The tournament tips off on Wednesday with games in Finland and Latvia
EuroBasket 2025 preview: Serbia vs. everyone else
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The wait is over and it is time for some competitive basketball, this time at the national team stage. EuroBasket 2025 tips off on Wednesday, August 27, with 24 teams set to battle for gold.
The teams are divided into four round-robin groups. The best four teams will advance to the Round of 16 and from that point, it becomes a single-game elimination format until a champion is crowned in Riga, Latvia.
Serbia is seen as the favorite to win the tournament, but with so many do-or-die games, every mistake will be penalized and anything can happen until a team stands on top of the podium on September 14. As always, there are plenty of EuroLeague and BKT EuroCup stars in the tournament, so here is the Euroleague Basketball fan's guide to EuroBasket 2025.
GROUP A
Serbia and Turkiye are the teams to beat in this group. Serbia is considered the top candidate to win the gold medal after claiming silver at the 2023 Basketball World Cup and bronze at the 2024 Olympic Games.
Three-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokic and EuroLeague champion Bogdan Bogdanovic led a team full of well-known faces for EuroLeague fans such as Aleksa Avramovic and Filip Petrusev of Dubai Basketball, Nikola Milutinov of Olympiacos Piraeus, two-time EuroLeague champion and Final Four MVP Vasilije Micic of Hapoel IBI Tel Aviv, and last season's EuroLeague winner Marko Guduric, now with EA7 Emporio Armani Milan, among others, coached by EuroLeague-winning coach Stevislav Pesic.
Turkiye features two-time EuroLeague champion Shane Larkin and three-time EuroLeague-winning coach Ergin Ataman. Seeing Larkin and Micic head-to-head for the first time since winning back-to-back Euroleague championships with Anadolu Efes Istanbul should be a highlight. Cedi Osman and Omer Yurtseven of Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens, Alperen Sengun and Adem Bora are expected to play a big role for Coach Ataman.
Latvia is hoping to follow up on a successful fifth-place finish at the 2023 World Cup, led by former BKT EuroCup Rising Star Kristaps Porzingis, Davis Bertans of Dubai, Rolands Smits of Efes and Arturs Zagars, who won the EuroLeague with Fenerbahce last season. Without injured star Tomas Satoransky of FC Barcelona, Vit Krejci is expected to play a leading role in Czechia. Estonia and Portugal should fight with Czechia for a Round of 16 spot. All games will be played at Xiaomi Arena in Riga, Latvia, which is also the home for the knockout rounds and the medal games.
GROUP B
Germany and Lithuania are expected to fight atop Group B. Germany won the gold medal at the 2023 World Cup and reached the 2024 Olympic semifinals. Gordon Herbert stepped down as head coach to lead FC Bayern Munich, and was replaced by Alex Mumbru. Franz Wagner, AS Monaco center Daniel Theis and Dennis Schroder are its pillars, but Germany has a deep roster of EuroLeague stars such as Maodo Lo of Zalgiris, Andi Obst, Oscar da Silva and Johannes Voigtmann of Bayern, and Isaac Bonga of Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade.
Lithuania has a younger ambitious team ready to make some noise, in which Jonas Valanciunas, Rokas Jokubaitis of Bayern and Tadas Sedekerskis of Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz are expected to be its go-to guys. Laurynas Birutis and Deividas Sirvydis of Zalgiris have a big opportunity to shine, too.
Finland is the host in this group, as all games will be played at Nokia Arena in Tampere. All eyes will be on superstar forward Lauri Markkanen but Finland has other dangerous weapons such as Mikael Jantunen of Fenerbahce and three-point threat Sasu Salin, who played for U-BT Cluj-Napoca last season.
Montenegro has an interesting roster led by NBA veteran and former EuroLeague star Nikola Vucevic. Kyle Allman and Marko Simonovic should be its other main players. Great Britain is back to the EuroBasket with solid players such as Carl Wheatle of Umana Reyer Venice and Tarik Phillip of London Lions. Sweden will rely on center Simon Birgander and point guards Ludde Hakanson and Melvin Pantzar to fight for a spot in the next round.
GROUP C
This is a very Mediterranean group, with Spain, Italy and Greece expecting to qualify from the Spyros Kyprianou Athletic Center in Limassol, Cyprus. Spain is the defending champion and hoping for a good result to honor Coach Sergio Scariolo, who will leave the team to coach Real Madrid after the tournament. Among many other highlights, Scariolo is a four-time EuroBasket champion with Spain.
Willy Hernangomez of FC Barcelona and his brother Juancho Hernangomez of Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens are the team's leaders. Willy was the EuroBasket 2022 MVP and Juancho was named as the finals' MVP after scoring 27 points against France. Santi Aldama, Dario Brizuela and Joel Parra of Barca, and four Valencia Basket players - Sergio De Larrea, Yankuba Sima, Josep Puerto and Xabi Lopez-Arostegui - should give Spain plenty of depth.
Former NBA MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo is Greece's superstar. Coached by Monaco boss and EuroLeague legend Vassilis Spanoulis, Greece heavily relies on Panathinaikos and Olympiacos players such as Tyler Dorsey, Panagiotis Kalaitzakis, Giannoulis Larentzakis, Kostas Antetokounmpo, Dinos Mitoglou, Kostas Papanikolaou, Alexandros Samodurov, Kostas Sloukas and Vassilis Toliopoulos.
Italy is determined to get a good result and dedicate it to Achille Polonara, who is battling leukemia at the moment. Darius Thompson of Valencia, Nicolo Melli of Fenerbahce, former EuroLeague Rising Stars Danilo Gallinari and Gabriele Procida of Real, and Simone Fontecchio should be its main players.
Georgia features Toko Shengelia of Barca as its undeniable leader, but also has Sandro Mamukelashvili, former EuroLeague Rising Star Goga Bitadze and Kamar Baldwin of Bayern. Bosnia and Herzehovina is without Dzanan Musa of Dubai, so Jusuf Nurkic and John Roberson should be its leaders. Cyprus is arguably the weakest team of all 24 squads and any win would be a big surprise.
GROUP D
France and Slovenia are the teams to beat in Group C. All games will be played at the Spodek in Katowice, Poland. France is without Victor Wembanyama but has a powerful squad led by Evan Fournier of Olympiacos, Isaia Cordinier of Efes, Sylvain Francisco of Zalgiris, Jaylen Hoard of Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv, Theo Maledon of Real, Elie Okobo of Monaco, former EuroCup Rising Star Zaccharie Risacher and former EuroLeague champion Guerschon Yabusele.
One of the main attractions at EuroBasket 2025 will be seeing Luka Doncic, a former EuroLeague MVP, Final Four MVP and champion with Real. He will be surrounded by experienced players such as Edo Muric, Aleksej Nikolic of Cedevita Olimpija Ljubljana, EuroCup recordman Alen Omic and Klemen Prepelic of Dubai.
Poland hopes to make the most out of its home-court advantage, led by EuroLeague and EuroCup champion Olek Balcerowski, Monaco guard Jordan Loyd and Bahcesehir College Istanbul's do-it-all swingman Mateusz Ponitka.
Israel has put together a very competitive squad led by Deni Avdija, but also featuring Khadeen Carrington and Yovel Zoosman of Jerusalem, Tomer Ginat and Yam Madar of Hapoel IBI Tel Aviv, as well as Roman Sorkin of Maccabi, among others.
Belgium and Iceland will fight to go past the group stage. Paris Basketball center Ismael Bako of Belgium and EuroLeague veteran Martin Hermansson of Iceland have a golden chance to shine and help their national team against all odds.