Everything you need to know: FIBA Olympic Pre-Qualifying Tournaments

MIES (Switzerland) - The FIBA Olympic Pre-Qualifying Tournaments are less than one week away and here’s what you need to know ahead of the tournaments that will be going on across the globe.

How many Olympic Pre-Qualifying Tournaments (OPQTs) are there?

There is a total of five OPQTs: two in Europe and one each in Africa, Americas, and Asia.

Which nations are hosting the OPQTs?

Argentina is hosting the OPQT in the Americas in the cities of Santiago del Estero and Labanda. The venues will be Estadio Ciudad (Santiago del Estero) and Estadiu Vicente Rosales (La Banda) during the Group Phase. All Final Phase games will be played at Estadio Cuidad.

Nigeria is hosting the OPQT in Africa in Lagos with all games being played at the National Stadium.

Syria is hosting the OPQT in Asia in Damascus with all games being played at Al Fayhaa Stadium.

Turkiye is hosting one of the OPQTs in Europe in Istanbul and all games will be played at Sinan Erdem Arena.

The other OPQT in Europe is co-hosted by Poland and Estonia in Gliwice and Tallinn, respectively. The games in Gliwice will be played at Gliwice Arena, while the games in Tallinn will be played at Tondiraba Ice Hall. All Final Phase games will be played at Gliwice.

When are the OPQTs?

The OPQTs will be played from 12-20 August, with the exception of OPQT Nigeria and OPQT Argentina which will start on 14 August.

Who are the teams competing?

There are a total of 40 teams competing in the OPQTs with 8 teams in each OPQT.

The OPQTs are comprised of 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 to be staged this summer in the Philippines, Japan, and Indonesia.

The other 12 countries are among the highest-ranked national teams that did not qualify for the Second Round of the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 Qualifiers.

Africa: Cameroon, Congo DR, Guinea, Mali, Nigeria, Senegal, Tunisia and Uganda
Americas: Argentina, Bahamas, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Panama, Uruguay and 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.

What is the format?

Each OPQT consists of two groups of 4 four teams. The Groups were confirmed at the draw for the OPQTs earlier this year in May.

OPQT Nigeria

Group A: Mali, Nigeria, Senegal, Uganda
Group B: Congo DR, Cameroon, Guinea, Tunisia

OPQT Argentina

Group A: Argentina, Bahamas, Cuba, Panama
Group B: Chile, Colombia, Uruguay, Virgin Islands

OPQT Syria

Group A: Bahrain, Chinese Taipei, India, Korea
Group B: Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Saudi Arabia, Syria

OPQT Poland-Estonia

Group A: Czech Republic, Estonia, Israel, North Macedonia
Group B: BIH, Hungary, Poland, Portugal

OPQT Turkiye

Group C: Bulgaria, Iceland, Turkiye, Ukraine
Group D: Belgium, Croatia, Netherlands, Sweden

The teams in each group will play against each other in a single round-robin format. The top two teams of each group after the Group Phase will qualify for the Final Phase.

The first-place team will crossover to play the second-place team from the other Group in the Semi-Finals. The winners of each Semi-Final matchup will advance to play against the other in the Final to determine the winner of each OPQT.

What is at stake?

The OPQTs, which were introduced for the first time this year, keep the Road to Paris 2023 open for these 40 countries.

The five winners earning spots in the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournaments to be held in 2024.

Where to watch the games live?

Fans can stream all the action on Courtisde 1891 and local rightsholder broadcasting channels.

Where can I follow the event?

Each OPQT have their own dedicated websites for the convenience of the fans to stay updated with the action: OPQT Nigeria, OPQT Argentina, OPQT Syria, OPQT Poland-Estonia, and OPQT Turkiye.

FIBA