--- title: "Team USA seven World Cup first-timers revealed in Berlin; defend four straight titles with one tournament together" sdDatePublished: "2026-09-03T13:07:00Z" source: "https://www.olympics.com/en/news/team-usa-world-cup-2026-debutants-berlin" topics: - name: "sport" identifier: "medtop:15000000" - name: "basketball" identifier: "medtop:20000851" - name: "sport event" identifier: "medtop:20001108" - name: "sport achievement" identifier: "medtop:20001301" - name: "sport organisation" identifier: "medtop:20001125" locations: - "Berlin" - "Île-de-France" - "San Juan" --- Team USA seven World Cup first-timers revealed in Berlin; defend four straight titles with one tournament together Basketball: Caitlin Clark, Paige Bueckers, Angel Reese: Meet Team USA's seven World Cup first-timers Caitlin Clark, Paige Bueckers, Angel Reese: Meet Team USA's seven World Cup first-timers Half of the defending champions' roster has never appeared at a senior World Cup or Olympic Games. Yet the newcomers arrive in Berlin as NCAA champions, WNBA award winners, and established professional stars. Here's what you need to know about them. USA head coach Kara Lawson's squad for the FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup 2026 carries 10 Olympic and five World Cup medals between its players. Almost all of them belong to five people. Seven of the 12 in Berlin from 4-13 September have never played 5x5 at a World Cup or an Olympic Games. Six of them – Aliyah Boston , Paige Bueckers , Sonia Citron , Caitlin Clark , Kiki Iriafen and Angel Reese – have never played either in any format. The seventh, Rhyne Howard , won 3x3 bronze at Paris 2024 . That number grew after A'ja Wilson and Kelsey Plum withdrew for health reasons on 31 August, leaving the USA to defend four straight titles with a group that has one tournament together to its name. So who are the seven now being asked to deliver a fifth straight world title, and extend a remarkable 30-game winning run in the competition? Three No.1 picks, three debuts Every No. 1 pick in the WNBA Draft from 2023 to 2025 is on this USA roster. Aliyah Boston went first in 2023 after leading South Carolina to the NCAA title and earning Most Outstanding Player honours the previous year. Born in Saint Thomas in the US Virgin Islands, the three-time WNBA All-Star was a unanimous Rookie of the Year and made the All-WNBA Second Team last season. She's averaging 16.9 points and 8.3 rebounds in 2026 while shooting 40.8 per cent from three, giving the USA a natural centre who can protect the rim, finish inside, and pull opposing bigs away from the basket. Caitlin Clark followed as the No. 1 pick in 2024, and her first senior USA appearance in March offered a glimpse of what she can bring in Berlin. At the World Cup qualifying tournament in San Juan, she averaged 11.6 points and a tournament-best 6.4 assists on 52.9 per cent shooting as the USA went 5-0, earning MVP honours. Her range and passing should give Lawson a way to stretch compact FIBA defences and create offence earlier in the shot clock. Boston (left) and Clark are club teammates with the Indiana Fever. Paige Bueckers completed the sequence in 2025. Months after leading UConn to the NCAA title, she won WNBA Rookie of the Year with 70 of 72 votes, made the All-WNBA Second Team and scored 44 points in a single game in August. In San Juan, her role was more measured than dominant, and that may be exactly what the USA need: another elite scorer who can create when required, but is just as comfortable playing within a crowded backcourt. "It's all about sacrifice. It's all about winning, and it's all about everybody on this team as a superstar in their own right," Bueckers told USA Basketball . "Everybody can score 20, 30 points a night, but what can you do to contribute to winning? And what can you do to sacrifice? Everybody's going to have to buy in." Reese on the glass, Howard on the wing Angel Reese , the seventh pick in the 2024 WNBA Draft, has established herself as the league's dominant rebounder. She leads the WNBA in the category and in double-doubles, became the fastest player in league history to reach 1,000 career boards, and moved from the Chicago Sky to the Atlanta Dream in April. The 2023 NCAA champion with LSU is now a three-time All-Star, but in San Juan she embraced a simpler role, averaging 6.8 points and a team-high 8.0 rebounds. Rhyne Howard is the only one of the seven with experience at the Olympic Games, albeit in 3x3 rather than 5x5. The No. 1 pick and Rookie of the Year in 2022 is now a four-time WNBA All-Star, averaging 17.0 points per game and leading the league in steals. She also has international pedigree in the five-player game, having been named MVP as the USA won the 2021 FIBA Women's AmeriCup. On a roster with relatively little proven scoring on the wing, Howard offers an obvious outlet. CAN-USA Women's Bronze Medal Game | 3x3 Basketball | Olympic Games Paris 2024 This Bronze Medal Match took place at La Concorde 1, Paris, on 05 2024. The United States of America won the Bronze with a final score of USA 16:13 CAN. The Mystics pair called up late Sonia Citron and Kiki Iriafen went third and fourth in the 2025 WNBA Draft, both to the Washington Mystics, and their careers have developed almost in parallel. Both were named All-Stars as rookies and again in 2026, becoming the first teammates since 1999 to earn All-Star selections in each of their first two seasons. They were also the only returning 2025 All-Stars to improve their scoring, rebounding and assist averages this year. Kiki Iriafen (44) and Washington Mystics Guard Sonia Citron (22). Jamie LeBlanc-Imagn Images Citron , a two-way guard, was averaging 18.6 points, 4.1 rebounds and 3.5 assists when she earned her second All-Star selection. She already has international pedigree, having won the 2021 FIBA U19 Women's World Cup alongside Clark , where she averaged 13.7 points and 7.3 rebounds and joined her teammate in the All-Star Five. An injury kept her out of the qualifiers in March, so Berlin will mark her senior USA debut. Iriafen brings size and efficiency inside, averaging 15.3 points and 9.2 rebounds on 52.4 per cent shooting at the time of her 2026 All-Star selection. She made the All-Rookie Team after her first WNBA season and has already had a taste of senior international basketball, making her USA debut in San Juan in March and averaging 5.4 points and 4.2 rebounds across five games. The USA open against the People's Republic of China on 4 September. Picture by Jamie LeBlanc-Imagn Images Basketball | Women´s World Cup | Berlin | Germany