MIES (Switzerland) - The Draw for the FIBA U17 Women's Basketball World Cup 2026 will be held on February 12, starting at 13:00 PM (GMT +1), at the Domini Park, in Brno, Czechia.
Czechia national team legend and FIBA Hall of Famer Hana Horakova, along with Czechia national team player Anezka Kopecka, will be on stage to decide the path to the world trophy for the sixteen teams in contention.
The competition will be held from July 11-19 in Brno, Czechia.
Watch the draw live
Viewers can tune into the live stream of the draw via the FIBA U17 Women's Basketball World Cup 2026 website or on the FIBA YouTube channel.
Draw principles
The participating teams of the FIBA U17 Women’s Basketball World Cup 2026 have been distributed in four pots created to reflect the strength of the continents regarding the current FIBA World Ranking Girls, presented by Nike and the results of the previous FIBA U16 Women's Continental Cups 2025.
The pots are as follows:
POT 1: Czechia, USA, Spain, Canada
POT 2: Australia, Slovenia, Germany, New Zealand
POT 3: Latvia, Italy, Japan, China
POT 4: Egypt, Mexico, Colombia, Côte d'Ivoire
The teams from each pot will be distributed in four groups and assigned competition numbers.
There will be a strict division of the teams from the same Region with:
a maximum of one team from Africa, Americas, and Asia/Oceania in the same group.
a minimum of one and maximum of two teams from Europe in the same group.
Hana Horakova and Anezka Kopecka to perform the draw
Hana Horakova is firmly established as one of the greatest players in Czechia national team history. She was the driving force behind the country’s first-ever Women’s EuroBasket title in 2005, leading her country to a dramatic 72-70 victory over favorites Russia in the Final. Horakova topped her team in both assists and steals at the tournament, making amends for the silver medal heartbreak suffered in the Women's EuroBasket 2003 title game.
Her influence extended to the global stage in 2010, when she was named MVP of the Women’s Basketball World Cup after guiding the hosts to a memorable run to the Final in Karlovy Vary, where they finished runners-up behind the USA, a performance that also earned her FIBA Europe Women’s Player of the Year honors. A three-time Olympian, Horakova led her team in scoring at Athens 2004 and in assists at both Beijing 2008 and London 2012, underlining her lasting impact at the highest level.
Anezka Kopecka has been playing for Czechia’s national team since 2023. Last summer at the FIBA Women’s EuroBasket, she helped guide the team to a sixth-place finish.
Czechia will return to action next month in March at the FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup 2026 Qualifying Tournament in China, as they compete for a place at the Women’s World Cup in Berlin in September.
FIBA Central Board member Pascale Mugwaneza, Czech Basketball Federation President Zdenek Briza and Member of Brno City Council Tomáš Aberl will also attend the event.
FIBA