FIBA: Look for EuroLeague Women drama, EuroBasket Women glory in 2025

2025 doesn’t feature a major international women’s basketball competition, with the next FIBA Women’s World Cup scheduled for 2026.

However, that doesn’t mean international basketball will not be part of the women’s basketball stories of the year ahead, with multiple overseas leagues providing high-level action, EuroBasket Women taking place in June and preparations for the World Cup and 2028 Olympics likely to begin. Here are the FIBA wishes for 2025 from Swish Appeal’s staff writers:

An exciting conclusion to the EuroLeague Women season

Photo by Bunyamin Celik/Anadolu via Getty Images

FIBA instituted a new competition format for EuroLeague Women for the 2024-25 season in an effort to “raise the stakes” of its regular-season games, and so far it’s proven to be a successful change. In the new two-round group play system, the weaker EuroLeague Women clubs are weeded out early in the competition, while the very best clubs tend to avoid each other until later in the season, keeping things exciting at a time of year when playoff seeds were previously more or less already decided.

Right now, EuroLeague Women is currently in its second round of group play, and we’ve already had several marquee matchups live up to their billing. Next will be the play-ins, followed by the “final six” (essentially the playoffs), and for the first time in several years, there isn’t a blindingly obvious title favorite. It’s very possible that Fenerbahçe wins a third consecutive championship, but ÇBK Mersin and Valencia Basket Club are also in the mix, and the best part is that we’ll have several opportunities to watch those teams play each other as the season progresses. There’s only so much FIBA can do about resource and budget discrepancies between competing clubs, but the new EuroLeague Women competition system has done a lot to make the field more interesting, and things are looking set for an exciting play-in and final six early in 2025. — Eric Nemchock

Han Xu leaves the WCBA

Photo by THOMAS COEX/AFP via Getty Images

“Journeywoman” isn’t the right label for Han Xu, but I’m not sure what is. The former New York Liberty reserve big is known well in WNBA circles for the spectacle of her 6-foot-10 frame, but only ever appeared in 58 games across three distanced seasons. Since her last WNBA appearance in 2023, she’s alternated between the WCBA’s Sichuan Yuanda Meile and the Chinese national team.

Xu has seemed complacently comfortable in the WCBA, but she’s not challenging herself. If she has the desire to return to the biggest stage (which maybe she doesn’t) she needs to graduate to better competition. There’s no doubt that some EuroLeague Women teams would welcome Xu’s presence in the middle, even if just on a rotational basis. She would certainly improve at a much quicker rate, and WNBA staffs would have more convincing evidence of her place in the league. Xu just recently turned 25, and thus her potential cannot be rightfully discredited. I would love to see Xu challenge herself in a different international league, and polish her game on the road back to the W. — Beckett Harrison

Gabby Williams leads Les Bleues to EuroBasket gold

Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images

From a US-centric perspective, there seems to be a “right” career path for a top-tier women’s basketball talent: play at an elite US college program, go to the WNBA and (now), during the WNBA offseason, play in Unrivaled.

Gabby Williams, however, helpfully disabuses us of such a presumption. Yes, she attended UConn and was a lottery pick in the 2018 WNBA Draft. Yet, Williams has not been wedded to the WNBA or stateside opportunities, instead carving out a career path that best suits her preferences, whether that involve prioritizing opportunities with EuroLeague Women clubs or with the French women’s national basketball team.

While Williams doesn’t needed a golden trophy to validate her decisions, it would be cool to see her take France to the top. After a historic upset of Team USA in the gold medal game at the Paris Olympics came up a step short, Williams has the opportunity to take Les Bleues to the pinnacle of European women’s hoops in 2025 by leading France to its first EuroBasket Women gold since 2009. — Cat Ariail

Canada returns to its full potential

Photo by Pete Dovgan/Speed Media/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

Canada’s women’s basketball program is in flux at the moment. While the women’s 3×3 program is fresh off a FIBA AmeriCup gold medal win and thriving, the senior women’s 5×5 team is transitioning.

The sting of their ninth place finish at the Tokyo Olympics was somewhat alleviated by a fourth place finish at the 2022 World Cup in Australia. Hopes were high going into the next Olympic cycle, but a skin-of-their-teeth qualification to the Paris Olympics led to an 0-3 group phase record for the Canadians.

Yet, these players and this program is better than that record. Even as they transition into a new (yet to be determined) coaching staff, and welcome in a new generation of players, this team still has talent. Natalie Achonwa announced her retirement prior to the Olympics, but the program still has vets in Bridget Carleton and Kia Nurse, as well as Sami Hill and Kayla Alexander. Syla Swords and Aaliyah Edwards will surely have a bigger place come the next World Cup and Olympics, with other players like Laeticia Amihere, Toby Fournier, Avery Howell, Cassandre Prosper and Yvonne Ejim emerging as potential players as well.

This team can definitely make a return to the top rankings in the world, and it will be fun to see how they perform in the coming years. — Chelsea Leite

Let’s get serious about winning gold in 3×3

Photo by DAVID GRAY/AFP via Getty Images

Back at the 2020 Olympics, Team USA won 3×3 gold with a stacked roster featuring Allisha Gray, Stefanie Dolson, Kelsey Plum and Jackie Young. Fast-forward to the 2024 Olympics, Team USA fails to bring home the gold and walks away with the bronze medal in Paris.

To ensure America is back on top for the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles, the journey and work must start now. Luckily, it has. Team USA participated in the AmeriCup this December and won the silver medal. That’s not the main goal, but a step in the right direction. They are also establishing WNBA players on the roster early, with Azurá Stevens, Brittney Sykes, Maddy Siegrist and Abbey Hsu participating in this competition. Future Olympians will also be available for 2028, such as UConn’s Sarah Strong, who won gold at the 2024 FIBA U18 AmeriCup, and Harvard’s Harmoni Turner, who was a part of the 2024 U23 team.

Team USA should be in a prime position to win it all in LA, but let’s make sure the Redeem Team gets it done in 2028 by preparing for the moment even more in 2025. — Edwin Garcia

USA keeps their pedal to the (gold) medal

Photo by Daniela Porcelli/Eurasia Sport Images/Getty Images

Team USA looked good in 2024, so good that they brought home their eighth-consecutive gold medal. Spearheaded by the one-two punch of A’ja Wilson and Breanna Stewart, the American women were a force to be reckoned with on the Olympic hardwood. It was so much fun to witness how amazing that team looked all through the 2024 Olympics, but it also raised a question: Who is next?

Who can keep protect the gold for the red, white and blue? What adjustments can be made? Which future faces of the W can keep this well-oiled machine running?

With the likes of Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese and Rickea Jackson already making their mark in the league and incoming talent like JuJu Watkins and Paige Bueckers soon to kick down the league’s door, Team USA’s revolving door of talent should keep spinning, with younger, newer faces joining vets who are progressing into their careers. The bridge period isn’t going to be the easiest, but with the talent pool of incoming and established WNBA superstars, it should be fun and promising journey. — Myke Horrell