The 2025 Women’s EuroBasket tipped off with the group stage hosted across Greece, Czechia, Germany, and Italy. A total of 16 national teams competed for a spot in the quarterfinals. Each bringing 12 athletes, making up a complete pool of 192 players.
But beyond the talent on the floor lies a striking pattern: How many of these athletes built their careers in the US college system? Let’s break it down.
- 42 players have development experience in the NCAA
- That’s 1 in every 5 of the tournament’s player pool
🇬🇷🇬🇧 Making the NCAA… a “National Strategy”
Greece and Great Britain feature the highest number of NCAA-experienced players among all 16 teams at EuroBasket 2025. Both rosters feature 8 athletes who have competed in US college basketball.
| Teams | NCAA 👧 | |
|---|---|---|
| 🇬🇷 Greece | 🇬🇧 GB | 8 |
| 🇷🇸 Serbia | 🇸🇪 Sweden | 4 |
| 🇩🇪 Germany | 🇨🇿 Czechia | 3 |
This strong presence reflects a mix of factors:
- The increasing appeal of US college scholarships for Europeans
- The structured environment that the college system provides for combining sport and education
- The dual nationality of many players
While not necessarily part of a formal strategy, this trend shows how the NCAA has become a reliable development path for players who now represent their countries at the highest level.
🇵🇹 Zero Portuguese
Portugal is the only roster without any players with experience in US college basketball. All other national teams have at least one!
🔁 Graduation Year Distribution
Out of the 42 US college-experienced players of the 2025 Women’s Eurobasket:
- 9 players graduated within the last 2 years
- Montenegro’s Jelena Bulajic will be an incoming freshman in the 2025-26 academic year
The following table highlights the eight Greek national team members who have experience in US colleges. It shows both the level of programs they attended and the different timelines they followed on their way to EuroBasket 2025.
| 🇬🇷 Player | School | 🎓 |
|---|---|---|
| I. Krimili | USF, Berkeley | 2025 |
| E. Bosgana | Stanford | 2025 |
| I. Chatzileonti | Kansas, Pitt | 2024 |
| M. Fasoula | BC, Vanderbilt | 2020 |
| P. Pavlopoulou | Washington St | 2018 |
| E. Christinaki | Florida, Maryland | 2018 |
| A. Spanou | Robert Morris | 2014 |
| R. Parks | VCU | 2014 |
As more athletes pursue both education and elite competition in the United States, the NCAA remains a powerful platform for long-term player development.
With the Men’s EuroBasket just around the corner, it will be interesting to see how many players have followed a similar path and how strongly the US college system is now influencing European basketball across the board.