BELGRADE (Serbia) - Two of the biggest powerhouses in youth basketball will face off in the Final of the FIBA U18 EuroBasket 2025 as five-time winners Spain will take on four-time champs France to see who will hoist the trophy in Belgrade.
France, last victors in 2016, defeated Latvia in their Semi-Final and will play in their eighth final. Spain followed suit later in the Serbian capital, by rallying to beat Italy.
The Third Place Game will have Latvia hoping to reach the podium for a fourth time while Italy shoot for their 14th medal.
Stay up to date with the tournament and check out the latest results, group standings and competition system for all the information you need.
Key Storylines
Five-time winners Spain pull away from Italy in second half;
Four-time champs France end Latvian fairytale run;
Belgium and Sweden are relegated to Division B;
Bulgaria, North Macedonia set up relegation decider.
Semi-Finals
The first Semi-Finals had France as heavy favorites against a Latvia side which had lost all three games in the group stage but then took on a Cinderella characteristic with knockout stage wins over Lithuania and Germany to reach the Semi-Finals for the first time since 2018.
France made sure though that the fairy tale ended at that stage and rolled to a 92-63 victory.
The game was still tied at 19-19 after 10 minutes but that's when Maxence Lemoine started taking over with a barrage of three-pointers. The French point guard already had 18 points at halftime and the four-time champs took the second quarter 34-15 to decide the game. Elise Prodhomme's team then allowed only eight points for Latvia in the final frame to end any doubts.
Lemoine finished with 31 points while Jahel Trefle came up with some flashy plays for 11 points and Bastien Grasshoff added 10 points and 7 assists for the winners.
France's opponents in the Final will be Spain, who rallied from 10 points down to beat Italy 84-62 in the second Semi-Final. The game was a matchup of generations that met up in the Final of the FIBA U16 EuroBasket 2023, won by Spain. And a number of players from both teams were facing off again.
Italy had a strong start to the game led for more of the first half thanks to Patrick Hassan big first half. Things started falling apart for the Italians in the third quarter, even leading to the ejection of head coach Marco Sodini. Spain had surged ahead and led 60-49 after 30 minutes and Italy never could muster a serious fight.
Spain dominated the rebounding, including 21 offensive rebounds and Raul Villar ran the show with 20 points. In addition, Ian Platteeuw was unstoppable in the paint with 14 points and 10 rebounds.
Hassan finished with 22 points for the Italians, who will take on Latvia for the third spot on the podium.
Top Performers
Daniel Hinkov helped keep Bulgaria alive in the fight against relegation with a massive game in the team's 80-59 victory over Sweden in Classification 13-16 action. Hinkov scored 26 points to go with 6 rebounds, 3 assists and 5 steals for an efficiency of 33.
Or Faran Frenkel takes a spot in the Top Performers for his outstanding showing in Israel's 95-86 win over Austria in Classification 9-12. The guard came into the game having totalled 19 points and he outdid himself in the one contest with 22 points. Faran also had 5 rebounds, 3 assists and 4 steals for an efficiency of 29.
Maxence Lemoine was unstoppable for France in rolling past Latvia 92-63 in the Semi-Finals. The point guard tallied 18 of his 31 points in the first half and he also picked up 2 rebounds, 2 assists and 3 steals. That gave him an efficiency of 28.
Just like Hinkov, Grigorij Gjorgjevikj carried his nation, North Macedonia, to a massively important 81-72 victory against Belgium in Classification 13-16 action to avoid for now relegation to Division B. Gjorgjevikj nailed 4 three-pointers in scoring 22 points and added 4 rebounds, 7 assists and 1 steal. That gave him an efficiency of 28.
Arturas Butajevas had his best game of the tournament for Lithuania in the Classification 9-12 - a comfortable 90-60 victory against Greece. The center scored 25 points to go with 16 rebounds - 10 of them from the offensive glass. Butajevas, whose previous bests in Belgrade were 18 points and 11 rebounds, also had 1 assist in registering an efficiency of 27.
Results of the Day
Semi-Finals
Latvia 63-92 France Italy 62-84 Spain
Classification 5-8
Germany 78-91 Slovenia Serbia 76-51 Türkiye
Classification 9-12
Lithuania 90-60 Greece Austria 86-95 Israel
Classification 13-16
Sweden 59-80 Bulgaria Belgium 72-81 North Macedonia
Final
Spain vs France
Third Place Game
Italy vs Latvia
Classification 5-6
Serbia vs Slovenia
Classification 7-8
Türkiye vs Germany
Classification 9-10
Israel vs Lithuania
Classification 11-12
Austria vs Greece
Classification 13-14
North Macedonia vs Bulgaria
Classification 15-16
Belgium vs Sweden
FIBA