Ireland senior women learn FIBA EuroBasket 2029 Pre-Qualifiers fate

Ireland will Switzerland, Iceland and Azerbaijan in Group A of FIBA Women's EuroBasket 2029 Pre-Qualification. The draw for the competition took place earlier this week in Switzerland for teams who have been eliminated from FIBA EuroBasket 2027 qualifying. The qualifying group will take place across two international windows in November 2026 and February 2027.

It is a difficult group for James Weldon's side, who overcame number 29 in the FIBA World Rankings, Bosnia, twice in the previous campaign. Switzerland and Iceland are the toughest opponents Ireland could have drawn from pot one and pot two respectively and while Azerbaijan have failed to win a game in their last qualification campaign, their head coach elected to field a very young squad containing mostly teenagers, so they will prove an unknown quantity with the potential addition of some high calibre players. 

Earlier today we were drawn in Group A of FIBA Women's EuroBasket 2029 Pre-Qualifying 🎩

Our first game will take place on November 11th against Iceland at the National Basketball Arena with a time to be confirmed at a later date.#GreenMeansGo ☘️ | #IrishBasketball pic.twitter.com/r9OWpiJmTU

— Basketball Ireland (@BballIrl) March 31, 2026

Ireland open up their campaign at the National Basketball Arena against Iceland on Wednesday, November 11th, before making the 5,500km trip to Baku to face Azerbaijan on Saturday, November 14th. The window wraps up on Tuesday, November 17th against Switzerland in Fribourg. The reverse schedule in February 2027 will see the girls in green head north to Iceland on Wednesday, February 10th, finishing the campaign with back-to-back home games with Azerbaijan and Switzerland on Saturday, February 13th and Tuesday, February 16th respectively.