Split awarded Olympic basketball qualifying tournament hosting rights

Split (Photo: Spencer Davis)

15 November 2019 – The FIBA Executive Committee announced on Friday the hosts of the men’s Olympic basketball qualifying tournaments with the Croatian city of Split awarded the hosting rights.

The road to Tokyo for the men will see 24 teams compete in four qualifying tournaments of six teams each. The four remaining places in the 12-team Tokyo 2020 Olympic field are reserved for the winners of each of the four tournaments.

“The National Federations of Canada (Victoria), Croatia (Split), Lithuania (Kaunas) and Serbia (Belgrade) have been awarded the hosting rights of the four FIBA Men’s Olympic Qualifying Tournaments, from June 23 to 28, 2020,” FIBA said in a statement.

The FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournaments include the 16 best-placed non-qualified teams from the FIBA Basketball World Cup and two highest-ranked countries per region. Croatia, who won their place in the tournament thanks to their world ranking of no.14, should be able to rely on all seven of their NBA stars.

Nations to play in FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournaments

Europe – Slovenia, Czech Republic, Poland, Italy, Greece, Russia, Germany, Turkey, Croatia, Serbia, Lithuania
Americas – Brazil, Venezuela, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Canada, Mexico, Uruguay
Africa – Tunisia, Angola, Senegal 
Asia & Oceania – China, South Korea, New Zealand

The draw for the tournaments will take place on 27 November 2019. 

(Photo: FIBA)

Teams who have already qualified for the 2020 Olympics are; Argentina, Australia, France, Iran, Japan, Nigeria, Spain and the United States. 

Croatia qualified for their last Olympic Games appearances via qualifying tournaments. Split’s Spaladium Arena will be the venue for the tournament.