BERLIN (Germany) - China will step out in Berlin hoping to replicate their success from four years ago, when they made the title game and played some of their best basketball in memory.
Having matched their best ever World Cup finish, the Asian side will now be looking to add to the feel-good factor surrounding the team and women's basketball in the country with another strong campaign this time around.
Perhaps not quite clicking into gear on their previous global outing at Paris 2024, China could be about to get back on track and re-capture the spirit of Sydney 2022 when they hit top gear.
How they qualified
China sealed their place by claiming the wins they needed as hosts of the FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup 2026 Qualifying Tournament in Wuhan - only losing once to high-flying Belgium.
FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup 2026 Qualifying Tournament (Wuhan, China) Gameday 1: China 81-68 Mali (W) Game Report Gameday 2: Belgium 80-65 China (L) Game Report Gameday 3: China 86-76 South Sudan (W) Game Report Gameday 4: Czechia 74-84 China (W) Game Report Gameday 5: China 83-71 Brazil (W) Game Report
Women's World Cup pedigree
Number of participations (including 2026): 12
Last participation: 2022 (2nd)
Best finish: 2nd (1994, 2022)
Podium finishes:🥈(1994, 2022),🥉(1983)
Current FIBA World Ranking for Women, presented by Nike: 4th
Last 10 FIBA events
Year | Event | Location | Finish |
|---|---|---|---|
2025 | FIBA Women's Asia Cup | Shenzhen, China | 3rd |
2024 | Olympic Games | Paris, France | 9th |
2023 | FIBA Women's Asia Cup | Sydney, Australia | 1st |
2022 | FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup | Sydney, Australia | 2nd |
2021 | FIBA Women's Asia Cup | Amman, Jordan | 2nd |
2020 | Olympic Games | Tokyo, Japan | 5th |
2019 | FIBA Women's Asia Cup | Bengaluru, India | 2nd |
2018 | FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup | Tenerife, Spain | 6th |
2017 | FIBA Women's Asia Cup | Bengaluru, India | 3rd |
2016 | Olympic Games | Rio de Janeiro, Brazil | 10th |
The Group Phase
China will be expected to advance from Group D, even if it contains reigning champions USA. Indeed the opening game will see fans treated to an immediate repeat of the 2022 title game in Sydney. China will be expected to see off European duo Czechia who they played at the Qualifying Tournament, as well as Italy - although the latter are stronger than ever right now.
Group Phase Games
USA vs China (Sep 4) China vs Czechia (Sep 6) Italy vs China (Sep 7)
Players to watch
It's going to be fun watching China's amazing 'Triple Towers' of Xu Han, Yueru Li and rising star Ziyu Zhang. The height and clockwork shooting skills of Han means she will be one of the box-office stars of the event.
A real fan favorite, she can torch any opponent on the court and this will be her third World Cup.
Meanwhile Li uses her size and skills down low to great effect and has plenty of experience under her belt, especially working in tandem with Han.
Zhang is a teenage sensation who has gone viral because of her sheer size at 7ft 2 (2.20m). But it's not only her height and physical dominance that will catch the eye, since she has the skills to shine at her first senior global event.
Fear and Hope
The fear for China is an imbalance between the backcourt and frontcourt. Stacked in the paint, the question marks remain over whether they have the same level of world class talent when it comes to their guard rotation. At least Shuyu Yang showed out in Wuhan during the Qualifying Tournament, but there's still arguably a lack of options.
On the flip-side, with the tallest and also one of the most talented frontcourt rotations in the competition, there is no denying China will be a nightmare for opponents to matchup with. The hope will be that this proves to be the foundation they need to complete a repeat of their impressive run to the 2022 Final.
FIBA