The International Basketball Federation’s Women’s Basketball World Cup -FIBA-, taking place from September 4 to 13 in Berlin, has some unusual features beneath the players’ feet and above the spectators’ heads. Its two venues, the Berlin Arena and the Max-Schmeling-Halle, have portable wooden courts weighing around 16 tonnes each. A limited number of authentic pieces will go on sale after the championship. At the latter venue, there is another curiosity outside: sheep have been used to maintain its green roof, a practice that has even given its name to an events industry gathering.
Before the players could train on those courts, the 867 panels making up each floor had to be assembled. According to FIBA, a team of six can complete the installation in under six hours, despite the combined weight. Rather than building a permanent floor inside the arena, the process involves assembling a surface designed to move from one venue to another. The system allows a building used throughout the year for concerts and different sporting events to accommodate a court meeting World Cup requirements temporarily.
A World Cup played on 867 panels
The courts are supplied by Junckers, a FIBA Global Technical Supplier since 2021, and are made from solid European beech. The Pro Complete 44 system is 44 millimetres thick and arrives at the arena fully finished, with no sanding or surface treatment required after installation. The tournament’s visual identity is also prepared beforehand: logos and graphics are printed directly onto the wood and protected with two coats of sports lacquer. The same portable flooring system has been used at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, the 2023 men’s World Cup and EuroBasket 2025.
Once the competition ends, dismantling each court will take less than four hours. Its design allows it to be transported and installed again, while the wood can be sanded eight to ten times over its lifespan to renew the surface and extend its use. At this World Cup, part of the playing surface will also have a different destination: FIBA has announced that a limited number of authentic pieces will be available to buy as tournament souvenirs. Further details will follow, but the initiative will allow supporters to keep a fragment of the floor on which the national teams competed.
The sheep tending the rooftop
At the Max-Schmeling-Halle, in Prenzlauer Berg, building maintenance provides another unusual sight for an international sports arena. Vegetation grows on its roof, and sheep have been used to keep it trimmed through grazing. Berlin’s official website documents the practice and links it to the work of urban shepherd Björn Hagge, whose flock moves between green spaces in and around the city. The animals therefore play a role in maintaining the venue; they are not part of the World Cup programme or an activity arranged for its fans.
This distinctive feature has given its name to ‘Night of Sheep’, the rooftop gathering organised by Velomax, which operates the arena and Berlin’s Velodrom. The fifth edition took place on July 2, bringing together more than 200 guests from culture, business, the media and, above all, the events industry. During an evening of music and conversation, the rooftop once again served as a meeting place for professionals who usually work inside venues. This year, visible construction at the nearby Friedrich-Ludwig-Jahn-Sportpark also offered a glimpse of the transformation of the neighbourhood’s sporting facilities.
The night the sheep were missing
However, the guests who gave the gathering its name were unable to attend. Velomax explained that weather-related and logistical factors prevented the sheep from appearing at the July event. The company turned instead to a less demanding substitute: sheep-shaped helium balloons. The fifth ‘Night of Sheep’ thus became the first ‘Night of no Sheep’, as the organisers themselves called it. The anecdote belongs to that summer gathering, not the basketball championship, and shows how a maintenance practice has become part of the arena’s identity.
Following that event and the summer break, the Max-Schmeling-Halle is now hosting the World Cup before continuing its season of concerts and sporting competitions. That schedule explains the value of a court that can be installed and removed within hours, without being permanently tied to a single venue. When the tournament ends, the panels can be dismantled to make room for the next events. Some fragments will also leave the cycle of arenas and storage facilities to become the championship souvenirs FIBA will offer its fans.
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