In Tuesday’s draw for the World Cup qualifiers, Croatia learned its European opponents. Croatia will face Sweden, Slovenia, and Finland in the hope of qualifying for a place in the 2023 FIBA World Cup in Indonesia, Japan, and the Philippines (Jakarta, Okinawa, Manila).
The draw took place at the Patrick Baumann Basketball House in Mies, Switzerland. It was closed due to the epidemiological situation and could only be watched live on the FIBA YouTube channel.
The qualifiers will be played in six cycles over 15 months. Eighty countries acquired the right to qualify, and in a total of 420 matches, 32 national teams will eventually qualify.
32 national teams entered the qualifications at the European level, and we will only see 12 of them at the World Cup. The national teams were divided into eight groups (A-H) of four teams, and in the first phase, each team will have the opportunity to play six games, i.e., home and away games against each opponent in the group.
Group A: Serbia, Slovakia, Belgium, Latvia
Group B: Belarus, Great Britain, Greece, Turkey,
Group C: Croatia, Sweden, Finland, Slovenia
Group D: Israel, Germany, Estonia, Poland
Group E: France, Portugal, Hungary, Montenegro
Group F: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Czech Republic
Group G: Georgia, Northern Macedonia, Spain, Ukraine
Group H: Russia, the Netherlands, Iceland, Italy
The last-place team in each group is eliminated from the race for the World Cup, and four new groups (I-L) are formed with six participating countries each, which transfer their results to the next phase. Each national team will play six games at home and away against three national teams in their group with which they did not meet in the qualifiers. After all the matches are played, the three first-place teams from each group will win a ticket to the World Cup.
22.11-30.11, 2021
25.11. Croatia – Slovenia
28.11. Finland – Croatia
21.2-1.3, 2022
25.2. Croatia – Sweden
28.2. Sweden – Croatia
27.6-5.7, 2022
30.6. Slovenia – Croatia
3.7. Croatia – Finland
22.8-30.8, 2022
7.11.-15.11.2022.
20.2.-28.2.2023.
Since the European Championship starts on September 1, 2022, the fourth qualifying cycle of the World Cup will also serve as a preparation for the European Championship.
Source: HKS
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