The Israel Men’s Basketball National Team will open the July international window of World Cup first stage qualifying, tomorrow (Friday, 8:00 PM) with a home game being played in Latvia due to the security situation in the Holy Land, against Germany, the reigning FIBA World Cup and EuroBasket champions. Incidentally, the Germans are returning for the first time to the arena in Riga where they won their most recent European title. Israel held its final practice ahead of the game earlier today.

Israel has already secured qualification for the second group stage after two wins over Cyprus during the February window but fell to Germany and Croatia back in 2025 as their record stands at 2-2. The current stage’s record carries over to the next group stage, making every game highly important in this window with a clash at Croatia in Osijek coming up early next week.

The next international window which will be the second stage of qualifying, will take place at the end of August and Israel’s group will cross over with Group F, which includes Poland, Latvia, Austria, and the Netherlands.

Full Israel roster: Yam Madar, Noam Yaacov, Yair Kravits, Eitan Burg, Khadeen Carrington, Adam Ariel, Guy Palatin, Netanel Artzi, Ilay Dolinski, Yotam Hanochi, Tomer Ginat, Benayahu Srur

Head coach Ariel Beit Halahmi decided not to include Lior Carreira in the game-day roster.

Germany also arrived for the July window with a shortened roster. The biggest name is Dennis Schröder, the Cleveland Cavaliers guard, who averaged 10.9 points and 4.9 assists this season. He is joined by Jonas Mattisseck and Malte Delow. In addition, no fewer than six players on the roster are under the age of 26. Germany has posted a 3–1 record so far in the competition, with its only loss coming against Croatia.