Kyle Hosford retires from international basketball, John Carroll named new Ireland captain

Kyle Hosford is retiring from international basketball with immediate effect.

John Carroll has been named as the new Irish senior men’s captain, describing it as “the proudest achievement of my basketball career to date”.

During his seven-year international career, Hosford won the FIBA European Championship for Small Countries in 2021, a tournament he was vice-captain for. He took over from Jason Killeen as captain in November 2021, when Ireland started their FIBA EuroBasket 2025 Pre-Qualifying campaign and has played in all four games so far in the tournament.

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Kyle Hosford (8) during the FIBA EuroBasket 2025 Pre-Qualifier against Cyprus. 

Speaking about his decision to step away from international basketball, Hosford said:

“I’ve decided to retire from international basketball. I’ve enjoyed every moment of my time with Irish teams throughout the years. I’ve really enjoyed every experience, from playing and most recently captaining the Irish team.

The squad is the strongest it has been in a long, long time, so I’m excited to see what the lads can do in the future.

I want to thank all the coaches, staff and players for the opportunity and experience. I wish the team best of luck in their two upcoming games. I will now turn into the biggest fan on and I look forward to cheering the lads on Thursday and in the Arena on Sunday.”

New Ireland captain, John Carroll, added:

“I’m very honoured to be named captain. I’ve learned a lot of from Kyle and Jason Killeen before him on the leadership side and hopefully I can fill their shoes as captain going forward. It’s probably the proudest achievement of my basketball career to date.”

Ireland's new senior mens basketball captain, John Carroll. 

Ireland senior men’s head coach, Mark Keenan, stated:

“Kyle has been a great servant to Irish basketball and has been a great leader and captain for this team during this qualifying campaign. He has had a great International career and we wish him well in his international retirement.

John Carroll now steps up from vice-captain to team captain. John also has led by example in this campaign to date and we wish him well as he takes over from Kyle.”

Sean Flood has been appointed as Ireland’s new vice-captain. The final 12-man squad for this week’s the FIBA EuroBasket 2025 Pre-Qualifiers will be named on Tuesday. Ireland’s first game is against Austria in Salzburg on Thursday, followed three days later by their home contest against Switzerland, on July 3^rd.

Ireland remain firmly in contention in Group A, they’re third, just a point behind joint-leaders Switzerland and Austria. The group winners and the two best second-placed finishers from three groups will advance to round 2 of the Pre-Qualifiers, which begin in August, with another two-game matchday window in November.

Both of Ireland’s upcoming FIBA EuroBasket 2025 Pre-Qualifiers games will be broadcast live on TG4, Austria versus Ireland on June 30th tips off at 7.20pm, with live coverage on TG4 starting at 7.05pm. Three days later Ireland host Switzerland at the National Basketball Arena, live coverage starts at 5pm, with the game tipping off at 5.15pm. TG4’s Cispheil Beo will be presented by Galway sports broadcaster Máire Treasa Ní Cheallaigh, who will be joined by a team of expert basketball analysts. The series is produced by Fogarty Fenwick Services.

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FIBA EuroBasket 2025 Pre-Qualifiers

Thursday, June 30th

Austria v Ireland, Alpenstrasse Sports Hall, Salzburg, 1920, LIVE ON TG4 from 1905

Sunday, July 3rd

Ireland v Switzerland, National Basketball Arena, Dublin, 1715, LIVE ON TG4 from 1700