John Carroll to replace retiring Kyle Hosford as Ireland captain

Ireland captain Kyle Hosford has announced his retirement from international action, with John Carroll set to take over the captaincy role.

During his seven-year international career, Hosford won the European Championship for Small Countries in 2021, a tournament he was vice-captain for.

He took over from Jason Killeen as captain in November 2021, when Ireland started their EuroBasket 2025 pre-qualifying campaign, and has played in all four games so far in the tournament.

Speaking about his decision to step away, Hosford said: "I’ve enjoyed every moment of my time with Irish teams throughout the years. I’ve really enjoyed every experience, from playing and most recently captaining the Irish team.

"The squad is the strongest it has been in a long, long time, so I’m excited to see what the lads can do in the future.

"I want to thank all the coaches, staff and players for the opportunity and experience. I wish the team best of luck in their two upcoming games. I will now turn into the biggest fan on and I look forward to cheering the lads on Thursday and in the Arena on Sunday."

Carroll said: "I’m very honoured to be named captain. I’ve learned a lot of from Kyle and Jason Killeen before him on the leadership side and hopefully I can fill their shoes as captain going forward. It’s probably the proudest achievement of my basketball career to date."

Sean Flood has been appointed as Ireland’s new vice-captain.

The final 12-man squad for this week’s the EuroBasket 2025 pre-qualifiers will be named on Tuesday.

Ireland’s first game is against Austria in Salzburg on Thursday, followed three days later by their home contest against Switzerland.