The Irish Wheelchair Basketball squad are set to travel to Samokov, Bulgaria where they'll compete in the European Championships, Division C with the hopes of gaining promotion to Division B.
After narrowly missing out on promotion to Division B back in 2023, Head Coach Con Coughlan has selected his 11-man strong Irish Wheelchair Basketball squad who hope to rectify missing out two years ago.
Ireland will be competing in Samokov, Bulgaria from September 8th to September 14th. In the pool stage, Ireland have been drawn to face off against Sweden, Finland, Armenia and Belgium.
While it won’t be an easy task, if Ireland finish within the top two places of Pool B, they’ll progress to the semi-finals, where they can potentially face Serbia, Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Hungary or Denmark.
All strong opposition, each side are all ranked within the top 30 of the IWBF European standings, with Ireland the third highest at 21.
| IWBF European Ranking | Nation |
| 19 | Czech Republic |
| 20 | Belgium |
| 21 | Ireland |
| 22 | Bulgaria |
| 23 | Finland |
| 24 | Denmark |
| 25 | Armenia |
| 26 | Hungary |
| 27 | Serbia |
| 29 | Sweden |
Although Ireland will be striving for gold, they can still gain promotion by finishing in the top two.
The 11-man squad selected to represent Ireland at the IWBF European Championships, Division C are:
| Squad Number | Player | Club | County From |
| 2 | Jack Quinn | Rebel Wheelers Multi-Sport Club | Cork |
| 7 | Stephen Melvin (Captain) | Titans Galway Wheelchair Basketball Club | Galway |
| 8 | Joseph Hargrow | Limerick Celtics | Limerick |
| 9 | Tom Barnes | ADM Encoy (Gran Canaria, Spain) | Wexford |
| 11 | Matthew Rollston | NI Knights Wheelchair Basketball Club (Belfast, UK) | Antrim |
| 12 | Jack Mangan | South East Swifts Wheelchair Basketball Club | Carlow/Kilkenny |
| 22 | Darragh O’Regan | Rebel Wheelers Multi-Sport Club | Cork |
| 25 | Conor Coughlan | Rebel Wheelers Multi-Sport Club | Cork |
| 55 | Adam Drummond | Rebel Wheelers Multi-Sport Club | Cork |
| 00 | Neil Carlisle | Mohawks Wheelchair Basketball Club (Middlesbrough, UK) | Antrim |
Helping Ireland in their bid to move up to Division B will be Head Coach Con Coughlan, Assistant Coaches Alan Dineen and Richard Sargent, Team Manager Adrian Donoghue and Team Physio Jana Hargrow-Prihonska.
Coughlan shared with IWA-Sport how preparation has been going and that their braced for a fight but ready to give it their all.
“Preparations have gone well with great buy in from the squad. Our final get together will be this weekend prior to travelling on Thursday. We don’t play on the first day of the competition so we will get to see the other teams playing.”
He continued, “both groups are strong, but for the moment we have to concentrate on our side of the draw and take it one game at a time. On day two of the competition we have two games facing Sweden and Finland, followed by Armenia on day three and lastly Belgium. We are conscious there are some quality nations in our group with two of the sides previously playing in the A & B Championships. We’re going to leave it all out on the court and give it our best from all involved.”
Ireland’s European Championships campaign begins on Monday 8th September, where they face Sweden at 7:00am Irish Standard Time (IST). The full schedule for the Pool phase is as follows:
| Date and Time | Fixture |
| Monday 8th September, 7:00am (IST) | Ireland vs Sweden |
| Monday 8th September, 4:00pm (IST) | Finland vs Ireland |
| Tuesday 9th September, 09:15am (IST) | Ireland vs Armenia |
| Wednesday 10th September, 11:30am (IST) | Belgium vs Ireland |
All games will be broadcast live via IWBF Europe’s YouTube channel.
