Basketball at the 2024 Summer Olympics – Men's qualification facts for kids
Getting into the men's basketball tournament at the 2024 Summer Olympics was a big deal! Teams competed from August 2023 to 2024. Only twelve teams made it to the final tournament in Paris. Every major basketball region, called a FIBA (International Basketball Federation) zone, was expected to have teams there.
Since France was hosting the Olympics, their men's 5x5 basketball team automatically got a spot. This was decided by FIBA on April 30, 2023. The 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup helped seven other teams qualify directly for Paris 2024. The last four spots were given to the winners of special "wild card" tournaments.
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How Teams Qualified
Twelve teams will play in the men's basketball tournament. Each country's team will have 12 players.
Host Nation Spot
As the host country, France got an automatic spot in the men's basketball tournament. FIBA officially confirmed this on April 30, 2023.
Qualifying Through the World Cup
Just like in 2019, the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup helped seven teams qualify. The best teams from different continents earned their spots based on how they finished:
- FIBA Africa – 1 team
- FIBA Americas – 2 teams
- FIBA Asia – 1 team
- FIBA Europe – 2 teams
- FIBA Oceania – 1 team
Qualifying Through Wild Card Tournaments
The last four spots were decided through special tournaments. These were called the FIBA World Olympic Qualifying Tournaments. There were two rounds:
- The first round was the FIBA Olympic Pre-Qualifying Tournaments (FOPQTs). These were played within each continent.
- The second round was the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournaments (FOQTs). These were played globally.
Who Played in the Pre-Qualifying Tournaments
Forty teams that did not make it to the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup could play in the FOPQTs. Teams were chosen based on how they did in earlier World Cup qualifiers or their FIBA ranking.
- FIBA Africa – 8 teams: Seven teams that were eliminated from the second round of African World Cup qualifiers, plus the highest-ranked team that did not play in the second round.
- FIBA Americas – 8 teams: Five teams eliminated from the second round of Americas World Cup qualifiers, plus three highest-ranked teams that did not play in the second round.
- FIBA Asia and FIBA Oceania – 8 teams: Four teams eliminated from the second round of Asia and Oceania World Cup qualifiers, plus four teams eliminated from the first round.
- FIBA Europe – 16 teams: Twelve teams eliminated from the second round of European World Cup qualifiers, plus four teams that advanced from EuroBasket 2025 pre-qualifiers.
The winners from the Africa, Americas, and Asia tournaments moved on to the FOQTs. Two teams from the European FOPQTs also earned a spot in the FOQTs.
Who Played in the Olympic Qualifying Tournaments
Twenty-four teams played in four tournaments. The winners of these four tournaments earned the final spots at the Olympics. Five teams came from the FOPQTs. The other 19 teams were chosen based on how they performed at the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup:
- The highest-ranked team from Africa (that didn't already qualify).
- The highest-ranked team from the Americas (that didn't already qualify).
- The highest-ranked team from Asia/Oceania (that didn't already qualify).
- The next sixteen best-placed teams from the World Cup that had not yet qualified for the Olympics.
Qualified Teams
| Qualification method | Date | Venue | Berths | Qualified team | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Host nation | N/A | N/A | 1 |  France |
|
| 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup | Africa | 25 August – 10 September 2023 |  Philippines Indonesia Japan |
1 |  South Sudan |
| Americas | 2 |  Canada |
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 United States |
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| Asia | 1 |  Japan |
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| Europe | 2 |  Germany |
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 Serbia |
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| Oceania | 1 |  Australia |
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| 2024 FIBA Men's Olympic Qualifying Tournaments | 2–7 July 2024 |  Valencia |
1 | Spain |
|
 Riga |
1 |  Brazil |
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 Piraeus |
1 | Greece |
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 San Juan |
1 | Puerto Rico |
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| Total | 12 | ||||
World Cup Ranking for Qualification
The 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup was very important for Olympic qualification. Here's how teams ranked by their FIBA zone:
| Qualify for the 2024 Summer Olympics directly from their zone | |
| Qualify for the 2024 FIBA World Olympic Qualifying Tournament | |
| Qualify for the 2024 Summer Olympics as the host country |
| # | FIBA Africa (1/5 teams) |
FIBA Americas (2/7 teams) |
FIBA Asia (1/6 teams) |
FIBA Europe (2/12 teams) |
FIBA Oceania (1/2 teams) |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | W–L | Team | W–L | Team | W–L | Team | W–L | Team | W–L | |
| 1 | South Sudan |
3–2 | Canada |
6–2 | Japan |
3–2 | Germany |
8–0 | Australia |
3–2 |
| 2 |  Egypt |
2–3 | United States |
5–3 |  Lebanon |
2–3 | Serbia |
6–2 |  New Zealand |
2–3 |
| 3 |  Angola |
1–4 | Puerto Rico |
3–2 |  Philippines |
1–4 | Latvia |
6–2 | ||
| 4 |  Ivory Coast |
1–4 | Brazil |
3–2 |  China |
1–4 |  Lithuania |
6–2 | ||
| 5 |  Cape Verde |
1–4 |  Dominican Republic |
3–2 |  Iran |
0–5 |  Slovenia |
5–3 | ||
| 6 |  Mexico |
2–3 |  Jordan |
0–5 |  Italy |
4–4 | ||||
| 7 |  Venezuela |
0–5 | Spain |
3–2 | ||||||
| 8 |  Montenegro |
3–2 | ||||||||
| 9 | Greece |
2–3 | ||||||||
| 10 |  Georgia |
2–3 | ||||||||
| 11 | France |
3–2 | ||||||||
| 12 |  Finland |
2–3 | ||||||||
FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournaments
These tournaments decided the final four teams for the Olympics.
