Basketball World Cup | DBB captain Marie Gülich: Through the monsoon

Marie Gülich (M.) was the best German thrower against South Korea on Tuesday with 19 points. Photo: Andreas Gora/dpa Shortly after the game against South Korea, Marie Gülich had to collect herself. When asked how happy she was to deliver such a performance after her long period of suffering, the captain of the German basketball players was initially unable to answer. A long look up to hold back tears revealed how much it means to the 32-year-old to be an important part of her team again at the home World Cup in Berlin.

“It's been a long road and I'm a bit surprised at myself that I don't even think about my knee,” said Gülich shortly afterwards in the mixed zone of the Arena at Ostbahnhof. "But I'm just so excited to play basketball and be on the field with this team."

The national team was also the reason for Gülich's long injury break. In May 2025, she tore her cruciate ligament in the first test match of the European Championship preparation against the Czech Republic. She then missed the European Championships and a planned move to France did not materialize. The 1.95 meter tall center player instead completed her rehab in Berlin and worked fully focused on her comeback.

441 days passed and then the time had come. Gülich made her comeback three and a half weeks ago in the first test of the World Cup preparations against Spain. “As soon as I got on the field, it clicked,” she said afterwards. Meanwhile, Gülich plays as if she had never been away. With her size and experience - the Altenkirchen native has played in Italy, Poland, Spain, Taiwan and also for three years in the North American WNBA - she organizes the German game under the basket.

Although the 54-time international player now comes off the bench, Gülich continues to show her class as a substitute. In the historic quarter-final against South Korea on Tuesday, the first ever for an all-German women's national team, she was the top scorer with 19 points and was rightly voted player of the game.

The German number 21 is the team's "emotional support," as national coach Olaf Lange put it in the ZDF documentary "Macherinnen," but also fulfills another important function in the team: Gülich is the team's internal DJ. For the home tournament in Berlin, she chose “Through the Monsoon” as the official team song, which is played in the arena during the warm-up before the game and also after a German victory.

If the Tokio Hotel hit continues after the World Cup quarter-finals against Belgium on Thursday, Marie Gülich would finally secure her place in the history books of German basketball.

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