UMMC Ekaterinburg's Miguel Mendez now leading Spain women

MADRID (Spain) - The most dominant team in European basketball for the past decade and the No. 2 team in the FIBA World Ranking for Women, Spain, are launching a new era with the appointment of Miguel Mendez as coach.

Mendez, 54, who has led UMMC Ekaterinburg to the last three EuroLeague Women titles, previously tasted success with Spain when leading various youth teams to the podium.

Among those achievements were titles claimed at the U18 European Championship in 2006 and the U20 European Championship in 2018.

His first test with the senior women will be the November Qualifiers for the FIBA Women's EuroBasket 2023.

"My heart took a very little time to decide," he said. "My head took a little longer. I needed to discuss it with my club, to see if I could reconcile it, and with my family. But my heart always said yes."

Spanish Basketball Federation president Jorge Garbajosa believes Mendez is the perfect man to replace Lucas Mondelo, whose decade in charge came to an end when he was let go after the team's disappointing results this summer.

Spain won the FIBA Women's EuroBasket 2013, 2017 and 2019 under Mondelo, were second at the FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup 2014, silver medalists at the 2016 Olympics and third at the World Cup in 2018. However, they were seventh at the FIBA Women's EuroBasket in Valencia this summer, and sixth at the Tokyo Olympics.

The two tournaments were the first since the international retirements of Anna Cruz and Marta Xargay, players that had been linchpins in the successful Spanish teams.

Mondelo was also without Alba Torrens for the EuroBasket after she tested positive for COVID. Torrens did return to play for Spain at the Olympics.

Mendez (bottom left) coached Spain to the U20 European Championship title in 2018

"After a summer that has not been as successful as we would have hoped, we want to return to the path of the medals," Garbajosa said. "The bar is not high, it is very high ... We all have the most ambitious goals, and these players enjoy that pressure."

Spain will face Hungary and Romania in the November Qualifiers for FIBA Women's EuroBasket 2023.

FIBA