Spanish
Madrid. The International Basketball Federation (FIBA) updated its projections this Monday towards the Eurobasket 2025, and placed Serbia, led by Nikola Jokić, as the main candidate for the title. The tournament will be held from August 27 to September 14 in Latvia, Cyprus, Finland and Poland.
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In the third installment of its forecasts, FIBA placed Germany in second position and France —Olympic runner-up— in third. The top-10 is completed by Lithuania (4th), Latvia (5th), Italy (6th), Turkey (7th), Greece (8th), Finland (9th) and Slovenia (10th). One of the most striking changes is the rise of Lithuania and Italy, which climbed five places each, while Turkey and Greece fell in positions compared to the previous projection.Spain, outside the favorites
The big surprise came with Spain, which went from eighth to eleventh place, leaving the Top-10. Sergio Scariolo's team faces numerous absences: Lorenzo Brown, Alberto Abalde, Usman Garuba, Hugo González and Álex Abrines will not be available, and to this are added the bad results in the preparation, with three defeats in four games (two against France and one against Portugal). The evolution of Alberto Díaz and Santi Aldama will be key in the coming days, although FIBA justified the low Spanish position by recalling that, "although Spain should never be placed outside the Top-10, the absences and recent results condition its forecast".Cyprus, the Cinderella of the tournament
At the bottom of the list, FIBA once again placed Cyprus, one of the hosts, as the team with the fewest chances of winning the championship.
The Eurobasket 2025 will start in less than two weeks with Serbia as the big favorite and with the curiosity of seeing if Spain, despite its difficulties, can recover its status as a continental power.
