The second round of the 2024 FIBA Basketball World Cup has begun, and just 16 nations remain in contention for a gold medal out of the original 32.
However, the FIBA World Cup is not ended just because 16 nations have been eliminated from medal contention. The nations that didn’t make it to the second round will compete in the Classification Round, where they will still compete for a chance to qualify for the Olympic Games in Paris in 2024.
Qualification for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games :
At the 2024 FIBA World Cup, seven other nations will join the host nation France in earning spots in the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. That leaves four “wild card” spots for nations to qualify via the 2024 FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournaments after being eliminated at the 2024 FIBA World Cup.
There will be one spot each for Africa, Asia, and Oceania, as well as two spots each for the Americas and Europe. A ticket to France will be awarded to the nations from those areas that finish first in the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2024.
How teams can qualify for the Paris 2024 Olympics through the Classification Round :
A team can still qualify for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games even if they didn’t make it beyond the opening round of the 2024 FIBA World Cup.
Japan is the only nation from the FIBA Asia region to have won in the first round of the Group Stage, giving it the advantage against Lebanon (0-3), the Philippines (0-3), China (0-3), Jordan (0-3) and Iran (0-3).
Japan only needs to finish higher than those five nations in the Classification Group, as FIBA Asia automatically qualifies one nation for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
In the same way, teams from the FIBA Africa group, including Angola (1-2), South Sudan (1-2), Cape Verde (1-2), Cote d’Ivoire (1-2), and Egypt (1-2), all lost in the Classification Round despite winning one game in the first round.