ISTANBUL (Türkiye) - The confetti has fallen at the FIBA U17 Basketball World Cup 2024 and United States have been crowned champions after a record-setting run to their seventh straight title. Still, it's not too early to look ahead to the 2026 edition of the competition - and imagine that two of the game's most promising young stars can shine again in two years again in Türkiye.
Fabian Kayser of Germany and France's Nathan Soliman are the two players at the 2024 U17 World Cup who were born in 2009, meaning they are eligible to play in 2026, when the world converges on Türkiye again.
Kayser was playing in his first FIBA tournament and showed why the German federation thinks so highly of him. The 202 cm - 6ft 8in forward averaged 7.5 points, 1.8 rebounds, 1.7 assists and 1.0 steals as Germany finished 11th in Istanbul.
"First of all, hopefully we can qualify for this again and then I really would love to play here again," said Kayser, who was on the German team that was playing in the U17 World Cup for the first time since the first edition in 2010 when they hosted it.
"I learned what it takes to play at the highest level and I really hope we can play here in two years."
Soliman, for his part, was actually playing his second FIBA tournament after having helped France grab a spot for the U17 World Cup with a third place finish at the FIBA U16 EuroBasket 2023.
In his first global event, the 201 cm - 6ft 7in forward averaged 7.3 points, 3.6 rebounds, 1.0 assists and 1.7 steals. That couldn't keep France from a disappointing ninth place finish in Istanbul.
"Our problem was that we were bad on defense; we had ups and downs. We didn't come here to finish in this place," he said. "After the elimination (to Puerto Rico in the Round of 16), our goal was to end with three victories to make the summer a bit better. But we wanted to be champions, and we didn't succeed. We'll come back even better, work hard to try to become European champions in the U18 category."
Soliman said the U17 World Cup was a good learning experience.
"I have always played with the 2007 generation. It's definitely a good experience. I was able to learn; it was very physical, very tough. All the teams are good. We let our guard down against Puerto Rico, thinking it would be easier, but in fact, there is no easy match. That's what I learned," he said.
Should we see Kayser and Soliman in two years, they will most likely be quite a bit better - also because of what they learned in Istanbul.
FIBA