Disaster for the Polish national team! The fans still can’t believe it
The EuroBasket 2025 qualifying match between Poles and Estonians ended in defeat. The hosts lost in Włocławek 78:80.
EuroBasket 2025 will be held for the sixth time in a row with the participation of 24 teams divided into four groups and for the fourth time in four countries. One of the host countries is Poland. For this reason, the national team’s basketball players can calmly prepare for next year’s challenge. At the turn of August and September, the matches will be played in Katowice. The tournament will also be hosted in Cyprus (Limassol), Finland (Tampere) and in Latvia – Riga.
EuroBasket 2025: Poles still winless in the qualifiers!
The problem, however, is that the eliminations are supposed to provide answers to troubling questions about the national team. For now, the defeat against Estonia in front of the home crowd 78:80 certainly does not improve the mood around Polish basketball.
Thus, the Poles suffered their fifth defeat in a row in the game for points. Last match won? Exactly on August 20, 2023, with Bosnia and Herzegovina in the pre-qualifying tournament for the Olympic Games in Paris. Ultimately, Polish basketball players did not manage to advance there, although it must be admitted that the competition was really strong. And then even Jeremy Sochan didn’t help.
What happened in Thursday’s match in Włocławek? It was a strange meeting. First of all, the Poles made a mockery of the matter in the third quarter of the match, losing 13:19. The hosts performed very poorly in three-point shots (6/25, i.e. 25 percent effectiveness), often failing to score from clean, clear positions. Additionally, Estonia made a series of three-pointers in the last quarter, thanks to which they stayed in the lead at the end. And in key moments, the guests were able to punish their rivals and close the match victorious.
The best Polish scorer was Mateusz Ponitka. The captain scored 23 points. Aleksander Balcerowski added 15.
Estonia is the leader of Group H. It has already won three victories: sensational against Lithuania, against North Macedonia and the most recent one, against Poland.
An opportunity for a rematch this coming Sunday (i.e. November 24). This time, however, the Poles will play away against Estonia. There are only less than nine months left until the start of EuroBasket in Katowice…
