Mithat Demirel

Mithat Demirel — Biography

Mithat Demirel is a point guard who played a part in German basketball's rise in the early 2000s. Born in Berlin and standing 1.80 m tall, he played 100 games for the German national team and won bronze at the 2002 World Championship and silver at the 2005 European Championship. After his playing days he moved into management, and since 2026 he has served as vice president of the German Basketball Federation.

The core of his club career was at Alba Berlin. He played there from 1997 to 2005, with spells of about half a season at Oyak Bursa and a year and a half at Mitteldeutscher BC interrupting the stay. With Alba he won five German championships, lifted the German Cup in 1999, 2002 and 2003, and competed in the Euroleague and the ULEB Cup. In the national team he worked well with Dirk Nowitzki and fed him effectively in the game; despite his short stature, his work rate and experience let him run the team well. After 2005 he turned to Turkey, playing for Beşiktaş and Galatasaray, then for Brose Bamberg in Germany, and he also played for Scafati Basket in Italy. His last stop was Erdemirspor, with whom he was runner-up in the 2009 Turkish Cup; he retired from playing in 2010.

He stayed in basketball after leaving the court: until 2015 he worked as sporting director at Alba Berlin, and until 2018 he was general manager of Darüşşafaka in Istanbul.