Lions handed deadly U19 Basketball World Cup group stage pairing.

The Under-19 senior men’s national basketball team has been handed an extremely difficult pairing for the group stage of the forthcoming 2025 Under-19 FIBA Basketball World Cup.

The 2025 tournament will take place in Switzerland from June 28 to July 6 this year.



A total of 16 nations will be participating in the tournament. During the draw of the event conducted Friday, Cameroon was paired in Group D alongside the United States of America, Australia and France.

All three countries are heavyweights in the global youth competition. The three nations have won a total of nine winners’ trophies in the championship.  

The trio also has a joint total of nine silver and bronze medals in the competition, leaving the U19 Basketball Lions who are in their first ever appearance in the finals of the event as outright underdogs. 

 

Deadly United States 

The United States will be the Basketball Lions’ biggest headache in the group. The Americans are the most distinguished nation in the competition with eight trophies, six more than any other country in the history of the youth championship.

The United States side has won five of the last seven editions of the competition since 2009, missing out only to Lithuania, Canada and Spain in 2011, 2015 and 2023 respectively. 

The Americans finished fourth in the final ranking of the 2023 edition. The 2023 result went into the books as the North Americans’ poorest run in the competition since 2013. 

That disturbing result is expected to be an additional source of motivation for the Americans in the 2025 championship, leaving underdogs like Cameroon in serious danger of easily collapsing on the hands of the US team which also has three silver medals and two bronze medals in the planetary event. 

 

Complicated French equation 

France has two silver and two bronze medals in the competition. The team has finished in the top three of the final standing in all last three editions. 

The French ranked third during the 2019 showpiece after concluding their journey in the event sitting only behind the United States and African giants, Mali. 

The Europeans were runners up to the United States and Spain during the 2021 and 2023 tournaments respectively. 

 

Australia

Australia has a more impressive profile in the competition than France. The Australians emerged as champions of the competition in 2003 after defeating Lithuania in the final of the event. 

Before the 2003 success, the Australians had finished as runners up to host Greece in the 1995 edition. 

In spite of the overall rich profile and legacy, the Australian team has failed to lift up to its billing in the last two decades. The side will be hoping to bounce back during the 2025 showdown.

Cameroon qualified for the FIBA U19 World Cup after emerging as runner up at the 2024 African Under-18 Men’s Basketball Championship in South Africa.

The nation will begin its campaign in the 2025 tournament against France on Saturday June 28. 

The U19 Lions will be up against Australia on Sunday June 29 on match day two of the group phase before rounding up the group stage series on Tuesday July 1 against the United States.

 

Other groups

In other groups, Africa’s second representative Mali will be in Group A alongside Serbia, New Zealand and Argentina. 

Group B will be animated by China, Slovenia, Germany and Canada while Group C have host Switzerland, Jordan and the Dominican Republic going up against each other.

 

This article was first published in The Guardian Post Edition No:3356 of Saturday February 01, 2025

 

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