20 years later, Germany returns to EuroBasket final!
Sept. 12, 2025
Alexandre Lacoste
Turkey humiliates Greece to face Germany in Euro final!
EuroBasket - Turkey crushed Greece (94-68) in the EuroBasket 2025 semifinals. 24 years after their last final at home, the Turks are back at this level. They will face Germany on Sunday at 8pm French time.
Photo Credit : Lilian Bordron
24 years later, Turkey will play the second final in their EuroBasket history. Largely dominating their Greek neighbors in the semifinals (94-68) this Friday, September 12 in Riga, Alperen Sengun’s teammates secured their eighth victory in eight matches. They will try to win their first gold medal in history against Germany on Sunday evening.
Ercan Osmani, the hero of the day
There was no suspense in either EuroBasket semifinal. After Germany’s rather comfortable success in the semifinals against Finland, the other undefeated team in this competition, Turkey put on a real show against Giannis Antetokounmpo’s Greece.
Uncertain until the last moment – unless the mind games worked well – Cedi Osman kept his place in the starting lineup (17 points on 7/12 shooting, 3 rebounds and 3 assists for a 17 rating in 34 minutes). And while potential Euro MVP Alperen Sengun was highly anticipated, it was his interior colleague Ercan Osmani who really shone. Constantly double-teamed on defense, to the point of starting the game 0/8 from the field, the Rockets star nevertheless set up the Anadolu Efes Istanbul shooting power forward perfectly. Averaging 10.4 points before the game, the Kosovo-born naturalized Turk had already scored 14 points on 4/4 from 3-point range at the end of the first quarter. And his team led by 10 points (26-16). A lead that passed +20 just before halftime (49-31, 20′), with only 4 points for Giannis Antetokounmpo (12 points on 6/13 final, 12 rebounds, 5 assists and 5 turnovers in 30 minutes) and 12 turnovers for the Greeks.
ERCAN OSMANI IS A WALKING FIRE RIGHT NOW.#EuroBasket pic.twitter.com/6eMNvkWGMm
— FIBA EuroBasket (@EuroBasket) September 12, 2025
In the end, Ercan Osmani even scored 28 points on 11/15 shooting (including 6/8 from 3-point range, which is a semifinal record) and grabbed 6 rebounds for a 33 rating. Most importantly, Ergin Ataman’s team capitalized on Greece’s 22 turnovers (a record in Euro semifinals since this statistic has been tracked) to win by 26 points, the second-largest victory margin in semifinals after France’s success in EuroBasket 2022 semifinals against Poland (95-54). They didn’t even need a stellar Alperen Sengun performance to finish with such a gap, as he struggled with his shooting (5/15 from the field, 5 turnovers), even though the visual impression remains that of an MVP (15 points, 12 rebounds and 6 assists for an 18 rating).
Against Germany on Sunday at 8pm French time, Turkey will try to win the first title in their history. Indeed, having lost in the Euro 2001 final and then the 2010 World Cup final, they have never won gold. In short, Ergin Ataman and his men are in Riga to make history.
In Riga,
Gabriel Pantel-Jouve est le fondateur et rédacteur en chef de BeBasket, qu’il anime depuis 2010 (sous le nom de Catch & Shoot). Passé par l’Ecole Publique de Journaliste de Tours, puis deux universités en Amérique du Nord, il a pu développer son expertise sur le basket français, de la Ligue Nationale aux divisions amateurs, durant ces 20 dernières années. En parallèle, il est aussi engagé dans le développement de clubs du côté de Montpellier.
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