FIBA Women’s World Cup: Key Players to Watch in Berlin
Kara Lawson knew the headlines would write themselves when A’ja Wilson and Kelsey Plum were ruled out of the FIBA Women’s World Cup. She didn’t bother feeding them.
“We don't have time to be worried about who's not here,” the Team USA head coach said, eyes already fixed on Berlin and a tournament she expects to be the toughest in the program’s history. The rest of the world has caught up. Or at least, it’s close enough now to swing a one‑game knockout.
Wilson, the reigning World Cup MVP and centerpiece of the U.S. gold run in Sydney in 2022, will watch this one from afar. The same goes for Plum, whose 12 clutch points helped deliver Olympic gold in Paris in 2024. Their absence strips the Americans of star power and continuity.
What it doesn’t strip is expectation.
On Sept. 4 in Berlin, a reshaped U.S. roster walks into a World Cup where every major nation arrives armed with a genuine game‑breaker. These are the 10 players most likely to bend the tournament to their will.
10. Han Xu, China – A wall in the paint, with touch
At 6-foot-9, Han Xu is impossible to miss. This will be her third World Cup, and China will lean heavily on her again after she impressed in qualifying with 12.4 points and 5.6 rebounds per game in Wuhan, plus a Player of the Game performance against Brazil.
She’s not just tall. She’s skilled. A soft shooting touch at that size makes her a matchup puzzle for any defense, including Team USA, which opens the tournament against China.
And Han isn’t the only problem in the Chinese frontcourt. Li Yueru, the 6-7 Dallas Wings center, brings more size and power, while 19-year-old Zhang Ziyu, listed at 7-2 and already drawing attention as a future WNBA prospect for 2027, adds another towering layer. The Americans won’t ease into this World Cup. They’ll start it staring up.
9. Megan DiLeo, Spain – Spain’s new cornerstone
Spain sits at No. 3 in FIBA’s latest power rankings for a reason, and Megan DiLeo is at the heart of it.
The 6-4 center dominated for Spain at the 2024 Paris Olympics, leading the team in both scoring (18.0 points per game) and rebounding (9.3). She’s carried that form into the WNBA, where she’s in the best season of her career with the Portland Fire.
This will be DiLeo’s World Cup debut, but she won’t be sheltered. She’ll anchor a younger Spanish core that includes Awa Fam and Maria Conde, tasked with keeping Spain in the medal conversation. If she controls the glass and stays aggressive as a scorer, Spain’s ranking won’t feel like a projection. It’ll feel like a warning.
8. Julie Allemand, Belgium – The engine of the Cats
Emma Meesseman is the headline name for Belgium. Julie Allemand is the pulse.
The 5-10 guard from the Toronto Tempo arrives in Berlin as one of the tournament’s premier playmakers. She was named MVP of the 2026 World Cup Qualifying Tournament in Wuhan, averaging 9.4 points, 5.6 assists and 3.4 steals per game.
Her seven steals against South Sudan set an all-time single-game World Cup Qualifiers record and dragged Belgium through tense moments in the qualification process. At club level, she was the EuroLeague Women Final Six MVP after steering Fenerbahçe to the 2025-26 title.
She’s done it in Europe too: two EuroBasket gold medals with Belgium, two All-Star Five nods. When Belgium needs poise, tempo and a defensive spark, the ball finds Allemand. If the Belgian Cats make a deep run, she’ll be in the middle of everything.
7. Mai Yamamoto, Japan – The sniper with no conscience
Mai Yamamoto stands 5-4. Her impact feels much bigger.
Now a fan favorite with the Las Vegas Aces, Yamamoto is already a seasoned international guard, with seven senior FIBA competitions on her résumé, including the 2022 World Cup and the 2024 Olympics. In Japan’s Olympic opener in Paris, she put up 17 points, 3 rebounds and 5 assists in a 102-76 loss to Team USA, refusing to be intimidated by the stage or the opponent.
Her calling card is that two-handed release from deep. It’s quick, it’s repeatable, and it’s lethal. She shot 64% from three at the 2024 Olympic qualifying tournament and 50% from beyond the arc in the World Cup qualifier in San Juan.
Japan has tasted success with her at the core of its backcourt — gold at the 2021 FIBA Asia Cup, silver in 2023. Give her a sliver of space in Berlin and she can flip a game in minutes.
6. Ezi Magbegor, Australia – A bronze medal monster
Australia wants a third straight podium finish. Ezi Magbegor might be the biggest reason it’s realistic.
The 6-4 Seattle Storm center closed the Paris Olympics with a performance that will live in Australian basketball lore. In the bronze medal game, she poured in 30 points on 12-of-17 shooting and grabbed 13 rebounds, setting the all-time women’s Olympic single-game efficiency record.
