The Spanish men's basketball team would face Australia, Canada and the winner of the Athens Pre-Olympic Games in Group A if they achieve a place for the Paris Games, for which they must come in first place in the Pre-Olympic Games to be held in Valencia from July 2 to 7 and in which its rivals will be Angola, Lebanon, Bahamas, Finland and Poland.
This was the outcome of the draw held this Tuesday at the FIBA headquarters in Mies (Switzerland), in which the three groups of four teams each that will fight for the title from July 17 to August 10 were defined.
In Group B, France, Germany, Japan and the winner of the Latvian Olympic Qualifiers will compete, and in Group C Serbia, South Sudan, the winner of the Puerto Rico Olympic Qualifiers and the favorite United States will compete, according to the draw in which former players Carmelo Anthony and Penny Taylor served as masters of ceremonies.
Of the twelve teams from the five continents that will compete in Lille and Paris in the men's tournament, eight of them are already known: the United States, Germany, Serbia, Australia, Canada, Japan and South Sudan, classified by their results in the World Cup 2023, and France as host.
The remaining four will be the winners of the Pre-Olympic qualification tournaments that will be held from July 2 to 7 in Piraeus (Greece), Riga (Latvia), San Juan (Puerto Rico) and Valencia (Spain).
The draw held at the FIBA headquarters was based on the world ranking and geographical principles, with the condition that in each of the three groups there would have to be a minimum of two European teams and a maximum of three while the rest of continents there could not be more than one representative in each group.
The presence of the Spanish team at the Paris Games involves the pre-Olympic tournament that will be held in La Fonteta from July 2 to 7, where there will be two groups. The team coached by Sergio Scariolo will be in A with Angola and Lebanon and in B there will be Bahamas, Finland and Poland and the winners of both will compete in the final for the place for Paris.
