Basketball star Emma Meesseman’s list of honors continues to grow.
First elected Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the EuroLeague, the most important club competition in women’s basketball, for the second time in a row. A day later, Fenerbahçe became the final winner of the Euroleague for the second consecutive time. And won the Turkish title two days later. Good for a unique triple, after winning the Turkish Cup at the beginning of January. Thanks to a basket in the final second by… Emma Meesseman.
The Ypres native had already experienced a lot in her career, but not so many personal and club successes in such a short time. Still, she remained her modest self when she was awarded the EuroLeague MVP trophy: “The most important thing is to win the EuroLeague as a team.” And when she won for the sixth time the next day, becoming a co-record holder with Diana Tarausi, Alba Torrens and Natalia Vieru, it sounded: ‘It’s great that I’m in that list, but the number of victories in itself doesn’t matter to me. When I start a competition, I just want to win.’ She didn’t even want to think about which of the six titles is the most beautiful. “I don’t live in the past.” Meesseman in detail: the next victory will be the best. Or better: the process to the next victory, because she enjoys that just as much.
How Emma Meesseman lifts the Belgian Cats higher and higher: never has a ‘star’ been so common
It is the recipe for success of a ‘serial winner’, who guarantees prizes for almost every one of its past or current teams, from the Blue Cats Ypres to Fenerbahçe, and of course also the Belgian Cats. Not coincidentally, the EuroLeague’s social media account posted after Meesseman’s sixth title: ‘All she does is win.’
With the help of Meesseman, we once compiled that bulging honors list and later supplemented it. The counter now stands at 61 prizes, in national and international competitions, tournaments and championships. The sum of 3 titles as best promise, 14 MVP titles, 13 elections for the best team of a tournament, 22 club trophies, 6 medals with the Young (youth) and Belgian Cats and 3 Belgian/Flemish sports prizes.
After gold at the 2023 European Championships with the Cats and her sixth EuroLeague, Emma Meesseman can now be counted among the best three European players of this century, alongside Alba Torrens and Maria Stepanova. Who you put first depends on how much weight you give to successes with national teams. In that respect, Meesseman will probably no longer be able to match the Spanish and Russian, but if she can also win an Olympic medal with the Cats in Paris and continue to pile up the EuroLeague titles – at almost 31 she can continue for years to come – the balance will continue to change. tilt more in her favor.
Belgian Cat Emma Meesseman, the most normal star in the world
