The world’s top international women’s basketball competition is back! Group play for FIBA’s EuroLeague Women will begin for the 2022-23 season on Wednesday and run through early March of next year, with the competition’s playoffs beginning shortly afterwards.
As always, Swish Appeal will be bringing you weekly coverage of EuroLeague Women, with game times, links to live video streams and, of course, the players you need to be following. For now, here’s a quick primer on the basics of EuroLeague Women, including which WNBA players will be playing where in Europe’s premier women’s basketball competition.
What is EuroLeague Women?
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EuroLeague Women is an annual international basketball event held by FIBA. It features 16 of Europe’s top basketball teams from all over the continent, typically playing an extensive regular season spanning several months before competing for the EuroLeague Women Championship, which is held in a bracket format.
Why should I follow EuroLeague Women?
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An excellent question!
EuroLeague Women boasts perhaps the highest level of competition of any international women’s basketball event. The best teams in Europe compete, which includes a preseason qualifying round to determine the final two contending teams. While there is typically a handful of teams that are clear favorites to win the competition, the level of play during the event is generally considered to be tops in Europe.
Not only is EuroLeague Women great basketball, it’s also easily accessible. From a dedicated and aesthetically pleasing FIBA website containing the league rulebook and a news section to keep you up to date to a YouTube channel that has free live streams of every EuroLeague Women game, the competition is easy to follow, even if you can’t watch the games live. Following your favorite WNBA players overseas can be a challenge, but for those competing in EuroLeague Women, video, stats and news are easily attainable.
Who competes in EuroLeague Women?
Here is the list of teams competing in the 2022-23 EuroLeague Women season, along with players WNBA and American basketball fans may be familiar with (per the official FIBA website):
Group A
Atomerőmű KSC Szekszárd (Hungary) — Victoria Vivians, Ruthy Hebard
BC Polkowice (Poland) — Stephanie Mavunga, Yvonne Turner
Virtus Segafredo Bologna (Italy) — Cheyenne Parker, Kitija Laksa, Iliana Rupert, Cecilia Zandalasini
Tango Bourges Basket (France) — Yvonne Anderson, Kayla Alexander
Olympiacós SFP (Greece) — Megan Gustafson, Kylee Shook
Valencia Basket Club (Spain) — Rebecca Allen, Lauren Cox, Marie Gülich
Fenerbahçe Alagöz Holding — Breanna Stewart, Natasha Howard, Alina Iagupova, Satou Sabally, Emma Meesseman, Kayla McBride, Kiah Stokes
ZVVZ USK Praha — Alyssa Thomas, Brionna Jones, Emese Hof, Maria Conde
Group B
CBK Mersin Yenişehir Bld (Turkey) — Chelsea Gray, Tiffany Hayes, Jonquel Jones, DeWanna Bonner, Briann January, Temi Fagbenle
Kangoeroes Basket (Belgium) — Morgan Bertsch
Spar Girona (Spain) — Rebekah Gardner, Crystal Bradford, Marianna Tolo, Shay Murphy
Beretta Famila Schio (Italy) — Rhyne Howard, Marina Mabrey, Astou Ndour-Fall, Amanda Zahui B., Kim Mestdagh
DVTK-Hun-Therm (Hungary) — Arella Guirantes
Basket Landes (France) — Evelyn Akhator, Celine Dumerc, Regan Magarity, Marine Fauthoux
Sopron Basket (Hungary) — Brittney Sykes, Ezi Magbegor, Bernadett Határ
Perfumerias Avenida (Spain) — Moriah Jefferson, Erica McCall, Maite Cazorla
Keep in mind that this list is subject to change! It’s not unusual to see players come and go throughout the course of a EuroLeague Women season due to contracts expiring, late arrivals or other reasons.
What’s different about EuroLeague Women for 2022-23?
FIBA’s stance on Russian teams and officials has not changed since March 2022; they are still not allowed to participate in any FIBA competitions — EuroLeague Women included — due to the ongoing crisis in Ukraine. This means that Russian teams that usually participate in EuroLeague Women, such as UMMC Ekaterinburg and Dynamo Kursk, will not be involved in 2022-23.
How do I watch EuroLeague Women?
All EuroLeague Women games will be streamed for free on FIBA’s EuroLeague Women YouTube channel. The games will be archived in case you miss them. FIBA also usually posts highlights of the games on the channel, as does the league’s Twitter account.