Spain continues its domination; positionless basketball; and strong 1 vs 1 play – key highlights from youth European basketball Summer 2025
Spain’s dominance (women’s game)
Youth Spanish teams (women’s teams in particular) continued to dominate in yet another busy summer of basketball after capturing 4 gold medals and 1 bronze in the FIBA Youth EuroBasket and FIBA World competitions that took place across Europe. And while the last youth competition just finished – Lithuania and Bulgaria played in the final of U16 Women FIBA Youth EuroBasket Division B in Istanbul (Turkey) at the time of writing this article – some conclusions could be drawn already. Spanish youth teams basically switched places with French counterparts if we consider what happened during the summer of 2024 – this time round, France managed to get only 3 medals (one silver and two bronze) in 2025 compared to their total of 5 last year (when they captured four golds and one silver in 2024).
Spanish gold came from their women’s teams at the U16, U18, and U20 levels, as well as their U18 Men’s Team. Apart from this, another impressive performance was achieved by their U19 women in the FIBA U19 World Cup in Brno (Czechia) – they beat Canada 70-68 in the bronze medal final. Not only that Spanish teams got gold but they also provided the MVP’s in the competitions where they finished top: Isabel Hernandez claimed the MVP honours in FIBA U16 Women’s EuroBasket (averaging 13.7 points and 3.7 assist per game); Sara Okeke was the MVP in FIBA U18 Women’s EuroBasket after an impressive shooting from the floor at 57% and after averaging 13.8 point and 7.1 rebounds; Gina Garcia who, as a 18 year old, collected the MVP title in the FIBA U20 Women’s EuroBasket (with 11 points and 4.9 assists per game); and Ian Platteeuw – the MVP of FIBA U18 Men’s EuroBasket (after displaying some strong numbers – 10 points, 6.9 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game).
While Spain demonstrated once again their superiority, there were some other notable performances from various other countries, including:
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Lithuania is back at the top after a few years without a presence on the podium. It was a silver summer for them, judging by the colour of the medals – definitely the case for their U16 Men, U20 Men, and U20 Women, who all won silver in their respective competitions (all these teams are in Division A). And Lithuania ended up the summer on a high note with a gold medal at the U16 Women Division B that just finished in Istanbul (Turkey), achieving promotion in this way.
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Italy continued its ascension to the top of European basketball after one gold and two bronze medals – their U20 Men secured gold while their U18 Men and U20 Women managed to win their bronze medal finals (all these teams in Division A).
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Serbia – another medal contender in previous years – captured only one gold this summer with their U16 men in Tbilisi (Georgia). They also produced the MVP of the tournament in the person of Nikola Kusturica, who displayed some impressive numbers: 20 points, 7.7 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game in 25 minutes spent on the floor.
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Only one medal for Sweden and it was gold at FIBA U18 Women’s EuroBasket Division B – we talk about them further down below.
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Bulgaria U16 women got promoted to Division A and added in this way their name to the medals table count (they got silver in Istanbul).
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Germany managed to acquire two silvers at the FIBA U19 World Cup in Lausanne (Switzerland) and at the FIBA U18 Women’s EuroBasket in Alytus and Vilnius (Lithuania), and one bronze at the FIBA U16 Women’s EuroBasket in Pitesti (Romania).
Positionless basketball and 5-out
It is time now to look at some of the trends that were displayed by some of the teams that competed this summer. A 5-out alignment has been put on show several times – Sweden is one of the teams that used this tactic on the way to winning the gold medal at FIBA U18 Women’s EuroBasket Division B in Alytus and Vilnius (in Lithuania) this summer.
Adopting a positionless basketball tactic brings certain challenges for the opposite team for sure – for example, the ability of the centers to guard around the 3-point semicircle, away from their usual area of action under and close to the basket. One of the best examples to illustrate this way of playing is Shiloh Kalenga – the 1.84 m Small Forward from the Sweden U18 women’s team. She has used her height and posted up under the basket, grabbing rebounds, drawing fouls and scoring points (as a classic center would do), but was also coming outside and taking (and scoring) the 3-point shots = 25% average scoring, which is pretty decent at this age group. Her overall numbers with 12.9 points, 5.6 rebounds, 1.1 blocks per game, 2.0 assists per game in 24 minutes average per game on the floor allowed her to be crowned as the MVP in the competition in Lithuania (with an impressive 29 points and 7 rebounds in the final against Germany – Sweden won 77-69).
1 vs 1 play
Technically, teams that ended higher on the hierarchy demonstrated that they possess a high level of ability when it comes to the fundamentals of the game. Apart from good scoring ability, from finding the open teammate and sharing the ball, from the ability to play fast and under control, strong 1 vs 1 play in both offence and defence was one of the key characteristics displayed that helped lots of teams win games. While the team tactics and group tactics are still vital, the ability of individual players to contribute to the team effort and to beat their man with the dribble (while in offence) and also to contain and stop the drives to basket (while in defence – to play good defence in other words) is still something that lots of coaches require from their players.
And these trends illustrated above will clearly continue beyond this summer and will be part of the game and of modern basketball in the competitions and years to come.
By Alex RADU
Alex Radu is a Senior Lecturer in Sports Coaching Basketball at the University of Worcester (England /UK). He has coached various teams at different levels of the game at both club and national team level, including: Romania U20 Women National Team and Romania U18 Women National Team (Assistant Coach – at FIBA Youth EuroBasket Division B); Romania U16 Women National Team (Head Coach at European Basketball Balkanic Games 2023); Wales U18 and U20 Men National Team (Head Coach) and Wales Senior Men National Team (Assistant Coach – at FIBA European Championship for Small Countries); Romania Women National Team (Assistant Coach – at Women Eurobasket 2015; Cardiff Archers (Associate Head Coach – in WBBL/Women Basketball League, UK); Worcester Wolves (Assistant Coach – in BBL /British Basketball League, UK).
