The Chinese Women’s Basketball World Cup qualifying groups are released! Challenging the European Championship, Zhang Ziyu, who is 2.26 meters tall, faces off against the MVP superstar

On October 8, the draw results for the 2026 Women's Basketball World Cup qualifiers were released. 24 teams were divided into 4 groups to compete. The Chinese women's basketball team is in Group A with Belgium, Brazil, Czech Republic, Mali and South Sudan. For the Chinese women's basketball team, there is great hope to win the Women's Basketball World Cup by finishing in the top three of the group, but it is very difficult to win the first place in the group. Belgium is very strong and has won two Women's Basketball European Championships in a row. The number one star Messerman is at her peak, and she has many powerful helpers around her.

The specific groupings of the Women's Basketball World Cup preliminaries are as follows - Group A: China, Mali, South Sudan, Brazil, Belgium, and the Czech Republic. Group B: New Zealand, Puerto Rico, United States, Senegal, Italy, Spain. Group C: Hungary, Türkiye, Argentina, Australia, Canada, Japan. Group D: Colombia, Philippines, Germany, South Korea, France, Nigeria.

From the perspective of the group situation, the Chinese women's basketball team's group lottery can only be regarded as the middle and lower lottery. The Chinese women's basketball team was divided into the first group, while Belgium, the strongest team in the second group, was assigned to the Chinese women's basketball group. Brazil, the third group, was the stronger team in this group. In the fourth gear, the Czech Republic is not a strong team in its gear. As for Mali and South Sudan, they are obviously weaker than the Chinese women's basketball team and should play a supporting role in Group A.

The number one enemy of the Chinese women's basketball team in Group A is the Belgian women's basketball team. Under the leadership of Messerman, the Belgian women's basketball team ushered in their golden era. They won the bronze medal at the European Championships in 2017, their first European Championship medal in history, finished fifth at the 2019 European Championships, and won the bronze medal again at the 2021 European Championships. In the 2023 European Championship and the 2025 European Championship, the Belgian women's basketball team achieved two consecutive championships.

In addition, the Belgian women's basketball team finished fourth in the 2018 World Cup and fifth in the 2022 World Cup. The Belgian women's basketball team finished seventh at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. This was also their first time competing in the Olympics. At the 2024 Paris Olympics, the Belgian women's basketball team finished fourth.

For comparison, the Chinese women's basketball team lost to the Spanish women's basketball team 89-90 in the group stage of the Paris Olympics, while the Belgian women's basketball team easily defeated the Spanish women's basketball team 79-66 in the quarter-finals.

Messerman is one of the best European centers currently active. She has received a lot of honors in the European League and WNBA. Messerman helped the Washington Mystics win the WNBA championship in 2019 and was crowned Finals MVP. In the European League, Messerman can be called the Queen of Europe. She has won the UEFA Champions League 6 times, been selected to the UEFA Champions League first team 5 times, won the UEFA Champions League MVP 3 times, and won the UEFA Champions League semi-final MVP once.

Messerman led Belgium to win the European Championship twice with the national team, and she was crowned MVP in both cases. In addition, Messerman was selected to the best team at both the Tokyo Olympics and the Paris Olympics.

Messerman can play power forward and center. Her inside partner Linskens is also 1.93 meters tall. She and Messerman form a twin inside tower. In recent years, Belgium has won the European Championship twice and won the third place in the European Championship twice, and Linskens has participated in both. Among them, she was elected the best player in the 2023 Women's Basketball European Championship final.

The Belgian women's basketball team also has two other guards who play for the WNBA. They are Juliette Fanlo and Juliette Allemande, both of whom play for the Los Angeles Sparks. Other members of the Belgian women's basketball team basically play in the Spanish League and the Russian Super League. The strength of this team is indeed very strong.

The Brazilian women’s basketball team is the champion of the 2023 America’s Cup and the runner-up of the 2025 America’s Cup. They have two WNBA players. Cardoso, who is 1.98 meters tall, plays for the Chicago Sky. Another big man, Dantas, plays for the Indiana Fever. In addition, the Brazilian women's basketball team has many players competing in the NCAA. However, the Brazilian women's basketball team has relatively big ups and downs, and the Chinese women's basketball team is still expected to have an advantage against the Brazilian women's basketball team.

The Czech women's basketball team has no star players, and Mali and South Sudan are relatively weak. This is the team that the Chinese women's basketball team must win during the group stage. According to the rules, the top three in each group advance to the Women's Basketball World Cup. If there are regional champions or host Germany in the group, they will automatically occupy one qualifying spot, and the remaining teams compete for two qualifying spots.

In other words, in the Chinese women's basketball team, Belgium has actually been shortlisted for the 2026 Women's Basketball World Cup. But they will train for the World Cup preliminaries. The Chinese women's basketball team will compete with Brazil, the Czech Republic, Mali, and South Sudan for two qualifying spots.

The Chinese women's basketball team will compete in the Group A World Cup preliminaries in Shenzhen. The competition time is March 11-17, 2026. The strongest lineup should be sent by then. Zhang Ziyu will compete in the WCBA competition in the new season. After training for most of the season, how much progress can she make. By then, the showdown between her and Messerman may become a highlight. Li Yueru and Han Xu should also play. The Chinese women's basketball team is expected to use the "Three Great Walls of Women's Basketball" for the first time.