Women’s EuroBasket 2025: Julie Vanloo, Belgium top thrilling performances from third round of qualifiers

The field for FIBA Women’s EuroBasket 2025 is set.

The competition, which will run from June 18 to 25, will take place in four countries: Czech Republic, Germany, Italy and Greece. The national teams of the hosts secure an automatic spot in the competition, although they still participate in qualifying games, lumped together in Group I, to stay sharp and get ready for the tournament,

In the other eight groups, national teams were playing for a chance to appear in the continent’s most important competition, with the eight group winners, in addition to the top four second-place teams from across the groups, earning a berth.

The third and final round of qualifying games took place on Feb. 6 and Feb. 9.

While France, Serbia, Spain, Sweden and Turkey had qualified in previous qualification rounds, only five teams had been eliminated from qualification, which made for an interesting two days of basketball.

GameDay 5

One of the first dominoes to fall was Poland, who suffered a narrow 72-69 defeat at the hands of Lithuania in Group C, despite a strong showing by Stephanie Mavunga, who had 17 points and six boards. The defeat opened the door up for Belgium to take the first place in Group C, which they did after trashing Azerbaijan 97-24. Emma Meesseman had 12 points and six boards in that game.

In the most important Group B game, Hungary played Finland for a chance to make it to the final 16. Hungary won 80-50 in the duel of bigs. Hungary’s Dorka Juhász had 14 points and 11 boards, while Finland’s Awak Kuier had 12 points on 25 percent shooting and just one board. She was guarded by Juhász or Bernadett Határ, who had 12 points and four boards.

Among other stellar performances was the Spanish duo of Helena Pueyo and Megan Gustafson. Pueyo was a Swiss Army Knife, with nine points, seven boards, five blocks and four assists, while Gustafson added 18 points as already-qualified Spain defeated Austria 76-45 in Group A.

In another victory of no qualification consequence, France won 125-24 against Ireland, with Janelle Salaün scoring 19 points, one of seven French players who reached double figures.

GameDay 6

The performance of the day belonged to Megan Gustafson, who had 27 points and 11 boards in the 81-64 win over the Netherlands, allowing Spain to remain undefeated in the qualifiers.

Montenegro needed a win against Luxembourg to progress. And Natasha Mack delivered for the team with 15 points and seven rebounds. The 86-53 win got them the first spot in Group H.

The most exciting game was between Lithuania and Belgium in Group C, which the reigning European champs won 70-69 thanks to Julie Vanloo, who had 17 points. With Belgium winning Group C, Lithuania was among the four second-place teams to make the tournament. They will be joined by Portugal, Great Britain and Switzerland.

Women’s EuroBasket 2025 field

Host countries: Czech Republic, Germany, Greece, Italy

Group winners: Spain (A), Slovenia (B), Belgium (C), Sweden (D), France (E), Turkey (F), Serbia (G), Montenegro (H)

Second-place qualifiers: Lithuania (C), Great Britain (D), Portugal (G), Switzerland (H)