Basketball world champion Germany is already meeting hosts France with super talent Victor Wembanyama in the preliminary round of the Olympic Games in Paris. This was the result of the draw for the preliminary round groups in Mies, Switzerland. National coach Gordon Herbert’s team can still be satisfied with the draw for the Olympic tournament this summer.
Apart from the ambitious hosts, things could have been much worse from the other two pots. In addition to France, Dennis Schröder and Co. will also face Japan and the winner of the qualifying tournament in Riga (July 2nd to 7th). The third opponents are Georgia, the Philippines, Latvia, Brazil, Cameroon and Montenegro. France and Germany will be clear favorites in the group of four.
The co-favorites Canada and Australia are certainly in Group A. Former world champions Spain and Slovenia could follow suit with star Luka Doncic in the qualifying tournaments. The top favorite USA, defeated by Germany at the World Cup, will face World Cup finalist Serbia in Group C.
German women meet the USA
The German women, who are taking part in the Olympics for the first time, had a much tougher time than the men placed in pot one. In the preliminary round they will face Olympic champions and world champions USA, European champions Belgium and Japan.
The Olympic basketball tournaments will take place in Lille (preliminary round) and Paris (final round) and will last from July 27th to August 11th. In the preliminary round with three groups of four, the first and second teams advance. The two best third parties qualify for the quarter-finals.
