Shooting high? How grassroots women’s basketball in Belgium is struggling to emulate the success of the Belgian Cats

As the Belgian Cats prepare their world cup campaign, Ayla Kerguiduff takes a deep dive into the world of women’s basketball in Belgium and discovers that although the powerhouse national team is inspiring young players, a lack of structural support risks hampering their future careers.

Heading into this September’s FIBA Women’s World Cup as two-time European champions, the Belgian Cats are on a high, despite financial struggles threatening Belgian grassroots basketball.

Currently ranked fifth in the world by FIBA, the Belgian women’s basketball team has seen a very successful five years, in terms of growth and progress on the international stage.

Back-to-back European Champions in 2023 and 2025, Olympics semi-finalists in 2024, the national programme is at an all-time peak, with players competing all over the world.

National team captain Emma Meesseman has been playing overseas since 2013, when she was drafted by Washington Mystics in the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA), where she won the championship in 2019.

Since then, the 32-year-old now splits her time between Turkish giants Fenerbahçe and New York Liberty in the US.

Other standout names plying their trade in Turkey and North America are Julie Allemand and Julie Vanloo, in addition to Antonia Delaere, who recently signed a training camp contract with the Minnesota Lynx in the WNBA.

Some national team players are still local, playing in the Belgian top league, the Top Division Women (TDW), such as Marie Vervaet and Alicia Courthiau, currently at eight-time league champions Royal Castors Braine.

Since joining the first division in 2011, Castors Braine has gone onto cementing themselves domestically, as well as playing in Europe, becoming the first Belgian team to reach a European final in 2015.

Laurent François, trainer of Castors Braine’s provincial women’s team, tells the Bulletin: “The girls began to perform, and as they performed, both at the Belgian level and in Europe, playing in the EuroCup, the EuroLeague, and at the level of the women’s national team, this excitement grows, so inevitably, young girls start to dream.”

But despite the success of the national team, grassroots basketball in Belgium is facing financial struggles and a lack of national talent pathways into professional basketball.

With the intricacies of Belgium’s federal governance, two regional federations are in place, under the national Belgium Basketball federation: Association Wallonie-Bruxelles de Basketball (AWBB) and Basketball Vlaanderen (BVL).

For young players wanting to commit more seriously to the sport, one of their only options is to attend a specialised school to take the ‘sport-études’ or ‘Trainersschool’ path, which combines essential secondary education alongside a sports-focused schedule.

François also works with U19 players at Castors Braine. “I think the players are all very realistic, especially if they’re playing provincially,” he says of the youngsters he coaches. “To reach the Belgian professional basketball world is complicated. There is not much infrastructure, apart from the training centres, which is very limiting.”

Indeed, the AWBB only has one official training centre, Centre Elite AWBB, located in Jambes, Namur, whilst the BVL has two, but only one for high-level training, Topsportschool Antwerpen.

Although a few current Cats came out of these centres, such as Antonia Delaere, Marie Vervaet and Becky Massey, the lack of an alternative pathway is becoming a considerable issue in developing young players today.

In neighbouring France, each basketball club competing in the top domestic league – men or women – have an official training centre that is recognised and overseen by the French basketball federation (FFBB).

François, who has coached in inter-club tournaments in France, says: “It’s considered mandatory by the French Federation, but there are logistical, economic, financial and educational support behind it, whereas in Belgium, there isn’t all that.”

All eight clubs playing in the women’s top league in France have a registered training centre, out of a total of 13 women’s basketball training centres across France.

“We need support,” François insists. “But not just academic support, because it’s financial support that is key to develop the systems needed.”

In Belgium’s Top Division Women, Charleroi club CEP Ladies announced, a few weeks ago, that their senior team will forfeit their place in the league due to federal debts.

With price increases everywhere in recent years, the ripple effect is being felt by clubs for many sports, including basketball.

“Clubs try to keep their participation costs affordable for kids – but when I say affordable, it still means budgets of €400-450 per year for families,” says François. “But this is not enough to pay for everything that needs to be paid: federation membership, insurance, room rentals, referees, and coaches.” Some coaches can ask for more expenses, to cover paying more for their coaching diploma, for example. “This kind of spiral today makes it very complicated for many clubs, at least financially.”

With Belgium set to co-host the next Women's EuroBasket in 2027 along with Finland, Sweden and Lithuania, it is clear that more needs to be done to support the continued growth of women’s basketball at grassroots level.

The Belgian Cats have shown that they can achieve success on an international stage. It would be a shame if the next generation of players, who have been inspired by seeing the Cats compete on the biggest stages, are held back from achieving similar accolades due to budgetary constraints.

“Generations like we have today, at least in basketball, we won’t get them every 10 years, that much is clear,” concludes François.

Photos: ©Belgian Cats Facebook page