Spanou: “To inspire my teammates as much as I can”

After 13 years in Women’s National Team the Artemis Spanou she is now the new captain of the representative group, officially assuming her new “duties” in the match against Italy (9/11) in the context of the EuroBasket 2025 qualifiers.

“It is a great honor for me and I am proud of it. I don’t know if I can call it a dream, but without a doubt, as I said, it is a huge honor and something special when big names have passed through this position. I will try to be worthy of the honor that is given to me“, were the first words of Spanou, a few moments after she officially became the new captain of the Women’s National Team.

“I consider it the reward of my efforts all these years. Really, I shudder. It’s definitely a responsibility. I hope to do the captain’s job as well as possible and inspire my teammates as much as I can“, added the international player.

Spanou’s assumption of the captaincy coincided with the start of the Women’s National Team’s effort for the EuroBasket 2025 qualifiers to be held in Greece. “It is particularly important that we will have Eurobasket in our country. We want to bring women’s basketball into focus in Greece and attract people. We will undoubtedly strive to give our best and do our best».

The starting point for EuroBasket 2025 is the qualifiers, which may not have the stress of qualifying, but for Spanou, they have the same importance as those of previous years. “For us, these qualifiers will have the same importance despite the fact that we have made it to the finals as organizers. The ranking counts for the capacity groups, so we want to be in the best possible condition for these matches ahead of us and we have to present ourselves seriously on the floor. Things will definitely be more difficult for us, as we will not have Mariella with us. But we will give our best, play as well as possible and hopefully we will be fine».

The start is with two matches, one against Italy, followed by the one against the Czech Republic in Chalkida. “The first game is away against Italy and it becomes even more difficult for us because we are facing a very good team. It will be a good test to see what state we are in. As for the second game, we face a team that left us with a bittersweet taste by leaving Israel’s Eurobasket in the summer. We will play in Chalkida, we know that people will come to support us and in this game we want to be at 100% to cope and win it».