Greece is one of the host countries for the FIBA Olympic Pre-Qualifying Tournaments that will take place in August 2023. The tournaments will determine the final qualifiers for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. According to the website Basketnews, Athens, Valencia, and Riga are considered as the most ideal cities to host a pre-Olympic tournament.
The Pre-Qualifying Tournaments give 40 countries that did not make it to the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 hope of still reaching the Paris Olympic Games in 2024. By winning a Pre-Qualifying Tournament, a country would then take part in one of next year’s FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournaments, with the winners of those clinching spots in Paris.
Greece will host one of the two European tournaments, along with Poland and Estonia. The participating teams have been distributed in eight pots based on the FIBA World Ranking Men, presented by Nike. By the draw, the teams from each pot will be distributed in four groups and at the same time they will be assigned the competition numbers. Groups A & B and Groups C & D are crossing to qualify the best team for the next year’s FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournaments.
Greece is in pot 1, along with Italy, Serbia, and Slovenia. The other pots are as follows:
- Pot 2: Germany, Russia, Turkey, Croatia
- Pot 3: Czech Republic, Latvia, Lithuania, Montenegro
- Pot 4: Finland, Georgia, Hungary, Ukraine
- Pot 5: Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Great Britain, Israel
- Pot 6: Bulgaria, Iceland, Netherlands, Romania
- Pot 7: Austria, Denmark, Estonia, Sweden
- Pot 8: Belarus, Cyprus, Luxembourg, Slovakia
The draw for the groups will be held on December 1, 2023, in Geneva, Switzerland. The groups will be announced on the official FIBA website and social media platforms.
Greece is aiming to return to the Olympic Games after missing out on the Tokyo 2020 edition. The last time Greece participated in the Olympics was in 2008, when they finished fifth in Beijing. Greece has a rich history in Olympic basketball, having won the silver medal in 2006 and the bronze medal in 1988.
The Greek national team will be led by coach Thanasis Skourtopoulos, who has been in charge since 2018. He will have a talented roster at his disposal, featuring NBA stars such as Giannis Antetokounmpo, Kostas Antetokounmpo, and Georgios Papagiannis, as well as EuroLeague standouts such as Ioannis Papapetrou, Kostas Papanikolaou, and Georgios Larentzakis.
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 July 2024.
