Serbia Edge France 90-87 in Belgrade as Jokic and Wembanyama Renew Basketball's Best Rivalry Before the Qualifiers

Verified key facts

• Serbia beat France 90-87 in Belgrade on Thursday in a preparation friendly ahead of the FIBA World Cup 2027 European qualifiers, per Eurosport
• It was Victor Wembanyama's first appearance for France since the Paris 2024 Olympics, per Eurosport
• Wembanyama has been named captain of France's national team for the qualifying window, ESPN reported
• Serbia coach Dusan Alimpijevic had said Nikola Jokic 'should be available' for the summer 2026 qualifying windows, per FIBA's official site
• The two sides meet again on Sunday in Orléans in the second of the back-to-back friendlies, per Eurosport
• Tickets for the Belgrade meeting started from 800 dinars, with the game staged at the Belgrade Arena, per Srpske Novine

Three points in it as two giants collide

The two best big men in the world shared a court again on Thursday night, and it was the older one's team that walked off happier. Serbia beat France 90-87 at the Belgrade Arena in a preparation friendly, Eurosport reported, in a game that carried far more electricity than its official status suggested — Nikola Jokic against Victor Wembanyama, in front of a home crowd that treats basketball as a birthright.

The three-point margin flattered neither side into complacency and embarrassed nobody. For Serbia, it was confirmation that their golden generation's engine still turns over. For France, a first competitive outing of a new era ended in the narrowest of defeats on one of European basketball's most hostile floors.

Wembanyama's first France game since Paris

The evening's larger significance belonged to the visitors. Thursday marked Wembanyama's first appearance in a France shirt since the Paris 2024 Olympics, per Eurosport — a gap of two years in which the San Antonio Spurs centre has grown from generational prospect into a genuine contender for the title of the world's best player.

His return came with new authority: ESPN reported that Wembanyama has been named captain of the national team for the World Cup qualifying campaign. Handing the armband to a 22-year-old is a statement about where French basketball believes its next decade lives, and Belgrade — bronze medallists' home soil, packed and partisan — was a fittingly unforgiving stage for his first game wearing it.

Jokic shows up when he does not have to

That Jokic played at all is itself news. NBA superstars routinely skip August friendlies, and Serbia's federation has spent years managing the Denver centre's summers. But Serbia coach Dusan Alimpijevic had signalled the commitment in advance, saying Jokic 'should be available' for the summer 2026 qualifying windows, according to FIBA's official website.

His presence transformed a warm-up into an occasion. The Belgrade Arena fixture sold tickets from just 800 dinars — a few pounds — with the national federation clearly intent on filling the building, per Srpske Novine, and a Jokic-Wembanyama duel guaranteed exactly that. The pair's meetings in the NBA are appointment viewing; in national colours they are rarer still.

A rivalry with recent, painful history

France and Serbia have spent the past half-decade trading blows at the top of international basketball. Serbia edged France in the bronze-medal race at Paris 2024, where Wembanyama's side fell to the United States in the gold medal game, and the countries' meetings at World Cups and European championships have become the continent's most reliable heavyweight fixture.

Thursday's result extends a Serbian habit of winning the close ones. A 90-87 scoreline against a French side reintegrating its NBA contingent will concern nobody in Paris, but it will please everybody in Belgrade — particularly a coaching staff trying to blood the next wave around Jokic while the window for this group stays open.

What both teams are actually preparing for

The friendly series exists to sharpen both squads for the FIBA World Cup 2027 European qualifiers, whose summer windows resume with competitive fixtures in the coming days. The qualifiers are marathon affairs, played across international breaks with rosters that fluctuate depending on NBA and EuroLeague releases, which makes August camps the only time coaches see anything close to full-strength groups.

For France's staff, the priorities are structural: building an offence that runs through Wembanyama rather than merely featuring him, and settling the guard rotation around him. Serbia's task is subtler — keeping a settled, veteran group cohesive while managing the minutes of the most valuable player their federation has ever produced.

The small margins that decided it

Preparation games are diagnostic tools, and a three-point loss offers France a precise reading. Late-game execution against elite, physical opposition — the exact skill that separates medal-round winners from fourth place — remains the gap between these sides, as it was in Paris. Serbia's experience told in the final possessions; France's talent kept them within one shot.

That is, in truth, the result both camps wanted from an August evening: competitive intensity, no injuries reported, and a clear worksheet. DAZN, which broadcast the friendlies internationally, had billed the series as a blockbuster; the scoreline delivered on the billing without costing either team anything that matters before autumn.

Sunday's rematch waits in Orléans

The two squads reconvene on Sunday in Orléans for the return fixture, per Eurosport, where France will have home noise, a settled game plan and a point to prove. Wembanyama's first home game as captain gives the French federation the box-office night it has been building towards since Paris.

For neutrals, the appeal is simpler: two more halves of Jokic against Wembanyama, the reigning aesthetic marvels of world basketball, in a rivalry that now stretches from Denver and San Antonio to Belgrade and the Loire. Serbia lead the August series 1-0. Sunday decides whether France's new era starts level or two behind.

Sources

• Eurosport - Defaite de l'equipe de France de Victor Wembanyama chez la Serbie de Nikola Jokic (90-87)
• ESPN - Wembanyama named captain of France's team for FIBA qualifiers
• FIBA - Coach Alimpijevic on summer 2026 Windows: 'Jokic should be available'
• DAZN - Jokic vs. Wembanyama: Serbia and France meet in blockbuster FIBA friendlies
• Srpske Novine - Serbia vs France in Belgrade: Tickets From 800 Dinars