“DiBa Diba Du.” Anyone who thinks of Dirk Nowitzki in Germany immediately has a melody in their head. The former basketball professional and the ING Bank have been partners for 20 years now. To celebrate this, the financial institution unveiled a life-size statue of the athlete on Thursday in Nowitzki’s presence in front of the company’s headquarters on Theodor-Heuss-Allee, exactly where the German surprise world champions led by Dennis Schröder were four weeks ago after returning from their title win in Manila were received. The bronze statue by the Berlin sculptor Andreas Artur Hoferick sits on a wooden bench and is intended to invite passers-by to take a seat.
Nick Jue, CEO of ING Germany, described the long-standing collaboration with the sports star as “unique” and presented Nowitzki with a check for 50,000 euros for the foundation named after him. It supports children and young people from socially disadvantaged families. The 2.13 meter tall Nowitzki has been the advertising face of ING Bank since 2003, which was called ING DiBa until 2018 and did without the well-known advertising jingle four years later.
However, the bank does not want to part with Nowitzki for the time being. In 2017 she entered into a permanent partnership with him that extended beyond the end of Nowitzki’s professional career. Nowitzki said he was pleased that the initial advertising partnership had resulted in a shared social commitment. The Würzburg native played in the North American basketball league NBA until 2019. In 2012 he won the championship with the Dallas Mavericks. He was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in August 2023.
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