By Johnny Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
Confirming a recent report by Eurohoops, Fatts Russell completed the process to become eligible to play for the senior national team of Romania.
The 27-year-old American-born guard, currently a player of Romania’s U-BT Cluj-Napoca at the club level, will represent the country in FIBA tournaments as a naturalized player.
In his latest explosive showing on Tuesday, Russell lifted Cluj-Napoca to an overtime win over Neptunas in Klaipeda’s Svyturio Arena with 37 points behind 11/23 field goals, including seven triples. His side improved to 1-1 in Group A of the 2025-26 BKT EuroCup Regular Season.
As for the Romanian national team, a bid to reach the FIBA World Cup 2027 continues in Group B of the Qualifiers, starting from a clash with Greece in Athens on November 27. Barring an unexpected setback, the Philadelphia native will cover the single available naturalized squad slot for action in the upcoming international window, stretching to a home game with Montenegro on November 30.
Facing Greece, Montenegro, and Portugal in a six-game double-legged round-robin schedule, Romania aims to clinch one of the top three seeds to advance to the second and final round of the Qualifiers. The top three countries of Groups A and B will carry their W-L tallies into Group I to battle for three World Cup tickets via a new six-game schedule.
Since splitting his NCAA career between Rhode Island and Maryland, from 2017 to 2022, Russell started his professional career with Mornar-Barsko zlato in Montenegro, and switched to Turkiye with Galatasaray Nef, Manisa, and Karsiyaka, before landing in Romania.