France's women's basketball team face China in the quarterfinals of the Basketball World Cup on Thursday at 2:30pm in Berlin, looking for revenge after China eliminated them at the same stage of the tournament four years ago, winning 85-71 in 2022 in China.
France arrive unbeaten from the group phase, but they must find a way to contain Zhang Ziyu, a 19-year-old Chinese center who stands 2.23 metres tall and weighs 130kg. FIBA, the sport's governing body, has confirmed she is the tallest player ever to appear in a women's FIBA competition.
Zhang is averaging 9.3 points and 4.3 rebounds over the tournament, despite playing just 11.7 minutes per game on average. Even with that limited playing time, she has made a striking impact: in the pool-stage loss to the United States (94-61), she drew 10 free throws on her own.
A 25cm size gap for France
France's tallest players are Marieme Badiane and Aminata Gueye, both 1.90m, and Dominique Malonga, who stands 1.97m and was a WNBA All-Star this season with the Seattle Storm. That leaves a gap of more than 25cm and roughly 40kg between Zhang and France's biggest presence inside.
Malonga, smiling as she discussed the coming duel, said she was used to being the tallest player on the court and that this would be a change for her. She said France would need to play physical, not let Zhang settle into position, and that jumping with the right timing could still allow a player to compete for rebounds. She called it a strategic challenge and said nobody was unstoppable.
Puerto Rico may have felt otherwise. They lost a playoff match to China 75-72 on Wednesday, at one point using three players to surround Zhang on a baseline inbound play alone.
Already 2.10m at age 11
Against Puerto Rico, Zhang needed only to raise her arms roughly 50cm from the basket to receive the ball and score calmly, finishing with 13 points on 5-of-6 shooting in just nine minutes.
Zhang already measured 2.10m at age 11. She announced herself to the world by dominating the 2024 Under-18 Asia Cup, averaging 35 points and 12.8 rebounds over the tournament and winning MVP honours.
Often compared to Yao Ming, the 2.29m former Houston Rockets center who remains China's most famous basketball export, Zhang plays domestically for Shandong. Her national team coach, Gong Luming, has described her as a once-in-a-century talent, and China has assigned a dedicated staff to her within the national setup.
Pierre Vincent, a former France head coach now working as an assistant for China at this World Cup, told the French sports daily L'Equipe that Zhang mostly trains individually through the year and works very little with the team. He said that in Berlin he follows her but does not know how to train her or how far she can be pushed, calling it a sensitive matter because nothing like it has been seen before.
Trying to run her ragged
Even WNBA stars who had never faced a player of her size, in the world's best league, have struggled. Caitlin Clark said Zhang had clearly caused problems, that she was still learning, but that there was not much a defence could do to stop her once she was close to the basket. Clark's comments came after Zhang scored 13 points and grabbed six rebounds against Team USA on Friday, in 18 minutes, her heaviest workload of the tournament.
France coach Jean-Aimé Toupane said on Wednesday his side would try to make China run. He is aware that Zhang's mobility and conditioning limitations leave her with an almost anachronistic profile for the fast, transition-heavy basketball of 2026, which helps explain her modest minutes in the tournament so far.
Her own coach, Luming Gong, said transitions were getting faster and faster, so improving her running was now a priority. He said she needed to keep scoring on offence but also get back quickly on defence.
Han Xu, the other threat
Zhang is expected to spend roughly two-thirds of Thursday's match on the bench, meaning the outcome will not hinge on her alone. China's leading scorer in the tournament is actually Han Xu, who averages 18.3 points and stands 2.05m. She plays in the WNBA for the New York Liberty, alongside French players Marine Johannès and Pauline Astier.
