Coming up short of the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 has not dashed the hopes of many players still dreaming of competing at the 2024 Olympics in France.
The road to Paris is still open for 40 countries thanks to the FIBA Olympic Pre-Qualifying Tournaments being introduced this year.
The FIBA Olympic Pre-Qualifying Tournaments field will be comprised of the 28 countries that participated in the Second Round of the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 Qualifiers and did not qualify for the 32-team World Cup to be staged this summer in the Philippines, Japan, and Indonesia.
Great Britain did not register for the event. They are replaced by Croatia, the best-ranked European team that did not participate in the Second Round of the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 Qualifiers.
The other 12 countries entering the FIBA Olympic Pre-Qualifying Tournaments will be among the highest-ranked national teams that did not qualify for the Second Round of the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 Qualifiers.
The first 11 teams are Mali for Africa; Chile, Cuba and Virgin Islands for Americas; Chinese Taipei, Indonesia, Korea and Syria for Asia; and North Macedonia, Poland, Portugal for Europe as winners in each of their respective groups of the FIBA EuroBasket 2025 Pre-Qualifiers.
The 12th team is the best-ranked European team that did not qualify for the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023. Following the IOC recommendations on the participation of athletes with a Russian or Belarusian passport in international competitions published on 28 March, the FIBA Executive Committee has decided to not allow the registration of the Russian men’s national team in the FIBA Olympic Pre-Qualifying Tournaments 2023. Bulgaria, as the next-best-ranked European team, will be the final team to participate to the FIBA Olympic Pre-Qualifying Tournaments.
Breakdown by region:
Africa: Cameroon, Congo DR, Guinea, Mali, Nigeria, Senegal, Tunisia and Uganda
Americas: Argentina, Bahamas, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Panama, Uruguay and Virgin Islands
Asia: Bahrain, Chinese Taipei, India, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Korea, Saudi Arabia and Syria
Europe: Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Iceland, Israel, Netherlands, North Macedonia, Poland, Portugal, Sweden, Turkey, Ukraine and Bulgaria.
The Host selection for these tournaments will take place at the upcoming Central Board meeting on 28-29 April, and the Draw of the FIBA Olympic Pre-Qualifying Tournaments will take place on 1 May 2023.
The FIBA Olympic Pre-Qualifying Tournaments will be held from August 12-20, 2023, with the five winners earning spots in the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournaments to be held in 2024.
