Before Emma Meesseman, there was nothing; with her, glory. Belgian basketball — both men’s and women’s — changed radically with the arrival of the 32-year-old, 1.93-meter center on the senior national team. From being the ugly duckling, never competing in World Cups or Olympics, and rarely in the EuroBasket (10 out of 34 editions since 1950), Belgium has become the continental powerhouse that keeps opponents awake at night. This Sunday, she will challenge Spain in the EuroBasket final (19:30, La 1), a rival no one wants to face. And all this is thanks to a unique, special player with overwhelming quality and sublime on-court intelligence.
“There aren’t enough adjectives to describe her. She’s an incredible player. She proves it in every game, every competition she plays,” said Raquel Carrera, Spain’s center, about the Belgian star born in Ypres — one of the bloodiest battlefields of World War I. Meesseman has led her national team to the last two World Cups (2018 and 2022) and the Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024 Olympics. She has also accumulated two continental bronzes (2017 and 2019) and one gold (2023), the only three medals ever won by the Central European country, driven by the friend of Alba Torrens: they shared a locker room in Russia with Ekaterinburg, where they won four EuroLeague titles. Her last two came with Fenerbahçe.
“She is one of the two best players in the world. She makes her teammates much better,” says Miguel Méndez, Spain’s head coach and Meesseman’s former mentor in Russia. Meesseman crushed Spain in their last two meetings — the final of the last EuroBasket and the quarterfinals of Paris 2024 — averaging 21.5 points and 8.5 rebounds for a 26.5 efficiency rating in those two games. In this EuroBasket, her 30 points against Germany is the second-highest scoring performance, while her 12 rebounds against Italy in the semifinals rank fifth. No one surpasses her 39 efficiency points in the quarterfinal against the Germans.
“It’s very easy to play when she is on the court,” praises Mike Thibault, her former coach. Meesseman was born with a hearing impairment of more than 50%, requiring her to wear hearing aids during games and read the lips of coaches and teammates when it’s noisy. “I’m just a normal girl,” says the 2019 WNBA champion with the Washington Mystics. “For me, it’s nothing special. It’s never been a barrier or held me back. I’ve always done what I wanted to do. You just have to follow your dreams.”
