On February 22, in Zaragoza, the Spanish national team will start the qualification for the 2025 European Championship with a match against Latvia, which, as the host of the tournament, has already secured a place in the finals. The head coach of the current European champions, Sergio Scariolo, has named 14 players who will prepare for the matches against Latvia and Belgium (match on February 25).
The list also includes the most valuable player of the 2019 World Cup, Ricky Rubio, who played his last basketball match last April when he represented the Cleveland Cavaliers. Later, the point guard announced that he was ending his sports career due to mental health problems. At the end of January, Rubio started training with the “Barcelona” team and a few days later signed a contract with this club until the end of the season. Rubio has not yet played in any game for the Catalan club.
The list of candidates for the Spanish national team includes 10 basketball players representing ULEB Euroleague clubs on a daily basis: Ricky Rubio, Dario Brizuela, Joel Parra (all – Barcelona), Alberto Abalde, Carlos Alozen, Rudy Fernandez (all – Real Madrid), Victor Claver, Xavi Lopez-Arestegui, Jaime Pradilla (all Valencia) and Juancho Hernangomez (Panathinaikos Athens).
Three more players represent Spanish ACB league clubs: Jaime Fernandez (Tenerife “Lenovo”), Yancuba Sima (“Girona Basquet”), Alberto Dias (Malaga “Unicaja”). Sebastian Saiz, who plays daily in the Japanese club Tokyo “Alvark”, is also included in the team.
Interestingly, the list of candidates does not include Juancho’s brother Willy Hernangomez, who has also returned to Europe and represents Barcelona. Also, the injured Sergio Lluis, Alex Abrines, Juan Nunes and veteran Sergio Rodriguez are not among the candidates.
Also, Scariolo has named six new basketball players who are included in the extended list and will help the team if there are any changes in the team – Sergio Delareya (“Valencia”), Hugo Gonzales (“Real Madrid”), Lucas Langarita (“Casademont” of Zaragoza), Eli Ndiaje (Real Madrid), Jordi Rodriguez (Joventut Badalona) and Mario Saint-Superi (Unicaja Malaga).
It has already been announced that Luka Banki has named the extended candidate list of 24 basketball players, from which 15 players will be selected to prepare for the matches with Spain and Slovakia (February 25). This time, the list of candidates does not include Andrzej Pasečnik, who played well in Spain, who had a heavy workload in recent weeks, Rolanda Šmit, who also had a very heavy workload, and the injured Artur Žagar.
List of candidates for the Latvian men’s basketball team:
Rodions Kurucs, Artūrs Kurucs (both – Murcia UCAM, Spain), Krišs Helmanis (Tübingen Tigers, Germany), Ojārs Siliņš, Aigars Škēle (both – Ostrova Velkopolska “Arged BM Stal”, Poland), Mareks Mejeris (Cluj-Napoca “U-Banca Transilvania”, Romania), Dairis Bertāns, Roberts Blums (both – “VEF Riga”), Jānis Timma (Istanbul “Daruššafaka”, Turkey), Artūrs Strautiņš (Tortona “Derthona”, Italy), Jānis Strēlnieks (” Scafati”, Italy), Artis Ate (Pasvāles “Pieno žvaigzdes”, Lithuania), Klāvs Čavars (“Yokohama”, Japan), Rihards Lomažs (Bologna “Virtus”, Italy), Andrejs Gražulis (Trento “Aquila”, Italy), Mārtiņš Laksa (Gliwice GTK, Poland), Mārcis Šteinbergs (Manrezas “Baxi”, Spain), Jānis Bērziņš (Tallinns “Kalev”/”Cramo”, Estonia), Kārlis Šiliņš (“Gottingen”, Germany), Dāvids Vīksne (“Riga Zellii”), Tom Leimanis (Madrid “Movistar Estudiantes”, Spain), Robert Blumberg (Thessaloniki “Aris”, Greece), Anrijs Miška (Rome “AS Luis”, Italy), Kristers Zorik (Izmir “Petkimspor”, Turkey).
32 national teams will participate in the qualification, of which 24 teams will enter the final tournament. Out of the competition, the national teams that will host the final tournament – Latvia, Cyprus, Poland and Finland, which are already guaranteed participation in the European Championship – will start in the qualification.
From the subgroups that do not include one of the hosts of the European Championship, three teams will enter the final tournament, while two teams will get tickets from the other four subgroups.
The first “window” of the qualification is scheduled for February 2024, the second – for November 2024, and the final matches will be played in February 2025.
In the 2025 championship, the subgroup tournaments will take place from August 27 to September 14 in Finland, Cyprus, Poland and Latvia, which will also host the final stage of the championship.
In Latvia, the championship matches will be played in Riga, in Cyprus – in Limassol, in Finland – in Tampere, and in Poland – in Katowice.
