30 years on: Bochum ready to welcome back ‘streetball’

The setting and the sport seem familiar, but the Jahrhunderthalle and ‘streetball’ have both changed dramatically in the three decades since these grainy images were taken at a pop-up tournament in December 1994.

Now, with 3x3 established as an Olympic discipline and the old steam power station in Bochum returned to its former glory, the two are coming together once again for the Rhine-Ruhr 2025 FISU World University Games next July.

One former player who remembers it all well is Samir Suliman, the current coach of the Germany women’s 3x3 team who won gold at the Olympic Games in Paris this summer.

“It’s going to be really special to ‘come back’ to this venue next year with such a big international 3x3 tournament,” Suliman, who played in the 1994 event, says.

“It is a special location with a distinct industrial vibe, perfect for a real urban sport. I think there is no better place than the Jahrhunderthalle to present the FIBA 3x3 slogan ‘from the streets to the Olympics’ in a better way.”

Designed for a Düsseldorf trade fair and rebuilt in Bochum as a power station, the iconic setting had fallen into a state of disrepair when the sport then known as ‘streetball’ moved in for an exhibition tournament 30 years ago this month. Although crumbling around the edges and a pale reflection of its former self, the hall was still packed to its rusting steel rafters.

“It was a special tournament for me as a player,” Suliman, who was 20 years old at the time, says. “It was the first one I did not win with my team, the ‘International Homies’, so it motivated us to practice harder and to do better.

“There were two dominant teams. An American-Canadian team who had a massive physique and were very strong under the basket, and then there were some boys from Hamburg who won it in the end.

“3x3 was already huge in 1994, and still growing. It had an incredibly large community in the metropolises, with huge tournaments organised by Adidas, Converse, and Reebok Blacktop.”

Like ‘streetball’, the journey has been long and fruitful ever since for Suliman. After many happy years as a player, his coaching career hit a new high with the surprise triumph of Svenja Brunckhorst, Sonja Greinacher, Marie Reichert und Elisa Mevius in Paris – Germany’s first Olympic gold medal in 3x3.

Only last Sunday, their achievements were recognised at the prestigious Sportler des Jahres (Athlete of the Year) gala in Baden-Baden, when Suliman won the coveted ‘Coach of the Year’ award.

Now his sights are set once more on Bochum, and on a proud post-industrial hall since returned to its past splendour.

“It will be great for the ‘Ruhrgebiet’, one of the most urban areas in Germany, to host such a huge 3x3 tournament at the FISU Games,” he said. “As we say in Germany, ‘Die 3x3 Welt zu Gast im Pott’.”

The 3x3 world will visit the ‘Pott’. It is not only Suliman who cannot wait.

© Michael Korte | Bild