What to watch for in the FIBA Women’s EuroBasket 2025

The event comes off the heels of a highly-competitive Olympic tournament last summer in Paris. Five European teams advanced to the quarterfinals. Then, after a nail-biting overtime win over Belgium in the semifinals, the French team came within one point of upsetting the heavily-favored U.S. team in the championship.

Belgium won the previous EuroBasket at Slovenia in 2023. The Cats return most of their team, but a new edition is head coach Mike Thibault, who was a U.S. assistant last summer in Paris –one stop in his future Hall of Fame career.

“We have a target as the defending champions,” Thibault told The Next in a phone call. “We have made a lot of progress. It helps when you have Emma Meesseman, who is one of the best players in the world. We have other WNBA players playing for us. I feel good about our team, but there are a lot of other good teams in the tournament.”

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Group A

At Piraeus

France, Türkiye, Greece and Switzerland

The French team is the highest-ranked in Europe and the favorites, despite missing familiar names like Gabby Williams and Marine Johannes. Younger players, such as Iliana Rupert, Valeriane Ayayi and Leila Lacan will take the spotlight. The French, who won silver five consecutive times from 2013 to 2021, are looking for their first title since 2009.

“Although they don’t have their full team, they are really deep,” Thibault added about France.

The host Greeks feature Mariella Fasoula and Artemis Spanou, who both scored more than 18 points per game at the 2023 EuroBasket. Fasoula also grabbed 10.3 rebounds in 2023. Teaira McCowan, the 6’8 Dallas Wings center, plays for the Turkish team.

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Group B

At Bologna

Serbia, Italy, Slovenia and Lithuania

The backcourts will be on focus in Group B, such as Slovenian captain Teja Oblak (at age 34 and 5’8). Lithuania (the 1997 champions) features Justė Jocytė, the 19-year-old small forward, who was picked fifth in the recent WNBA Draft. Yvonne Anderson is back with Serbia (the 2015 and 2021 EuroBasket champions) and was second in the Olympics in assists. She was also second in total points behind Meesseman at the 2023 EuroBasket. Italy’s Cecilia Zandalasini scored 14.8 points per game in 2023 and is currently averaging 10 for the Golden State Valkyries.

Group C

At Brno

Belgium, Czechia, Montenegro and Portugal

Emma Meesseman, now 32, led the Olympics with 23 points per game, while Julie Vanloo led the event in assists with 6.8 per game. Vanloo also scored more than 16 at the 2023 EuroBasket, with Julie Allemand leading the competition with 8.7 assists. In addition, 20-year-old forward Nastja Claessens was the MVP of the Under-20 Women’s EuroBasket last year.

“We have a target as the defending champions,” Thibault said. “We have made a lot of progress. It helps when you have Emma Meesseman, who is one of the best players in the world. We have other WNBA players playing for us. I feel good about our team, but there are a lot of other good teams in the tournament.”

Thibault mentioned that Belgium approached him for the position several years ago, but his WNBA duties kept him from pursuing it. He said he still lives in the U.S. and spends 14 weeks per year with the team in Belgium.

“It helps that I have coached or signed a lot of the Belgian players for the past decade,” he continued. “I had a familiarity going into this, but it is weird. The U.S. perspective is that you always have the best talent going into a tournament, but now you are like everybody else, trying to find an edge.”

Emma Cechova of Czechia, at age 20 and 6’5, scored more than nine points per game in the EuroBasket qualifying and is another young player to watch.

“Portugal is one of those up-and-coming teams,” Thibault added. “They weren’t on anyone’s radar probably six or seven years ago, and they had some success in the younger level a few years back. They have gotten older and more physical. Czechia is always good; they are ranked in the top eight in Europe and a very physical team. They have a fair amount of players who have played together for a while. We have our work cut out for them.”

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Group D

At Hamburg

Spain, Germany, Sweden and Great Britain

Spain is the defending EuroBasket silver medalist, and like France, it is experiencing a youth movement. Iyana Martin was named the EuroLeague Young Player of the Year. The 5’9 “guard and 19-year-old was also the MVP of the 2023 Under-19 World Cup. Great Britain’s Temi Fagbenle recorded 18 points per game at the 2023 EuroBasket and scored 9.7 for the Golden State Valkyries. Leonie Fiebich of the New York Liberty will suit up for Germany, as will former Syracuse guard Alexis Peterson.

What’s at stake

The winner will automatically qualify for the FIBA World Cup next summer in Germany.

The host Germans, Czechia and Hungary already qualified for the World Cup Qualifying Tournament next March. Five others will join them in that event based on the results at EuroBasket.

“Being from the U.S.,” Thibault added, “you know the international players that you have played against in the past or who have come to our league. I can go to our players and ask them about other players because they play them in the European pro leagues. They know them better than I do in some ways.”