Germany stand little chance of contending for honours at the EuroBasket Women without Linda Fröhlich so rest assured, her arrival this week will be greeted with a sense of relief.

Fröhlich led the Germans, and the qualifying tournament as a whole, in scoring at 23.3 points per game last year. She was also tops in rebounding with an average of 11.2.

As of Thursday morning, the Risto Rovereto player had yet to link up with the squad which steps up its EuroBasket preparations this weekend.

Germany take on the Netherlands in a double-header on August 21 and 22 before departing for the EuroBasket and Fröhlich needs to be on the court for coach Olaf Stolz's team to find its rhythm.

"Linda is due back in Germany in the next few days and I think she will be involved against Holland," said Stolz.

Stolz's side won just one of their six preparation games.

His team was outclassed by Spain (90-60), Belgium (97-77) and Finland (73-72) in the squad's first fixtures of the summer in Naumur, Belgium, earlier this month.

Then in a warm-up tournament in Istanbul, Germany suffered heavy defeats to Turkey (86-78) and the Czech Republic (77-56).

Germany then prevailed 58-52 over the Romanians, a foundation upon which Stolz is keen to build when the Dutch come to Dorsten and Hagen at the weekend.

"The aim for the games against Holland is to carry forward the improvements from Turkey and the integration of Linda into the side," said Stolz.

Germany took first place in qualifying Group C although both they and Romania had five wins in six games.

The Germans finished first after a big win over Belgium in their final contest.

GB Dorsten's Dorothea Richter, who matched Fröhlich's 16 points in that final game in Freiburg, is another of the star players while Christine Ishaque of BC Marburg should be full of confidence after an impressive season in which she averaged 17.6 points per game.

The main addition to Stolz's squad is Marburg's Yvonne Weber, the top points-scorer in the last Bundesliga season with a total of 422 in 22 games, giving her an average of 19.2 points per game.

That added scoring will come in handy when Germany face Greece in the opening game of the EuroBasket in Bursa on September 2.

Katja Munckj and Anne Breitreiner are the only squad members from Bundesliga champions TSV Wasserburg, while Andrea Harder also brings domestic championship-winning experience with her having clinched a ninth Austrian Bundesliga title with Powerbasket Wels this year.

Nevertheless, all of the focus remains on Fröhlich, who is regarded as the Dirk Nowitzki of the women's team and will be expected to perform miracles, even though Stolz repeatedly claims his side are still in the building phase.