By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
In an official press release issued by FIBA, it has been announced that “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 in the FIBA Olympic Pre-Qualifying Tournaments”.
This means that Sasha Vezenkov and Dee Bost will have the opportunity, even though it will be an almost impossible task, to bring Bulgaria to the Olympic Games. They will be joined by “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” and by the “other 12 countries entering that will be among the highest-ranked national teams that did not qualify for the Second Round of the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 Qualifiers”.
Moreover, “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 official FIBA’s press release stated.
All the 40 teams
Here are the 40 teams which missed out on getting to the 2023 World Cup and will have the opportunity to participate in several 2023 Olympic Pre-Qualifying Tournaments, region by region:
- Africa: Cameroon, Congo DR, Guinea, Mali, Nigeria, Senegal, Tunisia and Uganda;
- Americas: Argentina, Bahamas, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Panama, Uruguay, and the 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.
FIBA also announced that “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” and that “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”.
PHOTO CREDIT: FIBA EuroBasket 2022