Basketball World Cup: Germany and Serbia are the Europeans qualified for the Olympic Games

The FIBA World Cup comes to an end in Manila with four selected teams on their way to the dream for the title, but with other countries that also celebrated, despite no longer running to win the cup: they are the ones that secured a place for Paris 2024, the always exclusive Olympic tournament, reserved for 12 teams every four years and which often frustrates some power country that fails to enter.

Serbia and Germany became the last countries to qualify directly for the Olympic Games in the French capital next year. Both teams were the two best European nations at the FIBA World Cup. Serbia reached the semifinals after beating Lithuania 87-68, while Germany survived the last-second cliffhanger against Latvia and also reached the Top 4. Slovenia, which dreamed of reaching its first Olympic Games with Luka Doncic as leader, was left without a place, if only for now. The same goes for Spain, the last world champion, who will be the rival that no one will want to cross in the 2024 Olympic Qualifying. Finland, Georgia, Greece, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania and Montenegro are the other countries with, although lower, chances of entering the Games in next year’s repechage.

Serbia and Germany joined France (with a guaranteed place as a host country), the United States, Canada, South Sudan, Japan and Australia.

Not counting France, which has the certainty of the place because it is the organizer, the first national team to win the Olympic ticket was the Australian one. The Boomers finished second in Group E, with two wins and one fall (against Germany) and secured the only ticket that the World Cup awarded to Oceania. For Australia it will be their 16th Olympic appearance. Their best participation was precisely the last, that of Tokyo 2020, where they finished third. New Zealand will have to fight for its place in the Olympic Qualifying next year.

The place in Paris 2024 for the African continent is one of the great stories left by this 2023 World Cup. Less than a decade after the inauguration of its basketball federation, South Sudan secured the only ticket destined for Africa for the next Olympic event. Led by Chicago Bulls guard Carlik Jones, they managed to finish the World Cup as the best in their continent, ahead of Egypt, making them the second ranked country. Angola, Ivory Coast, Egypt and Lebanon will go for their last chance to the Olympic Qualifying.

Japan took advantage of its status as co-organizer of the World Cup with Indonesia and the Philippines to qualify for the Olympic Games in front of its fans, after beating Cape Verde at the Okinawa Arena. For the Eastern team, which finished the World Cup with a positive record of 3-2, Josh Hawkinson became the figure again. The Philippines will have one more chance in the demanding international Olympic Qualification, while Indonesia no longer has a chance of being in Paris 2024.

The American continent will be represented at the Olympic Games, at least for now, by the northern geographical area. The United States and Canada are both ranked by America. Brazil, Mexico, the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico will have their chance in the Olympic Qualifying, while Argentina, champion in Athens 2004, no longer has a chance of being in Paris 2024.

As mentioned above, the remaining four Olympic places will be determined in 2024, through the competition of four Pre-Olympic Repechages, of which six teams will participate in each one. Cameroon, Bahamas, Bahrain, Croatia and Poland, who won the five regional Pre-Repechages, will join the World Cup ones.

Basketball in Paris 2024 will be held from July 27 to August 11. The preliminary phase will be held at the Pierre Mauroy Stadium in the city of Lille, and the final phase will be at the Arena Bercy in Paris.