A 30-game win streak for US on the line at the FIBA women's World Cup with France and others waiting

BERLIN (AP) — The FIBA women's World Cup begins Friday with the U.S. in search of a fifth consecutive championship.

The Americans have won 30 straight games in the tournament, dating to a loss to Russia in the 2006 semifinals. They'll have a young group of players trying to extend that run led by Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese and Paige Bueckers, who are making their debuts in the event.

It's not all youth for the U.S. as gold medal collector Breanna Stewart, who has already won three Olympic and three World Cup championships leads the squad.

France will be the main competitor for the Americans, having lost by only one point in the 2024 Paris Olympics gold medal game. The French team is hungry to avenge that loss. Other teams that could be a threat to end the U.S. streak include Spain, Belgium and China. The Chinese team lost to the Americans in the 2022 World Cup final.

The 16 teams were put into four groups and each will have a round-robin stage. The second- and third-place teams in each group will advance to a qualification round while the winner of the pool will advance to the quarterfinals. The four winners of the qualification rounds will then advance to the quarterfinals as well. In the 2022 World Cup there were only 12 teams and two pools. Teams had to play five games in six days before advancing to the quarterfinals. FIBA will be using two sites in Berlin to play the 36 games.

TNT will show all 36 games across TNT, truTV, and HBO Max as part of its multiyear rights deal with FIBA. The tournament runs from Sept. 4-13. The network hired Tina Charles and Renee Montgomery to be analysts during their studio coverage.

Charles helped the U.S. win three World Cups from 2010-18.

“There’s definitely going to be, challenges. you know, gold is earned. It’s not assumed,” she said in an interview with the AP. “When you put USA across your chest, there’s an expectation that you’re supposed to win, regardless of what your experience has been internationally. But I think people just don’t really understand how difficult that is.”

Charles knows that everyone wants to be the team to beat the U.S., which has won four straight World Cup championships.

“You’re playing the best players from around the world. You’re adjusting to different styles, you’re adjusting to the physicality of the game and how the referees will call these games and everybody wants to be the team that beats you. You have that bullseye on your back.”

FIBA has put more resources into this women's World Cup, looking to improve the player experience. Every player on every team will have their own hotel room for the first time. Some teams already had provided players with individual rooms. There is a dedicated weightlifting area and a private lounge that offers relaxation areas for teams.

FIBA Secretary General Andreas Zagklis told The Associated Press in an interview that providing these resources were important to the organization.

“We’re providing the same conditions as in the men’s World Cup,” he said. “We are providing also for the first time financial assistance to our members to prepare their teams.”

With more than 50 WNBA players competing in the World Cup, the league is paused from Aug. 31-Sept. 16. This is the first time that the tournament is taking place during the WNBA season as usually it’s been after the Finals. The World Cup will move to a late November time slot in 2030 when Japan hosts it.

See AP’s full WNBA coverage here