EuroBasket : France U18 women’s team takes silver as Spain crushes the Bleuettes in the EuroBasket final

It was the one blemish on an otherwise outstanding tournament. France’s U18 women’s national team, coached by Vincent Bourdeau, fell heavily to Spain in the EuroBasket U18 Women final on Sunday evening in the suburbs of Stockholm, Sweden. The final score — 82-44 — tells the story of a night where the Bleuettes could never find their footing against a Spanish side that had been absolutely relentless throughout the competition.

Spain, the defending champion, entered the final having won every game by an average margin of 50 points, a level of domination that left little doubt about the gap between the two sides even before tip-off. They brought that same ruthless efficiency to the gold medal game, combining fluid ball movement with sharp off-ball cuts to dismantle France’s usually suffocating defense.

Every time the Bleuettes looked to load up on one side of the floor, Spain found the extra pass or the backdoor cut to punish it. Somto Okafor and Anna Smykovskaia were particularly dominant in the paint, and Spain were already well in control at halftime before pulling away definitively in the second half, turning a promising French start into a rout by the final buzzer.

A night to forget, but a tournament to remember

France struggled badly in the final. The Bleuettes committed 23 turnovers and shot just 25.5% from the field — a far cry from the performances that had carried them unbeaten through the rest of the competition. Their trademark defensive pressure, so effective in earlier rounds at disrupting opponents and forcing tempo, failed to disrupt Spain’s rhythm at any point during the game. The Spanish guards consistently beat the first line of pressure, and once the ball moved past halfcourt, France’s help defense arrived a beat too late to contest at the rim.

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Individually, Camille Sevaux was France’s brightest spot, finishing with 11 points and 7 rebounds to confirm the impact she had shown throughout the tournament and giving the Bleuettes one of their only reliable interior presences on the night. Astrid Courbot added 7 points on 2/4 shooting, staying efficient in limited opportunities, while Emma Broliron endured a difficult night, going 0/9 from the field with 4 turnovers after being one of the standout performers of France’s run to the final.

The scoreline stings, but the broader picture remains a positive one for French youth basketball. This silver medal is France’s 15th podium in the last 16 editions of the EuroBasket U18 Women — a standard of consistency that is near-unique on the continent and a reminder of just how deep and well-structured the French development pipeline remains at this age group. The Bleuettes also had to navigate the tournament without several key players, most notably Kathy-Emma Otto, MVP of the 2024 U16 EuroBasket, whose absence made the run to the final all the more valuable.

This result also completes a remarkable summer for French youth national teams. The U20 women brought home gold, the U18 men claimed bronze, and now the U18 women add silver — three medals across three competitions in the space of a few weeks. For the 2008-born generation that made up this Bleuettes squad, the heavy defeat in the final will sting for a while, but it also offers plenty to build on. The next major target is already on the horizon: the 2027 U19 World Cup in China.