Freudenberg and his team-mates are ready to show at the FIBA U18 European Championship 2016 that Deutschland can play some basketball as well. 

Freudenberg helped Germany earlier this year win the biennial Albert Schweitzer Tournament (AST) for the first time. And now the Heidelberg-native wants to make more history - an U18 European Championship title and berth at the 2017 FIBA U19 World Championship. 

"We're the first German team to win the AST. Why shouldn't we be the first to play in the U19 Worlds or to get a medal this summer?" Freudenberg pondered. 

The only youth global competition Germany have competed in was as hosts of the 2010 FIBA U17 World Championship - competing at the 1983 and 1987 FIBA U19 Worlds under the flag of West Germany. At senior level, Germany won the 1993 European Championship and finished second at EuroBasket 2005, as well as earning a third place at the 2002 FIBA Basketball World Cup. 

That's a far cry from the storied history of Germany's football national team - four-time world champions and three-time European champs. But that is in the process of changing, according to Freudenberg.

"We're known for football and we have won everything in that sport. But basketball is getting bigger and bigger here and the youth teams are more talented. We can show everybody that Germany isn't just for football," Freudenberg claimed.

"We're the first German team to win the AST. Why shouldn't we be the first to play in the U19 Worlds or to get a medal this summer." - Freudenberg

Germany enter the FIBA U18 European Championship in unchartered territory - namely as one of the top favourites to win the title. They struggled in a recent warmup tournament in France, losing to France and Croatia on either side of a victory over U18 Division B side Poland. They were playing without Kostja Mushidi, who is playing with Germany's U20 national team, and Isaiah Hartenstein, who is trying to come back from an injury to be fit in time for the U18 European Championship, which runs from 22-31 July in Samsun.

"The tournament in France did not go that well for us," said Freudenberg, who started all three games. "After the AST, we knew that we are one of the favourites. We had some very good moments but also a lot of mistakes. But we know how good we can play and how much upside we have."

Germany's only U18 top-four finish was fourth place in 1986 and the country's eighth place showing last summer was the top final ranking since taking eighth in 1996.

Freudenberg was part of the team last summer that lost to Lithuania in the Quarter-Finals and then finished off with losses against France and Spain to take eighth place. 

The same thing happened for Freudenberg at the FIBA U16 European Championship 2013 as Germany lost to Serbia in the Quarters and dropped the final two games to France and Turkey for eighth place. 

"For me I lost two times in the Quarter-Finals. It's time to break it and win," said Freudenberg. 

Germany actually have never won a Quarter-Finals game at a men's FIBA or FIBA Europe Division A youth event. Making history would secure that much-anticipated spot in Cairo next summer at the FIBA U19 World Championship. 

"We want to get into the U19 Worlds, so we definitely want to get a top-five spot," Freudenburg said. "We know that we have a great team with great guys. But it's a tournament with seven games in nine days. Anything can happen."

A podium finish and a spot at next summer's U19 Worlds would definitely grab some of the attention from the football lovers in Germany.

FIBA