FIBA Basketball

Everything you need to know before the decisive battles of the First Round

MUNICH (FIBA EuroBasket 2021 Pre-Qualifiers) – All four tickets to the Second Round of the FIBA EuroBasket 2021 Pre-Qualifiers are still up for grabs. We look at the situation in each of the three groups.

Group A

Ready to crown the only undefeated team in the Pre-Qualifiers as the winners of Group A? Not so fast! While the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia remain the favorites to snap up the honors, Switzerland could still present them with an outside challenge.

Games:

28 June: Switzerland v MKD 1 July: Slovakia v Switzerland [/unordered]

Permutations:

MKD (3-0) could be supplanted as the winners of Group A by Switzerland (1-1) only if Switzerland defeat MKD by more than 15 points (if they win by 15 points, overall point differential will break the tie) and then defeat Slovakia (0-3) on Sunday. Otherwise, Switzerland will stay second unless they lose to MKD and pick up a loss of more than 3 points against Slovakia. If Slovakia beat Switzerland by exactly 3 points, overall point differential would settle the tie. [/unordered]

Group B

Denmark are very close to securing the Group B crown after their big win against Armenia in Yerevan back in November, but the Armenians will have the opportunity to flip the script in their favor in Copenhagen on Thursday.

Games:

28 June: Denmark v Armenia 1 July: Albania v Denmark [/unordered]

Permutations:

There are multiple ways of how Armenia (2-1) could finish above Denmark (2-0) in Group B: Firstly, they could secure the top spot if they beat Denmark by more than 7 points, having lost the first contest 78-71. If they win by exactly 7 points and Denmark beat Albania on Sunday, the tie would be broken by overall point differential. Alternatively, any win would suffice for Armenia if Denmark later went on to lose to Albania. [/unordered] Albania (0-3) are guaranteed to finish last in Group B [/unordered]

Group C

Portugal and Cyprus might be the teams at the top of Group C, but the still-not-eliminated Luxembourg could throw a monkey wrench into their plans in the last window.

Games:

28 June: Luxembourg v Portugal 1 July: Cyprus v Luxembourg [/unordered]

Permutations:

Portugal (2-1) have a head-to-head advantage over Cyprus (2-1) and therefore can secure the top spot in Group C with a win against Luxembourg (0-2) on Thursday. If Luxembourg beats Portugal, Cyprus would move into first place as long as they beat Luxembourg. If Luxembourg win both of their games and all teams finish with identical 2-2 records, the order of the teams in the standings will be determined by overall point differential. Currently, Portugal are +16; Cyprus are +4; Luxembourg are -20. [/unordered] [/unordered]

Extra Qualification Spot

In addition to the three group winners, one more ticket to the Second Round will be awarded to the best-ranked second-placed team, based on their record and overall point differential. As things stand, only Slovakia and Albania have been mathematically ruled out from contention.

#	Team	POINTS	W-L	+/–	GROUP	GAMES LEFT
1.	MKD	6	3-0	+36	A	1
2.	Armenia	5	2-1	+29	B	1
3.	Portugal	5	2-1	+16	C	1
4.	Cyprus	5	2-1	+4	C	1
5.	Denmark	4	2-0	+20	B	2
6.	Switzerland	3	1-1	-12	A	2
7.	Luxembourg	2	0-2	-20	C	2

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