Will Spain end 24 year drought or can France grab first youth world crown?

DEBRECEN (Hungary) - Two of the biggest powers of European basketball will battle for global supremacy as Spain and France face off in the Final of the FIBA U19 Basketball World Cup 2023. Spain are aiming to snap a 24-year drought since their only title in 1999 while France hope to raise their first youth world trophy.

Spain are in the U19 World Cup for the second time following them beating USA  94-87 in the 1999 title bout in Lisbon. Spain's only other U19 World Cup podium finish was third place in 1995.

France meanwhile are hoping to take another jump up the podium after grabbing third place in 2019 and second in 2021 - losing in the latter to USA in the Final, 83-81. France also finished third in 2007. They have never won a global youth Final, also being defeated by USA in the Final of the FIBA U17 Basketball World Cup 2018.

 

 
Spain are undefeated in Hungary, winning all three games in Group A, including an 88-69 win over France on the second day of action. The Group Phase saw them register wins over Lebanon and Argentina before brushing aside Turkey 83-51 in the Semi-Finals.

France's only loss came at the hands of Spain. Otherwise, they also beat Canada and China in the group stage and then defeated Madagascar in the Round of 16 and Serbia in the Quarter-Finals. The French made history in the Semi-Finals as they downed USA 89-86 for their first-ever win over the Americans in youth basketball.

 

Spain v France - 20:00 CET

Key Matchup: Izan Almansa vs Alexandre Sarr - Spain's big man Almansa has been playing like the MVP and he would love to finish the job with another MVP and U19 World Cup crown. But Sarr hopes to keep that from happening. Almansa certainly got the best of Sarr in the first matchup in the group stage with 21 points and 7 rebounds while Sarr was held to just 4 points and 3 rebounds in more than 25 minutes.

X-Factor: Zacharrie Perrin and Melvin Ajinca have received much of the attention when it comes to the France team - both candidates for the All-Star 5. But Zaccharie Risacher could be the key to France beating Spain. The star forward has not yet to live up to his superstar tag in Debrecen though he has scored 13 points in two of his last three games after totaling just 17 points in the first three games of the tournament. Risacher was held to just 2 points on 1-of-6 shooting in the first game against Spain. If the Spanish can bottle him up again, that would be a big help in grabbing the win.

Stats Don't Lie: Spain rank first in offensive rebounds with 18.3 per game while France grab 13.8 offensive rebounds per game. Spain take advantage of those extra possessions in the form of 20.2 second-chance points per game compared to 12.0 for France. Both teams love to run and get easy points - Spain with 25.5 points from turnovers and France 29.5.  If the game comes down to free throws in the end, France hold the slight advantage of 74 percent foul shooting with Spain at 69 percent. Neither side turns the ball over - Spain with the second-fewest turnovers at 13.0 and France is next best with 14.0 per game.

 Past matchups:

 

France and Spain have faced off 58 times in European and world youth events and Spain hold a 43-15 record. But they have only played three times at the U19 World Cup - one of them in the 2023 group stage.

Spain won 88-69 on the second day of action in Debrecen. Previously they prevailed in the 2021 group stage while France beat the Spanish 100-83 in the 2007 Quarter-Finals

They said: "The last time we played them, they played really hard and started hot. So we will not let that happen again. We have to play hard from the beginning to the end," Spain center Izan Almansa

"It’s not going to be the same as the group phase but if we do the things like we did today (in the Semi-Finals), we can win," Spain guard Lucas Langarita

"We played against Spain and that is a really, really good team. They have one of the best European players in Izan Almansa. We will be ready to keep him down," France power forward Zacharie Perrin

"This is what we are working for. We are enjoying this moment. It's very special for us. We have one more game to go. We are ready for the Final," France forward Zaccharie Risacher

FIBA