Gold for Men’s Spain
Day 10 – ECMWA 2025
GBR 69-72 ESP (M Gold medal game)
Spain make history winning their first ever senior European title, beating former champions, Great Britain in a 72-69 nail-biter.
A huge moment for the team and coach Abraham Carrión after decades of waiting to achieve this accolade.
Manu Lorenzo top scored with 20pts, followed by Pincho Ortega with a double-double of 17pts and 10rebs with an additional 10asts from Óscar Onrubia.
This proving a massive confidence booster for the Spaniards as they head into Ottawa 2026 as European Champions.
“We knew about our chances to get the trophy. GB is always a winning team but at the end we could get this incredible gold medal. Thank you to everyone that believed on us. This is only the beginning of something even bigger.” – Óscar Onrubia (ESP)
“It was a hard fought final between two unbeaten teams after what had been a tough run for us, facing some of the toughest teams in the knockouts on our way to the final. Spain got off to a great start and we were playing catch up from then. Proud of the way we fought back to lead at one point in the 4th. In the end it came down to the last few possessions and we didn’t execute as well as we know we can but overall I think Spain were the better team for enough spells in the game. Credit and congratulations to them for coming here after losing a lot of key players and finding a way to maximise their squad and come out on top.
We have made the last 8 European finals which is something to be proud of but our only aim is to finish on the top step. So we’ll evaluate where we can improve and we’ll be back competing for gold medals again come the next World & European championships and LA Paralympics in 2028.” – Gregg Warburton (GBR)
GER 79-60 ITA (M bronze medal game)
Germany secure bronze with a 79-60 victory over Italy. Their 2nd consecutive tournament bronze medal.
A spectacular performance from captain Tommy Böhme with 29pts, 8asts, closely followed by Nico Dreimüller 23pts, 7asts.
Both teams will now look ahead to Ottawa 2026.
“Yesterday’s win was a hard fight. We won because we had our energy high and now it feels good to have the bronze. I think we deserve it. We look forward to the next summers” – Lukas Glossner (GER)
“It’s a shame we weren’t able to play at our level in the last two matches of this European Championship, but we’re at the start of a new project and we’re happy to have qualified for the World Cup. Now we’ll start from here to improve even further.” – Claudio Spanu (ITA)
TUR 82-81 POL (M 5-6 place game)
With 5th place and automatic qualification for the World Championships in Ottawa on the line for the winner of this matchup, both teams came out firing as Poland put up 32 first quarter points to Türkiye’s 26. A first half shootout between Poland’s Mateusz Filipski and Türkiye’s Uğur Toprak saw Filipski rack up 21 points shooting 70% from the field as Toprak hit 4 from behind the arc on his way to 18 at the half.
Poland would have a 49-42 lead at halftime and held it going into the fourth but a flurry of baskets from Türkiye’s Mucahit Günaydin in the paint helped cut into the deficit and a Ferit Gümüş layup gave them their first lead of the game with 3:37 to play. Poland retook the lead on a Filipski basket but it was Toprak who would be the hero for Türkiye as he hit on the baseline to take the lead back in the final seconds of the game as the team booked their ticket to Ottawa.
Günaydin led the way for Türkiye with 33 points, 11 rebounds and 4 assists, Toprack added 24 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists.
Mateusz Filipski finished with 33 points, 10 assists and 8 rebounds for Poland.
“It was a really tough game. Losing by one point always hurts the most because you know it was so close. We were leading for most of the match, but today it wasn’t enough. Congratulations to the opponent. In moments like these, the most important thing is to learn from this experience and move on. We’ll come back stronger for the repechage.” – Andrzej Macek (POL)
NED 60-50 FRA (M 7-8 place game)
The Netherlands booked their spot in next April’s IWBF Men’s Repechage with a thrilling 60-50 victory over France in the classification game for seventh spot.
In a game that featured five lead changes in the fourth quarter alone, the Dutch held their nerve down the stretch with Arie Twigt and Gijs Even coming up clutch when it mattered, as the French missed the mark on shots they’ve made all tournament long.
Twigt would finish with 26 points, eight rebounds and eight assists to lead the Netherlands, who booked the final spot in next April’s Repechage, with Even adding 24 along with six offensive rebounds.
Nicholas Jouanserre paced France with 26 points and 10 rebounds, but after a tournament that promised a lot, ended in disappointment, having failed to qualify for the IWBF World Championships altogether.
“We did not get what we wanted in this tournament, but we are happy with our last game. Fortunately we were able to get a spot for the repachage tournament to show what we can.” – Gijs Even (NED)
ISR 102-44 BIH (M 11-12 place game)
A clinical performance from Israel see them defeat hosts Bosnia & Herzegovina 102-44 to claim 11th place.
Ido Maimon collected 19pts and 8rebs in just 20 minutes, shooting 77% going 7 of 9 from the field.
Nazif Arnaut had 23pts and 9rebs for the hosts.
This performance from Israel showcases that they are already preparing for Division B.
“We woke up this morning after a hard game and we kept our spirit up and came with a purpose to finish with a win. We still have things to improve and we will come to the next tournament better and stronger.” Ziv Eliyahu (ISR)
AUT 67-61 SUI (M 9-10 place game)
Austria confirmed a 9th place finish after a back and forth game against Switzerland. The Swiss led by 10 in the first quarter before Phillipp Hochenburger found a path to the basket before the break to top off a 20-8 run in the second and put Austria up 5.
Switzerland regained the lead in the fourth after a Husein Vardo score with under 3 minutes to play but 6 points from Austria’s Mehmet Hayirli down the stretch sealed the victory 67-61.
Hayirli led Austria with 27 points, 6 rebounds and 6 assists, Hubert Hager added a double double of 16 points and 14 rebounds.
For Switzerland Vardo finished with 22 points and 9 rebounds.
“We wanted to reward ourselves with a win to finish the tournament. Even though it was a rather scrappy game, we managed to make the key plays in the decisive moments and we’re happy to have secured 9th place.” – Mehmet Hayirli (AUT)
wrap ups: Caroline Bullock, John Hobbs, Dylan Cummings
photo: Mansoor Ahmed
