BERLIN (AP) — The FIBA women's World Cup begins Friday with the U.S. in search of a fifth consecutive championship.
The Americans have won 30 straight games in the tournament, dating to a loss to Russia in the 2006 semifinals. They'll have a young group of players trying to extend that run led by Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese and Paige Bueckers, who are making their debuts in the event.
It's not all youth for the U.S. as gold medal collector Breanna Stewart, who has already won three Olympic and three World Cup championships leads the squad.
France will be the main competitor for the Americans, having lost by only one point in the 2024 Paris Olympics gold medal game. The French team is hungry to avenge that loss. Other teams that could be a threat to end the U.S. streak include Spain, Belgium and China. The Chinese team lost to the Americans in the 2022 World Cup final.
The 16 teams were put into four groups and each will have a round-robin stage. The second- and third-place teams in each group will advance to a qualification round while the winner of the pool will advance to the quarterfinals. The four winners of the qualification rounds will then advance to the quarterfinals as well. In the 2022 World Cup there were only 12 teams and two pools. Teams had to play five games in six days before advancing to the quarterfinals. FIBA will be using two sites in Berlin to play the 36 games.
#teams #americans #berlin #fiba
The Americans have won 30 straight games in the tournament, dating to a loss to Russia in the 2006 semifinals. They'll have a young group of players trying to extend that run led by Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese and Paige Bueckers, who are making their debuts in the event.
It's not all youth for the U.S. as gold medal collector Breanna Stewart, who has already won three Olympic and three World Cup championships leads the squad.
France will be the main competitor for the Americans, having lost by only one point in the 2024 Paris Olympics gold medal game. The French team is hungry to avenge that loss. Other teams that could be a threat to end the U.S. streak include Spain, Belgium and China. The Chinese team lost to the Americans in the 2022 World Cup final.
The 16 teams were put into four groups and each will have a round-robin stage. The second- and third-place teams in each group will advance to a qualification round while the winner of the pool will advance to the quarterfinals. The four winners of the qualification rounds will then advance to the quarterfinals as well. In the 2022 World Cup there were only 12 teams and two pools. Teams had to play five games in six days before advancing to the quarterfinals. FIBA will be using two sites in Berlin to play the 36 games.
#teams #americans #berlin #fiba
8 days ago
