BERLIN (Germany) - A few minutes after his FIBA Hall of Fame Class of 2026 enshrinement speech, Turkish federation president Hidayet Turkoglu reacted to the draw for the women's national team.
His instant gut reaction: “Oh shhht!"
He then broke into laughter before quickly putting his ceremonial face back on.
"First, I want to congratulate our women's national team for qualifying for the Women's World Cup," he told FIBA.basketball on site. "That's the most important thing. As a country, we need to be in these major competitions - the Women's EuroBasket and the Women's World Cup."
There are always surprises
"As for the draw, of course, if you look at it, we are facing two basketball countries that invest heavily in the women's game: Belgium and Australia. But a World Cup is always a very strong tournament, and there are always surprises.
Our team will have a lot of responsibility, and I'm sure they will prepare well. Here, we can expect strong support from the Turkish community living in Berlin. Hopefully, we'll have a good tournament and represent our country in the best way. We have a long summer ahead."
A few minutes before, Lauren Jackson who actually performed the draw in Berlin stood on the red carpet and reflect on what her hand laid out for her fellow Opals also drawn into this Group C:
"It's gonna be a tough tournament. That qualifying round is gonna be hard to get through. It's gonna be really fun, I cant wait for it but the team is gonna have to fight to qualify. I would probably say that Group A and Group C are the Group of Death. But I still see Australia with USA and France on the podium.
I still see Australia on the podium
Last but certainly not least, Belgium national team head coach Mike Thibault spoke at a press conference after the Women's World Cup draw and was clear about the Cats' ambitions for the summer.
Everyone talks about how to win a medal, when they should be asking how to win the gold
"I was brought in to win medals. Everyone talks about how to win a medal, when they should be asking how to win the gold."
As a result, don't expect too much reaction from him regarding the draw, as the focus is not really on the group phase for a team that has won back-to-back Women's EuroBaskets.
"Over time, I've learned not to wish for the draw to go one way or another. In any case, you can only control what’s in front of you. We need to focus on our group."
The matchup against Australia, however - a rematch of the Paris 2024 bronze-medal game, which Belgium lost - remains the main hurdle for the team.
"In that game, the Cats had the opportunity to win but couldn't for various reasons. One of them was obviously the absence of Julie Allemand. Both teams will be different at the World Cup."
Julie Allemand, the Cats' starting point guard, is currently in excellent form, having won two MVP awards in the last weeks (the 2026 Women's World Cup Qualifying Tournament and the 2026 EuroLeague Women Final Six). Her presence could indeed shift the balance of power between the two contenders.
For Puerto Rico, the last team in this group, the story is a little different. Getting their ticket to Berlin is already a huge accomplishment.
“Let me start by saying that qualifying for the Women’s World Cup is a blessing for us,” Head Coach Jerry Batista told FIBA.basketball. “We have been working as hard as we can to try to level up our team in Puerto Rico. Some of the top teams in the world did not make it to this competition, so we know we are fortunate to have this opportunity.
The draw was going to be complicated anyway. You have 16 great teams. In our group, we face Belgium—our first game in the WWC in 2018—and Australia, whom we played in the Olympics in Tokyo. We have never played Turkey, but I’ve watched them play, and they’ve improved a lot.
We want to gain this experience
But we want to face great teams because that’s how you get better. They help you raise your level of competition. We want to gain this experience. For us, it’s a blessing, and it’s going to be a great tournament.”
FIBA