Miguel Méndez selects fifteen players to prepare the second Qualification Window for Eurobasket 2025
BALONCESTO
The absolute women’s basketball team begins its new Olympic cycle in the Qualification Window for the Eurobakset 2025 that is held in November in Castellón and in which the team seeks two new victories that bring it closer to what would be its twenty-third participation in a European.
For this start of the cycle, the National Coach Miguel Méndez has designed a renewed team, made up of 5 current European Runners-up Champions who are joined by an important group of young players. Among them, debutants Elena Buenavida and Ángela Mataix.
With captain Alba Torrens at the helm, those selected are the bases Aina Ayuso, Maite Cazorla, Iyana Martín, Ángela Mataix and Mariona Ortiz; the escorts Elena Buenavida and Helena Pueyo; forwards María Conde and Laura Quevedo; the power forwards María Araújo, Irati Etxarri and Paula Ginzo; and the centers Awa Fam and Nerea Hermosa.
Along with them will be a renewed coaching staff. Coaches Nacho Martínez, Cristina Cantero and Raquel Romo will work with Miguel Méndez; the physical trainer Óscar Viana and María Reina in the performance area; Dr. Laura Ots and physiotherapists Óscar Delgado and Tomas Richartz; and delegate Paloma Romero.
The team will gather from Saturday, November 2 in Castellón to begin preparing for its last two games of the year. They will play on Thursday, November 7, at 9 p.m., against the Netherlands; and on Sunday the 10th, at 7 p.m., against Croatia. Both meetings will be held at the City of Castellón Pavilion, where the Women’s National Team returns 23 years later.
A renewed list, made up of an outstanding group of young players and in which Elena Buenavida and Ángela Mataix make their debut. The National Team will face the Netherlands on Thursday, November 7, and Croatia on Sunday, November 10. Both matches will take place in Castellón
The team arrives undefeated in this second Window and with the aim of adding two new victories that would bring it closer to the European Championship that will be held from June 18 to 29, 2025 in the Czech Republic, Germany, Greece and Italy.
36 national teams participate in the qualifying phase, including those of the four host countries of the championship, already qualified ex officio. The rest will compete for the remaining 12 places in three Windows. The first in each of the eight groups will be classified, plus the four best second-place finishers.
Miguel Méndez: “This team excites us all a lot”
The National Coach has highlighted the enthusiasm with which the team begins this new Olympic cycle: “For this occasion we built a young team, made up of players who are performing this year in the Endesa Women’s League and playing their first important minutes. The team is also made up of a group of players who reach their sporting maturity and will continue to achieve and maintain it during this cycle, until 2028. And we complete it with two expert players such as Mariona Ortiz and captain Alba Torrens. I have personally asked Alba Torrens to continue in this Window to help us teach those young players who arrive how to train and how to advance in achieving goals in the National Team. “I think it will be a very important role and I am very grateful that he has accepted this new role and challenge in his career.”
Regarding the absence of Megan Gustafson, who is out due to physical problems, he noted: “Megan is the player we bet on in the last Olympic Games and on whom we will continue to bet in this new cycle. We are counting on her for the February Window and, of course, for the summer of Eurobasket 2025.”
“We know that it will not be an easy road because changes of this magnitude never are. We practically have to build a new team, with new roles and new objectives, but we are very excited to start this path,” he highlighted.
He also wanted to send a message to the fans: “I invite you to join us and push us on this path to help us achieve the maximum objectives that we always set for ourselves every time we take to the court representing our country. “This is your team.”
