Canada finds out opponents for men's and women's basketball at 2024 Paris Olympics
Canada’s path to getting a medal in basketball at the Olympics became a little bit clearer today.
On Tuesday, FIBA and the International Olympics held the draw to decide the group stage matchups for the men’s and women’s tournament at the Paris 2024 Olympics later this summer.
On the men’s side, Canada will be facing Australia and two teams still looking to qualify in upcoming tournaments.
Canada themselves are currently ranked seventh in the world, while the Australians are ranked fifth.
At least in the group stage, they’ll be avoiding some powerhouses — a star-studded American squad, a Serbian team led by two-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokic, and a host French team featuring prospective NBA rookie of the Year Victor Wembanyama.
But there are still plenty of quality opponents left on the table, including a possible matchup with World No. 2 Spain, should they qualify.
It should be noted that Canada beat Spain 88-85 in last year’s FIBA World Cup, with a comeback victory that propelled them through to the tournament quarterfinal and qualified them for the Olympics in the process. They also beat the possible next-ranked opponent — No. 11 Slovenia — in that quarterfinal by a 100-89 score.
On the men’s side, here are the 24 eligible teams left to qualify for the tournament, with teams Canada could possibly play in the group stage bolded.
- Spain (2)
- Latvia (8)
- Lithuania (10)
- Slovenia (11)
- Brazil (12)
- Italy (13)
- Greece (14)
- Poland (15)
- Puerto Rico (16)
- Montenegro (17)
- Dominican Republic (18)
- Finland (20)
- New Zealand (21)
- Georgia (23)
- Mexico (25)
- Lebanon (28)
- Croatia (30)
- Ivory Coast (33)
- Angola (34)
- Philippines (38)
- Egypt (41)
- Bahamas (57)
- Cameroon (67)
- Bahrain (69)
Here’s how the full men’s draw looks:
The stage is set 🔥
Here's how the Men’s Olympic Basketball groups look for #Paris2024 👀 pic.twitter.com/MFX5ylqtEe
— FIBA (@FIBA) March 19, 2024
Meanwhile, the Canadian women were placed in a group with Australia, Nigeria, and France. With all 12 teams on the women’s side qualified, the three groups are fully set.
Allez! 🔜 🇫🇷
The Women's Olympic Basketball groups are set for #Paris2024! 🔥 pic.twitter.com/0osYCk2oh2
— FIBA (@FIBA) March 19, 2024
The Canadian women are ranked fifth in the world, the Australians ranked third, the French ranked seventh, and the Nigerians ranked 12th.
Canada went 1-2 at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in women’s basketball, losing to Spain and Serbia while beating South Korea.
In both the men’s and women’s tournaments, eight of the 12 teams make it through the group stage to the quarterfinal — the top two teams in each group, as well as two of the third-place teams, with point differential counting as the first tiebreaker.
The men’s tournament kicks off on July 27, with the women’s tournament starting a day later on July 28.
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