Qualified Team Focus - Germany: Will there be black, red and gold celebrations in Paris?

MIES (Switzerland) - The draw for the Men's Olympic Basketball Tournament Paris 2024 was held on March 19. It is now time to meet the teams that have already qualified for the Olympics with the dream of becoming Olympic champions this summer.

Here is the number 3 team in the FIBA World Ranking Men, presented by Nike, the reigning FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 champions and seven-time Olympic participants Germany.

The Germans will be competing at the Olympics for the second straight edition - the first time the country went to back-to-back Olympics.

How they qualified

 
Germany booked their Olympics ticket after making history last summer by winning the title at the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023. qualifying directly for Paris as Europe's best ranked team in FIBA's flagship event. 

Germany a summer earlier had grabbed third place at the FIBA EuroBasket 2022 - the country's first continental podium finish since taking second place at EuroBasket 2005.

At the FIBA World Cup, Germany beat Japan, Australia and Finland in the first group stage. Gordie Herbert's team followed that with wins over Georgia and Slovenia to reach the Quarter-Finals with a perfect record.

Germany nearly collapsed in the Quarter-Finals against Latvia, giving up almost all of a 14-point fourth quarter lead and were only saved when Davis Bertans' three-pointer in the waning seconds went off-target for an 81-79 win.

Germany advanced to the Semi-Finals for just the second time after Dirk Nowitzki and co. finished third in 2002. And the Germans ended up facing USA in the Semis and the two nations put on a great show. Germany ended up prevailing 113-111 in an offensive spectacle for the ages.

By reaching the Final, Germany were guaranteed a best-ever FIBA World Cup result as well as a spot at the Olympics. And in the Final, Germany met up with fellow Europeans Serbia. The game lived up to its billing and Dennis Schroder scored 28 points in an 83-77 victory to give Germany their first ever title.

Record at the Olympics

Appearances: 6 - 1936 (15th); 1972 (12th); 1984 (8th); 1992 (7th); 2008 (10th); 2020 (8th)

Medals: 0

Last appearance 

Germany actually had to go through the Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Split in 2020 to reach the Tokyo Olympics, knocking off hosts Croatia in the Semi-Finals and then downing Brazil 75-64 in the Final to qualify for the Olympics - their first Summer Games since 2008.

In the Japan Olympics, Germany lost the opener to Italy and bounced back to beat Nigeria 99-92 before falling to Australia in the last group game. But the Germans had reached the Quarter-Finals as one of the two top third-placed teams.

Germany's Olympic journey ended however in the Quarter-Finals after a 94-70 defeat against Slovenia.

The 2024 Group Phase 

The Germans start Group B of the Olympics with the same team they faced to start last summer's FIBA World Cup - Japan. Then will come the winner of the OQT Latvia - with those countries being Latvia, Georgia, Philippines, Brazil, Cameroon and Montenegro. Germany beat Latvia in the World Cup as well and defeated Brazil in the OQT Split Final and defeated Montenegro in the FIBA EuroBasket 2025 Qualifiers in February 2024.

The final game of the group will be one of the top games of the Group Phase with Germany taking on hosts France. These two teams faced off in their opening game of FIBA EuroBasket 2022 and Germany prevailed 76-63. Germany have won three of the last four showdowns at major events.

Germany Group Phase games

vs Japan (July 27)
vs Winner OQT Latvia (July 30)
vs France (August 2)

Players to watch

Four of Germany's biggest leaders: Dennis Schroder, Andi Obst, Johannes Thiemann and Franz Wagner

Dennis Schroder will continue to be Germany's engine and enigmatic leader. He refuses to slow down at nearly 31 and any chances for Germany to medal in Paris will rely heavily on his shoulders.

Franz Wagner will be very crucial as well. The versatile forward will turn 23 just after Paris and a medal would be a great birthday present. His brother Moe Wagner provides such an emotional and energy boost.

Andi Obst broke out on the global stage at the FIBA World Cup and would love to take another step forward. Johannes Thiemann is another leader who not many outside of Europe knew about before their history-making run in Manila. Herbert also has the likes of Isaac Bonga, Johannes Voigtmann, Maodo Lo and Daniel Theis.  

Qualified Team Focus series

During coming weeks and months, we will continue to check out all teams aiming for a medal at Paris 2024 as part of our Qualified Team Focus series. Check out the first installment: USA.

 FIBA