The tournament begins on Friday in Berlin, Germany.
The FIBA Women's World Cup kicks off on Friday in Berlin, Germany, putting a pause on the WNBA season.
Team USA enters the tournament as the heavy favorite after winning Olympic gold in Paris in 2024. In fact, the Americans have won the gold medal at every Olympic games since 1996 in Atlanta.
There are several University of Connecticut connections with this year's Women's World Cup, so here's what you need to know.
How does the tournament work?
There are 16 teams in this tournament field, with four groups of four teams each representing. Each of the four group winners will automatically advance to the quarterfinals, while the second and third-place teams in each group will advance to the Round of 12.
The last-place team in each group will be eliminated.
Once we are in the Round of 12, those eight second and third-place teams will have to play each other in elimination games to see who makes it to the quarterfinals.
At that point, each game is an elimination game until we get a champion.
When does the tournament run?
It begins on Sept. 4 and runs through Sept. 13.The championship game will be played at 2:00 p.m. ET on Sept. 13.
Dallas Wings guard Paige Bueckers (5) smiles and waits for play to resume against the Golden State Valkyries in the third quarter at Chase Center. David Gonzales-Imagn ImagesWhat is the problem with that?
Well, Sept. 13 is the first full NFL Sunday of the season, and it's also the date of the US Open Men's Tennis championship, which is also at 2 p.m. ET.
So, from a viewer and exposure standpoint, this is a bad date and time for the women's final.
Olympic berth on the line
The winner of this tournament gets an automatic bid to the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. However, the Americans already have an automatic berth as the host nation, meaning that if they win this tournament, the other 11 spots will be decided at a tournament in early 2028.
Should the Americans lose in this tournament, then the winner will get an automatic bid, and 10 other spots will be decided at those 2028 events.
How many UConn connections are there?
Former standouts Paige Bueckers, Napheesa Collier and Breanna Stewart are all on this team. Sue Bird, who was inducted to the Basketball Hall of Fame last year, is the architect of the Team USA roster.
Bird also had her No. 10 retired by the Huskies program last season.
When does Team USA play?
The Americans play on Friday at 8:15 a.m. ET against China, Sunday at 2:45 p.m. ET against Italy and Monday at 2:45 p.m. ET against the Czech Republic. Presuming the Americans advance out of the Group Stage, we will learn the schedule for the elimination round at a later date.
The Group Stage games will air on TNT.
