France’s historic run to their first-ever Women’s Basketball World Cup final definitely captured the attention of an entire nation, including the president. Following the Bleues’ breakthrough victory over Germany in the semifinal, President Emmanuel Macron sent a powerful and personal message as the team prepared for their gold-medal showdown against Team USA.
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“They did it! For the first time, the Bleues are in the final of the Women’s Basketball World Cup. One more step. The whole country is with you,” the President wrote on his official X page.
By securing their place in the championship game against the United States, Les Bleues have ended a 73-year World Cup medal drought dating back to their lone bronze medal at the very first tournament in 1953. However, following that medal-winning performance, France qualified for the World Cup between the 1970s and 1990s.
When they finally returned as a consistent European contender to the title, they ran into a recurring problem: The quarterfinal curse. In virtually every modern World Cup appearance, France looked dominant in the group stages only to bow out in the quarterfinals. In fact, they suffered six consecutive quarterfinal exits between 2002 and 2022.
Their elimination at the 2022 Women’s Basketball World Cup in Sydney was particularly painful. China outplayed them, winning 85-71, as their size and perimeter shooting overwhelmed a fatigued French side.
This year it’s been a different story. France swept through the group stage 3-0, and then, after six consecutive quarterfinal heartbreaks, finally overcame thier curse. And the French team didn’t just survive the quarterfinal; they avenged their loss against the 2022 silver medallists, China, winning 90-61.
The blueprint for what this French team is now doing was, however, not drawn up in Berlin. They laid it down at the 2024 Paris Olympics, where they produced a performance that took them all the way to the gold-medal game against the same opponent they will be facing now, Team USA. They lost, but they lost by the slimmest possible margin, pushing Team USA to the brink to end the game 67-66. In fact, Gabby Williams’ buzzer-beater appeared to have tied the game and forced overtime, only for replay to confirm her foot was a fraction of an inch inside the three-point line.
Now, two years later, they have the chance to complete what Paris started. And this iteration of France looks like a more complete and more dangerous version of the team that pushed Team USA to the brink in 2024. They enter the final having won every single game in the tournament. But crucially, unlike Team USA, they have not struggled into a fourth-quarter tie, have not needed to grind out a 55-52 survival, and have not gone through moments of genuine vulnerability.
Their route to Sunday has been clean, controlled, and increasingly convincing. Team USA, by contrast, has shown it can be hurt by the right kind of pressure, and France has spent the entire tournament applying exactly that.
French guard Marine Johannès made clear that the weight of the occasion is not something this team intends to be paralyzed by.
“We have nothing to lose. We know they are a great team and have won every World Cup for years,” she said. “They are talented, and we all know that. We are playing against these players all season in the WNBA, so we know how good they are. It’s one game, and we will play hard and see what happens.”
After 73 years, and six consecutive quarterfinal exits, France is one win away from completing the most remarkable journey in the history of their women’s basketball. Whether the ending finally goes their way, whether Macron’s message becomes a celebration rather than a rallying cry, will be answered in a matter of hours. The whole country, as he said, is watching.