| Qualification method | Places | Qualified team |
|---|---|---|
| Teams from the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup | ||
| Highest-ranked eligible team – Africa | 1 | Egypt |
| Highest-ranked eligible team – Americas | 1 | Puerto Rico |
| Highest-ranked eligible team – Asia and Oceania | 1 | New Zealand |
| Top 16 eligible teams | 16 | Latvia |
| Lithuania |
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| Slovenia |
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| Italy |
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| Spain |
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| Montenegro |
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| Brazil |
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| Dominican Republic |
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| Greece |
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| Georgia |
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| Finland |
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| Lebanon |
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| Philippines |
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| Mexico |
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| Angola |
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| Ivory Coast |
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| Teams from the 2023 FIBA Olympic Pre-Qualifying Tournaments (OPQT) | ||
| Winner – FIBA Africa | 1 |  Cameroon |
| Winner – FIBA Americas | 1 |  Bahamas |
| Winner – FIBA Asia | 1 |  Bahrain |
| Winner – FIBA Europe (OPQT1) | 1 |  Poland |
| Winner – FIBA Europe (OPQT2) | 1 |  Croatia |
| Total | 24 | |
FIBA Olympic Pre-Qualifying Tournaments
These tournaments were held from August 12 to 20, 2023. The teams and host cities were announced in May and April 2023.
FIBA Africa Teams
| Qualification method | Places | Qualified team | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 FIBA World Cup Qualifiers – Africa | Third (worst-ranked) | 1 |  Senegal |
| Fourth | 2 |  Nigeria |
|
 Tunisia |
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| Fifth | 2 |  Guinea |
|
 DR Congo |
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| Sixth | 2 |  Uganda |
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| Cameroon |
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| FIBA World Rankings – Africa (November 2022) | 1 |  Mali |
|
| Total | 8 | ||
FIBA Asia and Oceania Teams
| Qualification method | Places | Qualified team | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 FIBA World Cup Qualifiers – Asia | Round 2 – Fifth | 2 |  Saudi Arabia |
 Kazakhstan |
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| Round 2 – Sixth | 2 |  India |
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| Bahrain |
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| Round 1 – Fourth | 4 |  South Korea |
|
 Chinese Taipei |
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 Indonesia |
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 Syria |
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| Total | 8 | ||
FIBA Americas Teams
| Qualification method | Places | Qualified team | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 FIBA World Cup Qualifiers – Americas | Fourth (worst-ranked) | 1 |  Argentina |
| Fifth | 2 |  Panama |
|
 Uruguay |
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| Sixth | 2 | Bahamas |
|
 Colombia |
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| FIBA World Rankings – Americas (November 2022) | 3 |  Virgin Islands |
|
 Chile |
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 Cuba |
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| Total | 8 | ||
FIBA Europe Teams
| Qualification method | Places | Qualified team | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 FIBA World Cup Qualifiers – Europe | Fourth | 4 |  Turkey |
 Sweden |
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 Hungary |
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 Iceland |
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| Fifth | 4 |  Belgium |
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 Israel |
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 Bosnia and Herzegovina |
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 Ukraine |
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| Sixth | 4 |  Great Britain |
|
 Estonia |
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 Czech Republic |
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 Netherlands |
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| EuroBasket 2025 Pre-Qualifiers | First | 3 |  Macedonia |
| Poland |
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 Portugal |
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| Reallocation of unused quota | 1 | Croatia |
|
| FIBA World Rankings – Europe (November 2022) | 1 |  Bulgaria |
|
| Total | 16 | ||