That night underlined what she can be on the global stage: a mobile big who finishes, rebounds, protects the rim and runs the floor with guard-like agility. When Australia needs a bailout possession, they can throw it to her. When they need a stop, she anchors the back line.
If Magbegor brings that Paris form to Berlin, the Opals won’t just be playing for bronze.
5. Leonie Fiebich, Germany – The face of the hosts
Every host nation needs a player who can carry the emotional weight of a home World Cup. For Germany, that’s Leonie Fiebich.
The 6-4 New York Liberty forward is a two-way force, long and disruptive defensively and dangerous from distance. She powered Germany’s path to the 2024 Olympics by averaging 18.0 points and 7.3 rebounds per game in the qualifying tournament, then delivered a historic Olympic debut.
Her role now grows even bigger. With the World Cup on German soil, Fiebich becomes the focal point — the player local fans will ride with and opponents will scheme for. A few big nights from her, and the hosts could turn Berlin into a cauldron.
4. Caitlin Clark, USA – The spotlight follows her
Caitlin Clark will step into her first World Cup as the most recognizable player in the tournament. The attention won’t bother her. She’s used to living inside a camera lens.
The Indiana Fever star arrives as MVP of the World Cup Qualifying Tournament in San Juan, where she led Team USA with 58 points and 32 assists despite starting just one of five games. She changed games off the bench, bending defenses with her range and vision.
Clark’s presence gives Lawson a different kind of weapon — a guard who can pull up from well beyond the arc, stretch a defense to breaking point and still find teammates with pinpoint passes. On a roster missing Wilson’s dominance and Plum’s shot-making, her ability to ignite runs will be crucial.
The World Cup has never seen her on this stage. It’s about to.
3. Gabby Williams, France – Playing with a scar
Gabby Williams enters Berlin with a medal and a memory she’d rather rewrite.
The Golden State Valkyries star claimed the Alain Gilles Trophy in 2024 as France’s best basketball player, then added FIBA Europe SuperCup MVP honors after leading Fenerbahçe to the FIBA Europe title that same year.
But Paris 2024 still stings. In the Olympic final against Team USA, Williams led all scorers with 19 points. France lost 67-66. Her last-second shot, initially celebrated as a potential game-tying three, was ruled a two-pointer. No overtime. No redemption. Just heartbreak.
Her wider résumé is stacked — two Turkish Presidential Cup titles, a EuroLeague championship, a EuroLeague Final Four MVP, two EuroLeague Defensive Player of the Year awards. The 5-11 forward is relentless on both ends.
With that Olympic finish still fresh, Williams comes into this World Cup with an extra edge. That’s bad news for everyone else.
2. Emma Meesseman, Belgium – The complete champion
Few players in Berlin can match Emma Meesseman’s body of work.
The New York Liberty forward has been the backbone of Belgium’s rise, collecting multiple EuroBasket titles and back-to-back Women’s EuroBasket MVP awards while leading the Belgian Cats to two continental crowns. Most recently, she guided Belgium to the 2025 FIBA Women’s EuroBasket title and, again, took home tournament MVP.
Her success travels. In the WNBA, she won Finals MVP with the Washington Mystics in 2019, proving she can dominate on the biggest stages in multiple environments.
Now 33, Meesseman is chasing the one major prize that has eluded her: World Cup gold. She can score inside and out, facilitate from the high post, and orchestrate an offense with veteran calm. Belgium doesn’t have the depth of the United States, but with Meesseman and Allemand, it has a duo capable of beating anyone on a given night.
1. Breanna Stewart, USA – Chasing history
Breanna Stewart has carried the weight of expectation for a decade. Berlin offers her a chance to step into a different category altogether.
With A’ja Wilson sidelined, the New York Liberty forward becomes the natural anchor for Team USA. She has done this before. She was World Cup MVP in 2018. She was FIBA MVP at the Tokyo Olympics in 2020. She made the All-Star Five at both the 2022 World Cup and the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Now the stakes shift from medals to legacy.
If the U.S. wins in Berlin, Stewart will match Sue Bird as the only women’s player with four World Cup titles. Bird, now Team USA’s managing director, stands alone in that club. Stewart is one tournament away from joining her — and potentially going one better.
Another dominant run would also make her the first player ever to claim multiple World Cup MVP awards. That’s the scale of what’s in front of her.
Lawson doesn’t have Wilson. She doesn’t have Plum. What she does have is a roster stacked with talent and headlined by a forward on the brink of history, heading into a World Cup where stars from China to Belgium to Japan believe this might finally be their moment to knock the U.S. off its throne.
Berlin will decide who’s right.
