10

Sep

FIBA World Cup

How to watch Opals vs Spain in do-or-die quarters

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basketball.com.au

How to watch Opals vs Spain in do-or-die quarters
How to watch Opals vs Spain in do-or-die quarters

Australia's quarter-final qualifer at the 2026 World Cup will be broadcast on ESPN.

Australia has qualified for the quarter-finals. The game is on ESPN at 4.45am on Friday, Sept. 11

The Australian Opals are 3-1 at the 2026 FIBA Women's World Cup campaign – beating Puerto Rico 70-54 and Türkiye 87-71 but falling to Belgium 80-68 in the group phase and surviving Italy in a knock-out qualifier in Berlin, Germany.

Isobel Borlase, 21, finished with 30 points, four rebounds and five assists in 31 minutes as Australia survived Italy’s stunning fourth-quarter comeback, erasing a 26-point deficit to tie the game at 77 with 1:09 to go. Still, Australia gutted it out to win quarter-finals qualifier 82-80 despite being down to nine healthy players.

Set your smartphone alarm for 4:40am on Friday, September 11, 2026.

Next up · FIBA Women’s World Cup

Australia v Spain

Friday 11 September, 4:45 AM AEST

Berlin

Counts down to the Opals’ next game at the FIBA Women’s World Cup 2026 in Berlin, then rolls on to the following fixture. Tap a completed game to read our report. The three group games tipped at 11:30 AM in Berlin, which is 7:30 PM AEST the same evening. If you see 5:30pm quoted for those games, that is Perth time, not the east coast. Australia now play Italy in the qualification round for the quarter-finals. It tips at 8:45 PM in Berlin on Wednesday 9 September, which is 4:45 AM AEST on Thursday the 10th – a different slot from the group games, and an early one here. The winner meets Spain in the quarter-finals. The clock counts to the exact moment of tip-off, so it is correct wherever you are reading it. Source: the FIBA official game schedule (all game timings GMT+2). Broadcast in Australia and New Zealand is ESPN – how to watch every game.

ESPN holds the Australian and New Zealand rights as official broadcast partner.

In Australia that means three ways in. ESPN is a channel on Foxtel, Kayo Sports and on Disney+, so a subscription to either carries the ESPN feed.

DAZN has it as well – listing the FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup for live and on-demand streaming.

Courtside 1891 will more than likely be benched. FIBA blacks it out where a broadcast deal exists.

A word on the clock, because it is the thing most likely to trip you up.

FIBA's own game pages will confuse you further. Each one prints the tip-off twice.

The large unlabelled number at the top is rendered in the timezone of whoever is looking at it, so it changes from reader to reader. The line beneath it reading "Local Time: 11:30 AM (GMT+2)" is the time in the arena in Berlin, not the time where you are sitting.

The tournament runs in Berlin from September 4 to September 13, 2026.

The Opals 12: every player’s senior Opals record

13 players, of whom Sami Whitcomb is ruled out · Berlin, 4-13 September 2026 · 6 have played a World Cup or Olympics
Jade Melbourne PG 24 176cm 5 4.4 0.6 2.4 3.6 1 6 7.0 1.7 2.8 6.8 4 20 5.0 1.2 2.0 4.7
Alex Wilson SG 32 174cm 5 7.2 3.0 3.8 8.6 2 7 7.3 2.6 3.0 7.0
Isobel Borlase SF 21 180cm 5 10.4 2.0 1.6 8.0 1 6 3.2 0.8 0.3 0.8 4 18 7.6 1.7 1.3 5.7
Alanna Smith PF 29 190cm 5 11.6 8.0 1.8 15.0 3 14 7.7 4.8 1.2 9.6 7 31 8.3 5.3 1.2 10.3
Ezi Magbegor C 27 193cm 3 14.7 5.3 2.7 18.7 4 23 10.2 4.7 1.5 13.1 9 41 10.6 4.8 1.5 14.0
Stephanie Reid PG 30 165cm 5 1.0 0.8 1.2 1.4 3 13 5.1 1.0 3.5 7.3
Miela Sowah SG 26 178cm 1 5 6.6 0.8 0.4 6.2
Chloe Bibby SF 28 184cm 4 4.3 2.3 0.0 4.8 3 14 5.2 3.4 0.9 6.9
Steph Talbot PF 32 188cm 4 5.5 4.3 2.3 8.5 5 28 4.9 4.4 3.6 8.7 11 49 5.1 4.4 3.3 9.2
Zitina Aokuso C 27 190cm 5 7.0 4.8 1.0 8.6 3 15 6.5 5.1 1.5 9.2
Alexandra Fowler SF 25 182cm 5 2.6 2.6 1.2 5.4 2 10 7.2 4.9 2.5 12.7
Isabelle Bourne C 25 188cm 1 5 6.8 3.2 1.2 9.2
Sami WhitcombOut SG 38 178cm 5 13.8 2.8 2.2 14.4 3 20 10.7 3.1 3.7 10.3 7 37 12.0 3.6 4.0 12.5
Q is the 2026 World Cup Qualifying Tournament in Türkiye, the squad’s most recent competition. M covers World Cups and Olympic Games only. C is the full senior career. T is tournaments, GP games played, EFF FIBA’s efficiency rating.
Where these numbers come from
Senior Australian national team records only, per FIBA. Sample sizes are not comparable: the career column spans 11 tournaments for Steph Talbot and one each for Miela Sowah and Isabelle Bourne, neither of whom played the 2026 Qualifier. A dash means a player has never played in that category, which is not the same as scoring zero.
Ages are at tip-off, 4-13 September 2026. Positions are as set on the Opals depth chart, not FIBA’s generic listings. Headshots © FIBA, used for editorial identification.

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