Vitaliy Stepanovskyi's team lost to Israel for the second time in a week.
The Ukrainian national basketball team suffered a defeat to Israel in the fourth round of the 2025 European Championship qualifiers. The match at the Arena Riga in the capital of Latvia ended with a score of 88:75 in favor of the “blue-yellows” opponent.
Vitaliy Stepanovsky's team played the first half of the game very well and went into the big break with the score 40:29 in their favor. However, in the second half of the game the Israelis made a comeback (59:35) and eventually won.
It should be noted that the Ukrainian team lost to Israel for the second time in a week in the EuroBasket 2025 qualifiers. In the first match between these teams, which took place on November 23 also in Riga, our team lost with a score of 73:86.
In total, the Ukrainian basketball players lost four out of four matches in the 2025 European Championship qualifiers. In addition to two losses to Israel, the “blue-yellows” also lost to Slovenia (73:87) and Portugal (77:79).
After four rounds, the Ukrainians (0 wins) occupy the fourth and last place in Group A. Slovenia and Israel are in the lead, having won 3 victories each. Portugal is in third place (2 wins).
The Ukrainian national team will play its final matches in the 2025 EuroBasket qualifiers early next year: against Slovenia (February 20) and Portugal (February 23).
The three best teams from the group where the Ukrainian national team is playing will advance to the European Championship.
Despite four losses, the “blue-yellows” still have a chance to qualify for the continental championship. To do this, we will need to beat the Slovenians and Portuguese in the final matches with the required point difference and hope that Israel beats Portugal. Theoretically, Ukraine can still overtake Portugal in the fight for third place.