12
Jul
Choose Your Team
Build your Opals team for '26 World Cup – and beyond
The Australian Opals celebrate at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. Photo: FIBA.com
Australia's Opals talent pool has never been deeper. Pick your Germany 2026 World Cup team.
- Alanna Smith turns $98K grind into $5.2M payday
- Opals star Ezi Magbegor lands USD $1M pay rise
- Lauren Jackson and WNBL face defining calendar dilemma
- Inside Project B: Why world basketball is changing
Australia's WNBA players will be available for the 2026 FIBA Women's World Cup in Berlin, Germany in September.
The WNBA will go into its FIBA Break from August 31 to September 16 – the World Cup is September 4 to 13.
Head coach Sandy Brondello's decision to debut rising stars Sitaya Fagan and Bonnie Deas for the two games against China last week (Game 1 I Game 2) just two months before the World Cup in Germany is a clear signal Basketball Australia is preparing for the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles and the Brisbane Olympiad in 2032.
But the World Cup is now and Brondello has a full senior women's program to build her 12-player team, except expectant mum Cayla George.
- Veteran guard Sami Whitcomb is finally back from injury
- $1M Opals centre Ezi Magbegor is finally back from injury
- $1M Opals centre Alanna Smith is now close to fully recovered from the nose injury she sustained in WNBA pre-season.
There are 11 active Australian WNBA players in 2026 with several others drafted, invited to training camp or waived early in the season.
Australians with WNBA connections in 2026 are Smith, Alex Fowler, Ally Wilson, Amelia Hassett, Anneli Maley, Charlise Dunn, Chloe Bibby, Magbegor, Georgia Amoore, Isobel Borlase, Jade Melbourne, Kristy Wallace, Manuela Puoch, Miela Sowah, Nyadiew Puoch, Rebecca Allen, Saffron Shiels, Whitcomb and Stephanie Talbot.
Australia's talent pool is arguably the best its ever been. It means Brondello has the luxury and the brutal task of fitting more than 20 internationals and Next Gen Opals into a team to compete for the World Cup this year and Olympic Gold in two years time.
Build your 2026 Australian Opals World Cup Team
Talent Pool
Depth Chart
The only accolade missing from the Opals trophy cabinet is an Olympic Games gold medal – losing all three times to the international powerhouse United States but the gap is narrowing between the Americans and the rest of the world and Australia is poised, very poised, to achieve Australia's first Olympic Games basketball gold medal.
🏅 Olympic Games Record
From 10 total appearances, the Opals have medaled six times:
- Silver: 2000 Sydney, 2004 Athens, 2008 Beijing
- Bronze: 1996 Atlanta, 2012 London, 2024 Paris
🏆 FIBA World Cup Record
Australia has competed in 16 World Cups, making the podium six times:
- Gold: 2006 Brazil
- Silver: 2018 Spain
- Bronze: 1998 Germany, 2002 China, 2014 Turkey, 2022 Sydney
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