Albert Schweitzer Tournament

The Albert Schweitzer Tournament (AST) is an international basketball competition that is played between national basketball teams of the Under-18 men age category. It takes place every 2 years in Mannheim, Germany, and is contested between teams from 12 countries.

Albert Schweitzer Tournament (AST)
Albert Schweitzer Tournament Mannheim
SportBasketball
Founded1958
No. of teams12
Country Germany
Continent Europe
Most recent
champion(s)		 Germany
(2nd title)
Most titles United States
(10 titles)
Official websitebasketball-bund.de/albert-schweitzer-turnier
France vs. USA, at the 2010 Albert Schweitzer Tournament.

Since FIBA does not organize an Under-18 world championship, the Albert Schweitzer Tournament is internationally recognized and considered a non-FIBA organized world championship for the Under-18 age group. Originally, the tournament was an Under-19 age event. The organizers of the tournament are the German Basketball Federation and the city of Mannheim. The tournament is named after Albert Schweitzer.

History

The first Albert Schweitzer Tournament took place in December 1958. It was contested between eight teams, and won by Belgium. Hans-Joachim Babies, and the German basketball pioneer, Hermann Niebuhr, asked the theologian and physician, Albert Schweitzer, if they could use his namesake for the name of the tournament. After the second tournament in 1960, there was a break in play until 1966. From that point onwards, a two-year tournament cycle was established.

From 1958 to 1971, the USA used players that were the dependents of the USA's military forces. Starting with the 1973 tournament, the USA began to use players that were selected from throughout the entire USA school system.

The 1991 tournament was canceled, due to the Gulf War. Since 1994, the tournament has been held during even-numbered years.[1]

The USA has won the most titles, winning ten. The USA is followed by Italy with four titles. The record attendance was 28,763 spectators.

Due to the spread of the Coronavirus disease, the 2020 tournament was cancelled.[2]

Results
Summaries[3]
Year Gold Medal Silver Medal Bronze Medal 4th Place
1958
 Belgium Austria Germany United States
1960
 Belgium Austria United States Netherlands
1966
 Italy Turkey Austria United States
1967
 Poland Austria France Belgium
1969
 Italy Czechoslovakia Poland Turkey
1971
 Yugoslavia Italy Poland Spain
1973
 United States Poland Yugoslavia Italy
1975
 United States Turkey Spain Poland
1977
 United States Spain Turkey Germany
1979
 Yugoslavia Spain United States Soviet Union
1981
 United States Soviet Union Bulgaria Germany
1983
 Italy United States Germany Finland
1985
 United States Yugoslavia Turkey Sweden
1987
 United States Spain Turkey Germany
1989
 United States Greece France Czechoslovakia
1993
 United States Lithuania Italy Greece
1994
 United States Spain Australia Lithuania
1996
 United States France Greece Turkey
1998
 Spain Australia United States Turkey
2000
 FR Yugoslavia Greece United States Australia
2002
 Greece Spain FR Yugoslavia United States
2004
 Turkey Argentina Spain Serbia and Montenegro
2006
 France Turkey Serbia Croatia
2008
 Greece Turkey Australia United States
2010
 Australia[4] Germany Germany United States
2012
 Spain[5] Serbia Turkey Germany
2014
 Italy[6] United States Serbia Turkey
2016
 Germany[7] Serbia Italy France
2018
 Germany[8] Australia Italy Russia

Performance by nation
Country
Winners
 United States
10
 Italy
4
 Belgium
2
 Yugoslavia
2
 Spain
2
 Greece
2
 Germany
2
 Poland
1
 Serbia and Montenegro
1
 Turkey
1
 France
1
 Australia
1

Future stars

The tournament is an important event for professional basketball scouts from around the world. Over the years, many players that have played at the tournament have gone on to become well-known pro players, both in the NBA, and the EuroLeague.[9][10]

Some of the NBA players that have played at the AST, include:

In addition to that, some of the players that have played in various international senior men's professional top-tier national domestic leagues, and that have also played at the AST, include:

Awards

MVP Award
YearMVP
1996
 Kevin Freeman
1998
 David Andersen
2000
 Charis Markopoulos[11]
2002
 Sofoklis Schortsanitis
2004
 Ersan İlyasova
2006
 Nicolas Batum
2008
 Nikos Pappas
2010
 Mitch Creek
2012
 Nikola Radičević
2014
 Ethan Happ
2016
 Kostja Mushidi
2018
 Jonas Mattisseck

Burkhard Wildermuth Prize

The Burkhard Wildermuth Prize, or Burkhard Wildermuth Award, was first awarded in 2006, and is given to the player in each tournament that is deemed to be the "Most Talented Player". The award is named after Dr. Burkhard Wildermuth, the long-time co-organizer of the Albert Schweitzer Tournament.

YearMost Talented Player
2006
 Alexis Ajinça
2008
 Enes Kanter
2010
 Dario Šarić
2012
 Cedi Osman
2014
 Nicolás Aguirre
2016
 Zhu Rongzhen
2018
 Tomer Levinson

All-Tournament Team
gollark: Pretty much all firmware is reprogrammable with sufficient [BEEOID DELETED FROM REALITY].
gollark: As ever, you overestimate your own abilities.
gollark: And not very good at it.
gollark: Ah, you've attained atemporal computation, great.
gollark: Or O(-ω) on a few systems.

See also
  • TBF Under-16 World Cup
  • FIBA Under-17 World Cup
  • FIBA Under-19 World Cup

References
  1. "AST-basketball.de It all started in December 1958". Archived from the original on 2014-10-06. Retrieved 2014-09-27.
  2. "Albert Schweitzer Turnier 2020 fällt aus – AST 2020 is canceled « Deutscher Basketball Bund". Retrieved 2020-03-16.
  3. AST-basketball.de Turnierergebnisse (in German).
  4. Schoenen-dunk.de Australien triumphiert verdient (in German).
  5. Nikola Radicevic wird MVP des AST 2012 – Radicevic honoured as MVP. (in German).
  6. US-Boy Ethan Happ ist AST-MVP 2014! (in German).
  7. "AST 2016: Deutschland erstmals Turniersieger!". basketball-bund.de. German Basketball Federation. 2 April 2016. Retrieved 2 April 2016.
  8. "AST 2018: Deutschland verteidigt den Titel!". basketball-bund.de. German Basketball Federation. 7 April 2018. Retrieved 7 April 2018.
  9. "AST-basketball.de Magic Johnson was a part of AST in 1975". Archived from the original on 2014-10-06. Retrieved 2014-09-27.
  10. 2000 Albert Schweitzer Tournament.
  11. HARIS MARKOPOULOS From Matt Blair for HH:
  12. Μισάν Νικαγκμπάτσε, ο Άιβερσον του Ολυμπιακού! (in Greek).
  13. "Kostja Mushidi ist MVP des AST 2016". basketball-bund.de (in German). German Basketball Federation. 2 April 2016. Retrieved 2 April 2016.
  14. "AST 2018: Jonas Mattisseck ist MVP". basketball-bund.de (in German). German Basketball Federation. 7 April 2018. Retrieved 7 April 2018.
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