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Sky is the limit, Sapphires set to shine at U17 Women’s World Cup

The Australian U17 Women are set for Czechia, with eyes firmly set on a podium finish.

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Read time: 2 min By Flynn Cassar

It’s time for the U17 Women’s World Cup, as the Australian Sapphires enter Brno, Czechia with high hopes and grand expectations. 

The Sapphires are currently ranked second on the FIBA Smart Power Rankings, as the team strives to claim their first gold medal since 2016. 

Running from 11-19 July, the Sapphires campaign begins against Latvia on Saturday at 7:30pm AEST, providing an early opportunity to make their mark in the group stage. 

Group A will have its challenges as Australia (2) are set to face Cote d'Ivoire (15), Latvia (9) and the USA (1), with the reigning champions USA eyeing a fourth consecutive gold medal at the FIBA U17 Women's World Cup. 

There are 16 teams competing at the U17 World Cup spread across four groups of four. Every team is guaranteed to advance past the group phase, with the group standings used to seed the elimination bracket. 

In the Round of 16, matchups are decided by a cross-over system, where top seeds face lower seeds from opposing groups.  

Winning teams progress through to the Quarter Finals and Semi Finals to compete for the gold. Meanwhile, losing teams enter consolation brackets to play out their final rankings from 5th to 16th place. 

The fixtures for the Sapphires group stage matchups are as follows: 

DATE GAME TIME (AEST)
Saturday 11 July AUS V LAT  7:30pm
Monday 13 July AUS V LAT  4:15am
Tuesday 14 July CIV V AUS 10:45pm


Looking through the history books, the Sapphires have a proven track record at the FIBA U17 Women’s World Cup.  

The Sapphires made it to the quarterfinals across three consecutive tournaments from 2010-2014. 

In 2016 Australia became the only team other than the USA to exit the FIBA U17 Women’s World Cup with gold medals around their neck. 

Since then, Australia has maintained solid performances finishing third in 2018, and fifth in the last two tournaments (2022 and 2024). 

Inspired by the Australia U17 men's recent World Cup campaign in Türkiye, where the Crocs claimed bronze after suffering their only defeat to eventual champions USA, the Sapphires will strive to follow a similar path in pursuit of a medal. 

The Sapphires team relies heavily on Basketball Australia Centre of Excellence (CoE) representatives, culminating with top talent that starred for their states and territories at the Foot Locker Under-18 National Championships back in April. 

The Sapphires squad is locked in for Czechia; 

SAPPHIRES

  1. 14
    Eliza Ashby Forward
  2. 5
    Daisy Hocking Guard
  3. 0
    Jasmine Jones Guard
  4. 15
    Jemyma Manyok Center
  5. 12
    Lily Mapp Forward
  6. 7
    Olivia Olechnowicz Guard
  7. 10
    Sophie Richardson Forward
  8. 11
    Madison Ryan Small Forward
  9. 8
    Jay Sebasio Guard
  10. 20
    Jade Sherrington Forward
  11. 6
    Isabel Smith Guard
  12. 14
    Matilda Trout Forward

Where to watch: 

All games are available to watch Live on FIBA YouTube. 

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