LAUSANNE (Switzerland) - There are fairytales and then there is Switzerland's run at the FIBA U19 Basketball World Cup 2025. The alpine nation pulled off a magical upset of France and now find themselves in the Quarter-Finals - among the top eight teams in the world.
In case you forgot, the Swiss have never played in a FIBA U19 World Cup - heck, the men's program has never played a FIBA Youth EuroBasket game in Division A.
Still, hosts Switzerland shocked France and the world with an 86-79 overtime comeback win - the No. 60 team in the FIBA World Rankings Boys taking down the No. 3 nation in global basketball. Switzerland won the game with an 18-0 run spanning the fourth quarter and overtime. Dayan Nessah scored 22 points with 15 rebounds and Oliver Sassella had 25 points for the Swiss.
France - a nation that finished third, second and second in the last three FIBA U19 World Cups - were leading 66-54 with 5:34 minutes to go. But Switzerland scored the final 12 points of regulation - eight of them by Sassella - to force overtime. And France failed to score for almost 3 minutes in the extra session and the deficit was 72-66.
"Just incredible. I am so proud of the team. I am so proud of the work we put in. And our effort on the court showed everything. Our passion, our love for each other, our support. We fought from the beginning to the end. We just went for the win and it worked. We are so happy about it," said Lucas Maniema, who flirted with a triple-double as he totalled 12 points, 8 rebounds and 9 assists.
"I'm at a loss for words. I really love this team. We made history. It's incredible for real. I poured my heart out there. I saw my teammates, they played for their life. That's what Switzerland is all about. We were the underdogs but now what," said Andrin Njock, who collected 9 points, 4 rebounds and 3 steals.
Switzerland will next face New Zealand in Friday's Quarter-Finals.
FIBA