The Israel Men’s Basketball National Team returns to action this weekend when they face Ukraine for a pair of games in Riga in EuroBasket 2025 qualifying. The two contests which are home and away matches are taking place in Latvia due to the security situation in both countries. The first game will take place on Saturday (6pm) while the second will be played on Monday (8pm) as the blue-and-white will look to improve on their 1-1 record after having beaten Portugal 72-70 but fell to Slovenia 88-79 in the first window of games back in February.

Just ahead of the upcoming two clashes, the head coach Ariel Beit Halachmi and Captain Tomer Ginat looked ahead to the challenge that faces them in Riga.

“We know the Ukrainians very well,” Beit Halachmi said. “They have two guards that are very critical for them but all in all there are other players there who we need to adapt ourselves physically to as we are coming in to win these two games.”

Khadeen Carrington will be making his debut for Israel as the naturalized Hapoel Jerusalem guard will play a important role for his new national team, “Khadeen is a combo guard and scorer which is something we needed. I think we made the right choice as he is very committed and willing to work and I’m sure he will contribute to this team, especially in terms of scoring points. He is not playing alone and needs to get into our system of play. All in all he is a player who is playing here in Israel and knows the basketball that is played here. I am happy that he joined us.”

Yam Madar and Ben Saraf both arrived in training camp early after having played on Sunday for their German league teams, Bayern Munich and Ulm respectively which is something that impressed the bench boss.

“It shows us his commitment,” Beit Halachmi said of Madar. “He put all of his own club interests aside and joined the team. He is a very significant player for us and he has joined us here. The Maccabi Tel Aviv players, Rafi Menco and Roman Sorkin, will join us on Friday after their game in Milan.”



Saraf will be making his senior national team debut has been having quite the season thus far with Ulm and earned the call-up explained Beit Halachmi, “I can’t promise what exactly will be, but Ben is part of the squad and here for a reason. Everyone sees his progress and it’s just fun to see him play. At this stage, we have a quality squad with depth and I hope we can select the right roster for these games, which can also be changed after the first match. There has only been one training session as of now, but we really like how committed the players are.”

The national team captain Tomer Ginat also spoke about upcoming campaign, “It’s very significant that we are not playing at home, we really want to play here in front of our crowd, but this is the situation and we have to take the best of it at this moment. It is always fun to be here and it’s a great honor to put on this jersey and represent the country.”

“It’s a challenge,” continued the Hapoel Tel Aviv forward. “We end up playing a home game away from home. Players who are playing in Europe that are here with the Israel National Team are used to it but it’s neither simple nor easy. There is always extra motivation because we are playing to qualify for the European Championship and we will come prepared with the help of Ariel and the staff and we will come in to win.”

The Israel National Soccer Team recorded two excellent results over the past week with a goalless draw against France in Paris and then a 1-0 win over Belgium in a home game that was played in Hungary. Ginat gave his thoughts on the tremendous results, “I think they were two amazing games by the team, a victory over Belgium is not something that can ever be taken for granted and a 0-0 draw against France on the road brought great pride to the country. We will try to do the same in the games against Ukraine but it’s always great to see good results for the national team no matter where”

The team manager Moti Daniel spoke about the difficulty of hosting games abroad, “It’s nor doubt challenging and it requires a lot of preparation and goodwill from people in other countries. We are not yet sure about the location of the games that will be played in February and we want a place that will welcome us. It would be better to be here in Israel with our fans. I wish that things in the country would be better and that the war would end while the hostages would return and things would return to normal. But it’s part of being Israeli, to know how to cope with challenges and meet them.”