EuroBasket 2025 – Overview

The 42nd European Men’s Basketball Championship begins on August 27. EuroBasket 2025 will be held in four countries: Poland, Latvia, Cyprus, and Finland. Each country will host one group’s games, while the playoffs will move to Riga, where the tournament’s most important games will be played.

For the first time in history, the Cyprus national team will play in EuroBasket, having earned a spot as the host country. Latvia is returning to the championship for the first time since 2017. Portugal will play for the first time since 2011, as will Sweden.

This will be the third championship for Iceland, the fourth for Portugal, and the fifth for Montenegro.

Since 2003, six countries have won EuroBasket. Since 2009, Spain has won four times in the last six championships. In 2022, they defeated France in the final. It is the Spanish who will defend their 2022 title at EuroBasket 2025.

This will be the fourth European Men’s Basketball Championship to be held in four countries:

• 2025 – Cyprus, Finland, Latvia, Poland.
• 2022 – Czech Republic, Georgia, Italy, Germany.
• 2017 – Finland, Israel, Romania, Turkey.
• 2015 – France, Croatia, Germany, Latvia.

Since 2011, EuroBasket has featured 24 teams, divided into four groups of six. Four teams from each group will advance to the next stage – the fourth-placed team will play against the first-placed team from the other group, and the second-placed team will play against the third-placed team. The round of 16 will feature Group A and Group B, and Group C and Group D.

The group stage begins on August 27 and will continue until September 4. The round of 16 will begin on September 6 and will be played over two days. The quarterfinals will take place on September 9–10, the semifinals on September 12, and the third-place match and final on September 14.

EuroBasket no longer grants teams a place in the Olympic Games, so there is no longer a competition for 5th-9th place. Teams that lose in the round of 16 and quarterfinals are ranked according to their performance in the group stage.

In 2025, EuroBasket will consist of four groups, each playing in a different country:

The brightest NBA stars are coming to EuroBasket 2025 – Nikola Jokić will play for Serbia, Luka Dončić for Slovenia, and Giannis Antetokounmpo for Greece. One of the tournament organizers, Finland, will have Lauri Markkanen, while Kristaps Porziņģis will play for Latvia.

Poland was also supposed to have an NBA player, but San Antonio Spurs forward Jeremy Sochan withdrew from the team due to an injury sustained during training camp.

In addition to the brightest stars, the following basketball players also deserve special mention:

• Bosnia and Herzegovina – Jusuf Nurkič, Džanan Musa.
• France – Theo Maledon, Guerschon Yabusele, Elie Okobo, Alexandre Dam Sarr, Zaccharie Risacher.
• Germany – Dennis Schroder, Franz Wagner, Daniel Theis, Andreas Obst.
• Greece – Kostas Sloukas, Tyler Dorsey, Konstantinous Mitoglu.
• Israel – Deni Avdija.
• Italy – Simone Fontecchio, Darius Thompson, Nicolo Melli, Danilo Gallinari, Matteo Spagnolo.
• Lithuania – Jonas Valančiūnas, Rokas Jokubaitis, Tadas Sedekerskis.
• Montenegro – Nikola Vucevic, Kyle Allman.
• Poland – Mateusz Ponitka, Jordan Loyd.
• Serbia – Filip Petrusev, Nikola Jovic, Bogdan Bogdanovic, Tristan Vukcevic, Vasilija Micic, Marko Guduric, Nikola Milutinov.
• Spain – Santi Aldama, Willy Hernangomez, Juan Hernangomez.
• Turkey – Shane Larkin, Cedi Osman, Furkan Korkmaz, Alperen Šengun, Adem Bona, Omer Yurtseven.

Although the championship will feature top-level basketball players, unfortunately, some teams will not have all their best players. The biggest losses are for the French team, which will be without Victor Wembanyama, Rudy Gobert, Evan Fournier, Vincent Poirier and Mathias Lessort.

The Germans will be without Moritz Wagner, Isaiah Hartenstein, and Maxi Kleber, while Donte DiVincenzo, who has obtained Italian citizenship, will not be making his debut for the Italian team.

The Lithuanian national team’s losses are also significant – two NBA players, Domantas Sabonis and Matas Buzelis, will not be participating.

Although Slovenia will have Luka Dončič, one of the best basketball players in the world, he will not have important teammates Josh Nebo and Vlatko Čančar.

Great Britain will not have New York Knicks player OG Anunoby, and Poland has lost the aforementioned J. Sochan.

Before the start of the European Men’s Basketball Championship, betting companies have identified three main favorites: Serbia, Germany, and France.

Greece could be added to this list, as they will have Giannis Antetokounmpo and sufficient support around him, but Antetokounmpo will miss the friendly matches, which means that we will only see the whole team once the championship has started.

Serbia is coming to the championship with all of its best basketball players. While other teams have suffered certain losses, the Serbs are coming with both N. Jokič and B. Bogdanovič.

The entire starting five looks top-notch. There are strengths in every position, the team has excellent defensive players, as well as top-level playmakers and players who can play offensively.

One of the most important aspects is motivation. Serbia lost the last two finals in 2017 and 2009. Serbia has not yet won EuroBasket.

The world champions will be without several key players – Moritz Wagner and Nick Weiler-Babb. I. Hartenstein could also be mentioned, but all of the team’s most important victories in recent times have been achieved without this center.

Germany arrives with the same core that won the 2023 World Basketball Championship and finished fourth at last year’s Olympic Games. The biggest question mark is the new coach, Alex Mumbru.

France stands out as the team with the most losses. V. Wembanyama, M. Lessort, R. Gobert, and E. Fournier are three players in the starting five. However, the country has so much talent that even without these players, they are still among the favourites.

The strength of the team should be that it includes many Euroleague players who are familiar with FIBA basketball.

Young talents such as 20-year-old Zaccharie Risacher and 20-year-old Alexandre Dam Sarr should get a chance to shine. And with players such as G. Yabusele, E. Okobo, T. Maledon, and V. Poirier, the French can defeat any opponent in a single game.