PIRAEUS (Greece) - The race is almost run at FIBA Women's EuroBasket 2025 with the last four teams standing just a pair of wins away from the ultimate glory of being crowned champions in Piraeus.
Italy and Belgium will face each other in the second Semi-Final matchup on Friday June 27, with both looking to grab the last available ticket for the flagship title game.
There are several ways for you to watch FIBA Women's EuroBasket 2025 on your TV through local broadcast partners. However, not all broadcasters will show every game from the tournament. We recommend checking the specific game pages to see which broadcasters in your country will be airing the games.
Italy vs Belgium - 19.30 CET
Italy have qualified for the Semi-Finals for only the third time in their history and for the first time since 1995, when they reached the Final. With four victories at this edition, Italy have already posted their best winning streak of the 21st century. Still riding the high of an epic overtime success against Türkiye in the Quarter Finals, it was Cecilia Zandalasini, Lorela Cubaj and Costanza Verona who impressed most and they'll be the go-to stars again.
Belgium will set foot in the Semi-Finals for the fourth time in the last five tournaments, although they have only been successful once - at the last edition in Ljubljana, en-route to capturing their maiden title. They produced their best performance so far with a devastating show against Germany. It encapsulated their potency, balanced inside-outside game, transition and often overlooked defensive prowess.
Game history: The most recent meeting came during the group phase at the last edition, with Belgium taking a 72-64 success. They also met in the Quarter-Finals during 2017, with the Cats winning 79-66.
Star player: Emma Meesseman produced her usual magic against Germany and could be on course for back-to-back TISSOT MVP awards. Awesome never gets boring with her and since she's absolutely cooking right now, meaning Italy have so much to do if they want to even think about trying to slow her down. Is it even possible?
Key matchup: Julie Vanloo and Cecilia Zandalasini is going to be a matchup that is so much fun to watch. Both are capable of game-winning performances and just love to put on a show. To make things even spicier, they've been teammates at Galatasaray this past season, so it's one that's been played out on the practice court over and over.
X-factor: Will Italy be able to control the tempo and stop the relentless pace of the Cats? Belgium head coach Mike Thibault explicitly talked about his team wanting to apply constant defensive pressure so they can push the ball down the floor. Italy might prefer a more half-court game because running and gunning with the Cats normally ends in tears for their opponents.
Did you know?
Italy have played 73 games in the competition since 1995 and have never allowed 10 or more 3-pointers in a single game. No other team has played as many games without conceding that many triples over that span.
Italy have had 20 or more assists in two of their four games at this edition, after tallying that many assists in only two of their previous 69 games in the competition.
Belgium are allowing 56.0 points per game the second-best defensive average this year of any team and their best defensive average in a single tournament since 1950 when they conceded only 43.1 points per game.
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