GER - DBB keeps Albert Schweitzer Tournament in Mannheim until 2022

MANNHEIM (Albert Schweitzer Tournament) - Basketball fans eager to see some of the greatest young players before they reach superstardom can count on coming back to Mannheim as the German Basketball Federation (DBB) and Mannheim leaders have reached an agreement to keep the storied biennial Albert Schweitzer Tournament (AST) in the German city until 2022.

Every two years, some of the best U18 players from around the globe converge on Mannheim for the AST, which has a number of superstar alumni, including Magic Johnson, Drazen Petrovic, Arvydas Sabonis, Toni Kukoc, Dino Radja, Tim Duncan, Pau Gasol, Dirk Nowitzki, Tony Parker, Vince Carter, Andrew Bogut and Nicolas Batum to mention a few.

"I am overjoyed that we were successful with our reliable and professional partners, the city of Mannheim, in securing the Albert Schweitzer Tournament until at least 2022 and that it will be organized in Mannheim," said DBB president Ingo Weiss, who appeared together with Mannheim mayor Lothar Quast to announce the deal, which secures the AST tournaments for 2014, 2016, 2018, 2020 and 2022.

"The AST is an immensely important part of German basketball and I am extremely proud of looking back at a very successful tradition. I am that much happier that we have planning security for the next 10 years and can offer up-coming, very talented basketball players a great tournament in the Rhine-Neckar region."

The 2014 AST will tip off on April 19, 2014 with the opening game scheduled to take place in Mannheim's GBG Halle venue.

Mannheim has hosted the U18 AST since 1958, when it was started by German basketball pioneer Hermann Niebuhr with theologian and physician Albert Schweitzer being the namesake of the tournament.

"I cannot imagine the Mannheim sports landscape without this event and it always shows the interest of sports in the region. That makes it all the more important that we could lay the foundation for a collaboration for the next 10 years with the declaration of intent," said Quast.

The tournament took a break between 1960 and 1966 and was cancelled in 1991 due to the Gulf War. The United States have won 10 of the 26 ASTs - but none since 1996. Spain are the defending champions from 2012 with Greece winning in 2002 and 2008, Turkey taking the 2004 crown, France in 2006 and Australia in 2010.

Other notable AST grads include Kyle Lowry, Hedo Turkoglu, Enes Kanter, Omri Casspi, Yi Jianlian, Kostas Papanikolaou, Patty Mills, Matthew Dellavedova, Dario Saric, Bojan Bogdanovic and Chen Jianghua among many, many more.

FIBA