Team USA opens its bid for a fifth consecutive FIBA Women’s World Cup gold medal on Friday, Sept. 4, against China in a preliminary round-robin game that kicks off at 8:15 a.m. ET at American Airlines Center in Dallas, even though the tournament itself is being played in Berlin at Max-Schmeling-Halle. That’s the setup: elite women’s basketball, split across continents, packaged for broadcast, and run through the usual machinery of schedules, rights deals, and national-team prestige.
The Americans enter Group D with China, Italy and Czechia. The tournament field has 16 teams and 36 matchups, with four groups of four. Group winners go straight to the quarterfinals on Thursday, Sept. 10. The second- and third-place teams get pushed into the Playoff Qualification Round on Tuesday, Sept. 8, where they fight for the final four quarterfinal spots. The semifinals come on Saturday, Sept. 12, and the third-place game and final follow on Sunday, Sept. 13. Germany is hosting the tournament for the second time.
Who Gets the Stage
Team USA has won nine of the last 12 FIBA World Cups, including four straight. The Americans are coached by Kara Lawson, with assistant coaches Natalie Nakase, Nate Tibbetts and Stephanie White. The roster includes Paige Bueckers, Sonia Citron, Rhyne Howard, Kahleah Copper, Chelsea Gray, Kiki Iriafen, Breanna Stewart, Napheesa Collier, Caitlin Clark, Jackie Young, Aliyah Boston and Angel Reese. The article says Team USA is headed by Duke women's basketball head coach Kara Lawson, with veterans Breanna Stewart, Chelsea Gray and Napheesa Collier alongside young stars Caitlin Clark, Paige Bueckers and Angel Reese.
Clark is set to make her first appearance in the FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup on Friday. Fox News said her August in the WNBA was a spectacle, noting that she scored or assisted on 44.7 points per game, a WNBA record for a single month. It also said she became the first player in WNBA history with back-to-back 30-plus-point and 10-plus-assist games, doing so in a 111-91 win over the Connecticut Sun with 34 points and 12 assists and in a 113-90 win over the Chicago Sky on Aug. 23 with 37 points, including eight of 12 three-pointers made, and 10 assists. Fox News also said Clark had five games in August with at least 20 points and 10 assists, more than any other player had in the last five seasons combined, and that she averaged 24.4 points per game, the highest-scoring month by a point guard in WNBA history. The Indiana Fever went 7-4 in August and stood 26-14 on the season, fifth in the WNBA standings, with four regular-season games left after the international break.
Who Pays the Price
Team USA had to make last-minute roster adjustments. Four-time WNBA MVP A’ja Wilson, who was also the MVP of the 2022 World Cup, and Kelsey Plum won't play for Team USA in Germany because of health reasons. China also lost a key player, as two-time Olympian and Dallas Wings center Li Yueru won't suit up for the Chinese national team because her passport was lost in the mail, preventing her from traveling to Berlin. Yueru helped China win a silver medal in the 2022 World Cup.
That’s the human cost behind the polished event. Players get shuffled, sidelined, and stranded by health issues and bureaucratic failure while the tournament rolls on as scheduled. The apparatus doesn’t stop. It just adjusts the roster.
China's roster includes Wang Siyu, Yang Shuyu, Han Xu, Luo Xinyu, Zhang Ziyu, Jia Saiqi, Chen Yujie, Zhang Manman, Sun Yu, Chen Mingling, Tang Ziting and Li Yuan. Gong Luming is the head coach and Pierre Vincent is the assistant coach. The United States roster includes Paige Bueckers, Sonia Citron, Rhyne Howard, Kahleah Copper, Chelsea Gray, Kiki Iriafen, Breanna Stewart, Napheesa Collier, Caitlin Clark, Jackie Young, Aliyah Boston and Angel Reese.
What They're Selling as Competition
The tournament field also includes Japan, Spain, Germany, Mali, Hungary, South Korea, Nigeria, France, Belgium, Australia, Puerto Rico and Turkey. USA Today said France, Belgium, Australia and Spain are expected to be top contenders, but the Americans are the only team with minus-odds according to BetMGM. The Athletic said Australia finished third in the 2022 World Cup and the 2024 Olympics and has eight WNBA players, including Alanna Smith, Rebecca Allen, Ezi Magbegor, Jade Melbourne, Isobel Borlase and Stephanie Talbot. It said Belgium has won the last two EuroBasket competitions and is led by Emma Meesseman, Julie Allemand and Julie Vanloo. It said France has perimeter talent including Gabby Williams, Marine Johannès, Dominique Malonga, Carla Leite, Pauline Astier, Leïla Lacan and Janelle Salaün, and that Nigeria has troubled Team USA in recent competitions under Rena Wakama. It said Spain has the most active WNBA players among remaining teams, with five, including Awa Fam, and that China is the biggest team in the tournament despite losing Li Yueru.
More than 50 WNBA players are taking part in the competition during a two-week break from the league, and Team USA is seeking its fifth consecutive title. The Athletic said the Americans are undefeated in the Olympics since the creation of the WNBA and have lost only once in the world championships, in 2006, when they finished third. It also said Breanna Stewart is playing in her fourth World Cup, while Chelsea Gray and Kahleah Copper were on the 2022 roster. The article said only five players have represented the U.S. in five-on-five at a senior tournament, and that four players haven't appeared in a WNBA playoff game. It said Kara Lawson coached the inaugural 3×3 team in Tokyo, was an assistant under Cheryl Reeve and won the AmeriCup in 2025 with a roster of college players. It also said Stephanie White, Nate Tibbetts and Natalie Nakase are making their first rodeo at the international level.
The Broadcast Machine
Every Team USA game will be on TNT or truTV, and the entire tournament can be streamed on HBO Max. USA Today said TNT has the exclusive U.S. English-language rights, all 36 games stream on HBO Max, and 17 of those games air on TNT and truTV, including every U.S. game. The games may be framed as national pride and elite competition, but the money trail is plain enough. The audience gets the spectacle. The networks get the rights. The players carry the load.
And the tournament keeps moving, from Dallas to Berlin, from group play to knockout rounds, with the same hierarchy intact.