Defending Olympic champions USA will face a “strong” Serbia team and debutants South Sudan at the Olympic Games Paris 2024 after the men’s Olympic basketball tournament draw was made at the Patrick Baumann House of Basketball in Mies, Switzerland, on Tuesday 19 March.
The trio were drawn in Group C, with USA and Serbia clashing in their opening match of the tournament on 28 July.
Eight teams have already made it through to the group stage of the Olympic Games, and they will be joined by the four winners of the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournaments (OQT) to be played in Riga, Latvia, Valencia, Spain, Piraeus, Greece, and San Juan, Puerto Rico, from 2-7 July.
Paris 2024 hosts France, who lost to the USA in the final at Tokyo 2020, will begin their bid for their first Olympic gold on 27 July against the winner of the qualifying tournament in Latvia, before facing Japan, and ending with a mouth-watering tie against the current world champions Germany. They were drawn in Group B, while Australia, Canada and the winners of the qualifiers in Greece and Spain will compete in Group A.
The top two in each group plus the two best third-placed teams will advance to the knock-outs.
Paris 2024 men’s Olympic basketball tournament groups
Group A: Australia, winner of OQT Greece, Canada, winner of OQT Spain
Group B: France, Germany, Japan, winner of OQT Latvia
Group C: Serbia, South Sudan, winner of OQT Puerto Rico, USA
Which teams are competing in the Olympic Qualifying Tournaments?
OQT Greece: Greece, Slovenia, Croatia, Dominican Republic, New Zealand, Egypt
OQT Spain: Angola, Bahamas, Finland, Lebanon, Poland, Spain
OQT Latvia: Brazil, Cameroon, Georgia, Latvia, Montenegro, Philippines
OQT Puerto Rico: Bahrain, Cote d’Ivoire, Italy, Lithuania, Mexico, Puerto Rico