Israel's national basketball team qualified for the Eurobasket 2025 tournament after beating Ukraine 75-88 in the qualifying tournament.
The win came after Israel trailed for most of the game, went into halftime trailing by 11 points and took the lead for the first time during the fourth quarter. Yam Madar led the way with 24 points, three rebounds and seven assists.
The Israeli national basketball team has qualified for EuroBasket 30 times throughout its history, and has also made two appearances at the World Cup and one at the Olympic Games.
In 1979, they finished runner-up at the 1979 EuroBasket, and won two gold medals (1966 and 1974), and a silver medal (1970) at the Asian Games.
Despite the complex national context, this year is no exception: after winning two games against Ukraine, the Israeli team secured its participation in EuroBasket 2025.
These victories, achieved in the recent FIBA qualifying window, allow the team to concentrate on preparing for their participation in the European tournament without worrying about the last two qualifying games in February.
Ariel Beit Halachmi, the current coach of the team, who took over after the disappointment at EuroBasket 2022, stressed the importance of teamwork in qualifying: “We played together and every player contributed. Although we started nervously, in the second half we showed our depth and achieved the result we wanted.”