Chus Mateo’s era as coach of the national basketball team already has its first names. On Tuesday, the Real Madrid coach offered the list of players called up for Spain’s matches against Denmark on Thursday 27th in Copenhagen and against Georgia on Sunday 30th in Tenerife, the two matches that will open the qualifying phase for the 2027 World Cup in Qatar and which will mark his debut on the bench after replacing Sergio Scariolo last September. For this window, Mateo will not be able to count on players from Euroleague teams nor those competing in the United States (NBA and college league). The burden of this first selection in his command falls on the middle class of the ACB.
The squad is made up of 14 players: guards Alberto Díaz (Unicaja), Álvaro Cárdenas (Peristeri, on loan from Valencia) and Lluís Costa (Granada), guards Jaime Fernández (Tenerife), Francis Alonso (Breogán) and Pep Busquets (Girona), forwards Santi Yusta (Zaragoza), Álex Reyes (Manresa) and Oriol Paulí (Lleida) and the forwards and centre-forwards Dani Díez (Burgos), Miquel Salvó (Gran Canaria), Izan Almansa (Real Madrid), Great Osobor (Science City Jena, of the Bundesliga) and Fran Guerra (Tenerife). Up to 12 of the 14 selected play in the ACB, all except Cárdenas (Greek League) and Osobor (German).
The case of Izan Almansa is particular. Despite playing in a Euroleague team, Madrid, he has played more games in the U League (five), the new competition for youth training, than in the Endesa League (three), and the white team has released him for the whole of next week considering that he will have more minutes in the national team. Chus Mateo must exclude two players for each of the fixtures. Guard Miguel González (Zaragoza) and forward Miguel Allen (Joventut) will be present at the preparation as guests.
“I found an extraordinary commitment. One of the things that excites me is the contact I had with them. There are players from 14 different teams. The clubs do an excellent job and I tried to be very close to the players”, commented Chus Mateo at the Tenerife Fair. “We have to try to get to know them as soon as possible. I will look for an atmosphere, a good cohesion between all the players. I need them to get to know each other and form a family, to feel the pride of representing Spain. I don’t have much time, I can’t waste it. I will try to be as practical as possible, summarize the basketball we do as much as possible. The only thing I want is for them to be them and to play like in their clubs”, commented the coach speaking of a group in which Alberto Díaz (51 appearances for the national team) will play the role of captain and player. with more experience together with Jaime Fernández (44 games) and Santi Yusta (25, the only one who repeats from the last Eurobasket).
The coach also commented that Ricky Rubio was “considered” and that he spoke with him about a possible return: “He showed me his willingness to stay in a certain window, but perhaps it arrived too soon. I won’t put pressure on him. I hope he comes back to close a good stage as he wants. The doors will always be open.”
The path to the world event is labyrinthine and extends until March 2027. Spain shares group A with Denmark, Georgia and Ukraine, the first of the eight that make up a first qualifying phase in the European zone. The three best teams after the home and away matches advance to the second round in which the 24 teams will be divided into four groups of six teams. The top three finishers will go to the World Championships.
Chus Mateo faces a tough challenge after taking over from Scariolo, the coach who for 15 years collected eight medals and forged an identity and working model from the lower categories up to the senior team. This summer both coaches swapped roles at Real Madrid and the national team. At Mateo’s table, tasks abound: putting his own stamp on the team, deepening the generational change, strengthening the new leadership, expanding the monitoring of players competing in the United States and strengthening the commitment to wearing the red jersey. In its favor is the absence of a major international competition next summer and a World Cup qualification process in which it can simmer. The demand is maximum. Spain has not reached the final phase in any of the last three major events (2023 World Cup, 2024 Games and 2025 EuroBasket) and in the future, in addition to Qatar, the Los Angeles Olympic Games in 2028 and the European Championships that Madrid will host in 2029 are looming.
