The Blues will know. The draw for the men’s and women’s 5×5 basketball tournaments at the 2024 Paris Olympics (July 26-August 10) will take place this Tuesday. Which tournaments will be played between the Pierre-Mauroy stadium in Villeneuve d’Ascq, for the first round, and the Accor Arena, in Paris, for the final phase, from July 27 to August 11. Team USA will arrive as defending champion and favorite among the men and women, while Bleus of Vincent Collet and Bleues of Jean-Aimé Toupane will aim for a medal on home soil, as in 2021.
The basketball world will have its eyes glued to the Swiss village of Mies, very close to Geneva, this Tuesday at 7 p.m. It is there, in the premises of “La Maison du Basketball Patrick Baumann”, the headquarters of Fiba, that the American Carmelo Anthony, triple gold medalist at the Olympics, and the Australian Penny Taylor, double Olympic medalist silver, will draw for the men’s and women’s tournaments in preparation for the Paris Olympic Games next summer. The draw will be followed on the Fiba YouTube channel. The French coaches, Vincent Collet (French men’s team) and Jean-Aimé Toupane (French women’s team), will answer journalists’ questions immediately (8:15 p.m.).
We already know the entire field and the 12 qualified for the ladies after the Olympic qualifying tournaments at the start of the year. Among the men, we only know eight of the 12 qualified. The final four will get their ticket through the TQOs (see below) in Valencia (Spain), Athens (Greece), Riga (Latvia) and San Juan (Puerto Rico).
The 12 qualified selections for women: France (organizing country), United States (2022 world champions), Belgium, Germany, Serbia, Spain, China, Japan, Canada, Puerto Rico, Nigeria (TQO).
The eight qualified selections for men: France (organizing country), United States, Canada, Japan, Germany, Serbia, Australia, South Sudan (2023 World Cup).
Several big names will be competing during the TQO, starting with our best Spanish enemies, who will play at home in Valencia. They will be in the pool of Lebanon and Angola before crossing with a group made up of Finland, Poland and the Bahamas. In Athens, we’re bound to see a superstar walk out the door. Luka Doncic’s Slovenia and Giannis Antetokounmpo’s Greece will compete for the ticket, with Croatia, New Zealand, the Dominican Republic and Egypt, to play spoilsport. Latvia, Brazil (Riga), Lithuania and Italy (San Juan) are also in the running. The fact remains that these tournaments will take place from July 2 to 7.
Athens (Greece): Slovenia, Croatia, New Zealand (Pool A), Greece, Dominican Republic, Egypt (Pool B)Riga (Latvia): Latvia, Georgia, Philippines (Pool A), Brazil, Montenegro, Cameroon (Pool B) )San Juan (Puerto Rico): Lithuania, Mexico, Ivory Coast (Pool A), Puerto Rico, Italy, Bahrain (Pool B)Valencia (Spain): Spain, Angola, Lebanon (Pool A), Bahamas, Finland, Poland (Pool B)
Four hats from three teams for both men and women. Hats made according to the Fiba classification. For men, the future winners of the TQOs are placed according to the ranking of the best team in the Fiba rankings in the four tournaments (Spain, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovenia). In both cases, France is placed in the third hat. For Vincent Collet’s players, who cannot face either Team USA or Canada in the first round (see below), we can imagine a group of death with world champion Germany, Australia and the winner of the Athens TQO (Slovenia or Greece?). It would be easier with TQO winners Valencia (Spain?) and Riga (Latvia?), as well as South Sudan.
MEN’S TOURNAMENT Pot 1: United States, TQO Valencia, Germany Pot 2: Serbia, Australia, TQO Riga Hat 3: Canada, France, TQO San Juan Hat 4: TQO Athens, Japan, South Sudan
WOMEN’S TOURNAMENT Hat 1: United States, China, Australia Hat 2: Spain, Canada, Belgium Hat 3: France, Japan, Serbia Hat 4: Puerto Rico, Nigeria, Germany
For both men and women, there will be three groups of four teams in the first round. The first two from each group will advance to the quarter-finals, as well as two of the best third-placed teams. Note that the first round will take place in Lille before the final phase in Paris. For the men, there will be two or three European teams in each group and no more than one team from other continents. We already know that Team USA will play in Group C, while the Blues will be in Group A or B. And this is to meet the demands of broadcasters.
For the ladies, it will be one or two teams from Europe per group and no more than one selection from another confederation. Team USA will be in group B or C. France too. There is therefore a one in two chance of having a France-USA poster on the Villeneuve d’Ascq side. For the final phase, no surprises: quarters, semis, final and small final at Bercy.
