PRESS RELEASE
BRISTOL, Conn. —
Fresh off their season-opener in Paris this past Monday, the Louisville women’s basketball team will be heading overseas again to open the 2025-26 season. The Cardinals have been selected for the Peraton Armed Forces Classic that will be held at Ramstein
Air Base in Germany on Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2025. The Cardinals will square off with UConn in the first ever women’s college basketball matchup in the event’s history and it will be aired on ESPN.
“We are extremely thankful to be selected for the 2025 Armed Forces Classic,” said head coach Jeff Walz. “It will be an incredible experience
for our players and staff to play in front of some of our nation’s heroes overseas. We look forward to the opportunity to showcase women’s basketball on an international stage.”
Ramstein – site of the inaugural Armed Forces Classic in 2012, which featured the UConn men vs. Michigan State – will host the event for the
third time. The air base also hosted Texas A&M vs. West Virginia in the 2017 event.
This will be the third-straight season the Cardinals and Huskies will meet and it will be in the third different location. The two teams played
in Hartford in 2022 and will meet in Brooklyn this December as part of the Women’s Champions Classic. The Cards and Huskies currently have a four-year home-and-home series running and this will push the Louisville home matchup with UConn to the 2026-27 season.
Both teams have been some of the most consistent teams in all of college basketball over recent years. They are both two of just three teams
in the country to have reached five of the last six Elite Eights. Walz and UConn head coach Geno Auriemma are two of just four active head coaches that have been to four or more Final Fours. The Cardinals and Huskies are two of just six schools to have won
200 or more games since the start of the 2017-18 season.
ESPN Events
ESPN
Events, a division of ESPN, owns and operates a portfolio of collegiate sporting events nationwide. In 2024, the 34-event schedule includes four early-season college football kickoff games, 17 college
bowl games, 10 college basketball events, the premiere regular season college softball and gymnastics events, as well as the Band of the Year National Championship. Collectively, these events account for over 400 hours of live programming on ESPN platforms,
reaching 60 million viewers and attracting more than 650,000 annual attendees. Each year, the portfolio of events features more than 20 Division I conferences and hosts over 4,000 participating student-athletes. With satellite offices in more than 10 cities
across the country, ESPN Events builds relationships with conferences, schools and local communities, as well as providing unique experiences for teams and fans. Follow ESPN Events on Facebook, Twitter/X and YouTube.
ESPN Events Armed Forces Classic Locations:
Year
Location
Matchups
2012
Ramstein Air Base (Germany)
UConn vs. Michigan State
2013
Camp Humphreys Army Base (South Korea)
Georgetown vs. Oregon
2014
U.S. Coast Guard Air Station Borinquen (Puerto Rico)
Minnesota vs. Louisville
2015
U.S. Marine Corps Base Smedley D. Butler (Okinawa, Japan)
Gonzaga vs. Pittsburgh
2016
Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam (Honolulu, Hawaii)
Arizona vs. Michigan State
Indiana vs. Kansas
2017
Ramstein Air Base (Germany)
Texas A&M vs. West Virginia
2018
U.S. Army Fort Bliss (El Paso, Texas)
Texas vs. Arkansas
2019
Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson (Anchorage, Alaska)
Baylor vs. Washington
Alaska Anchorage vs. Coast Guard Academy
2022
USS Abraham Lincoln (San Diego)
Michigan State vs. Gonzaga
