diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 76758dfb..6e9f4cca 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -305,17 +305,10 @@ endif()
 
 if (USE_PYTHON)
     if (PREFER_SYSTEM_PYBIND11)
-      find_package(pybind11 CONFIG)
-    endif()
-    if (pybind11_FOUND)
       set(NG_INSTALL_PYBIND OFF)
+      find_package(pybind11 CONFIG REQUIRED)
     else()
       add_subdirectory(external_dependencies/pybind11)
-      if (pybind11_INCLUDE_DIR)
-          message(STATUS "Found Pybind11: ${pybind11_INCLUDE_DIR}")
-      else()
-          message(FATAL_ERROR "Could NOT find pybind11!")
-      endif()
     endif()
 
     target_include_directories(netgen_python INTERFACE ${pybind11_INCLUDE_DIR} ${PYTHON_INCLUDE_DIRS})