Basketball at the 2024 Summer Olympics – Women's qualification facts for kids

This article explains how women's basketball teams qualified for the Olympic tournament in Paris in 2024. Teams from all five areas of the world (called FIBA zones) got a chance to play.

France, as the host country for the 2024 Olympics, automatically got a spot in the women's 5x5 basketball event. Also, the team that won the 2022 FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup got a direct spot. This World Cup was held in Sydney, Australia. Even though these two teams qualified early, they still played in some of the later qualification games. This helped them prepare and also affected how other teams qualified.

How Teams Qualified for the Olympics

Twelve teams in total played in the women's basketball tournament at the Olympics. Each country sent a team of 12 players.

Host Nation: France

France automatically qualified for the women's basketball tournament because they were hosting the Olympic Games. This was officially decided in April 2023.

The Qualification Journey

The first team to qualify directly was the winner of the 2022 FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup. This big tournament happened in Sydney, Australia, from September 22 to October 1, 2022.

Just like for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, the host nation (France) and the World Cup winner could still play in other qualification tournaments. These included:

• FIBA Women's Olympic Pre-Qualifying Tournaments (for teams from Africa, the Americas, and Asia/Oceania).
• FIBA Women's EuroBasket (for European teams).
• Four global FIBA Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournaments (FWOQTs).

Teams from Africa, the Americas, and Asia (including Oceania) first played in their own regional pre-qualifying tournaments. For example, in Africa, Asia/Oceania, and Europe, teams qualified through their main continental championships. In the Americas, some teams played in a special pre-qualifying tournament. The top teams from these events then moved on to the bigger global FIBA Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournaments.

The United States team, which won the 2022 FIBA Women's World Cup, and the next best team from the 2023 FIBA Women's AmeriCup also went straight to the global Olympic Qualifying Tournaments.

The Final Qualifying Tournaments

The main global FIBA Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournaments took place in February 2024. Sixteen top teams from all continents played in these events. These teams were chosen based on how they did in the earlier pre-qualifying tournaments.

From each of the four global tournaments, the top teams earned their spots for Paris 2024. If the host nation (France) or the World Cup winner (USA) were in a tournament, only the next two best teams from that group qualified. Otherwise, the top three teams qualified.

Here's how teams advanced to the global tournaments:

• AfroBasket Women: Two teams from the 2023 Women's Afrobasket.
• FIBA Women's AmeriCup: Two teams from the pre-qualifying tournament for the Americas, one team from the 2023 FIBA Women's AmeriCup, and the United States (as World Cup winner).
• FIBA Women's Asia Cup: Four teams from the 2023 FIBA Women's Asia Cup.
• EuroBasket Women: Six teams from EuroBasket Women 2023, including France as the host nation.

Teams That Qualified

The locations for the final qualifying tournaments were announced in September 2023. In the groups where the USA or France played, only two teams could qualify because those two countries already had their spots.

How They Qualified	Date	Where It Happened	Spots Given	Qualified Team
Host nation	N/A	N/A	1	France
2022 FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup	Sept 22 – Oct 1, 2022	Sydney	1	United States
2024 FIBA Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournaments	Feb 8–11, 2024	Xi'an	2	China
				Puerto Rico
		Antwerp	2	Belgium
				Nigeria
		Belém	3	Australia
				Germany
				Serbia
		Sopron	3	Japan
				Spain
				Canada
Total			12

More About the Qualifying Tournaments

You can find more details about these tournaments on the main page:

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