Latvia will be one of four hosts of the Olympic qualifying basketball tournament, as confirmed by the International Basketball Federation on the 27th of November.
The other three tournaments will be hosted by Greece, Spain and Puerto Rico.
On Monday Latvian men’s basketball team will learn who their opponents will be. The lottery will be held at 20:00 (local time).
Based on the international ranking, which was restored after the World Cup finals, in the first lottery basket consists of Spain, Latvia, Lithuania and Slovenia. In the second basket there is Brazil, Italy, Greece and Poland. In the third there is Puerto Rico, Montenegro, Dominican Republic and Finland. In the fourth there is New Zealand, Georgia, Mexico and Lebanon. In the fifth there is Croatia, Côte d’Ivoire, Angola and the Philippines. In the sixth there is Egypt, the Bahamas, Cameroon and Bahrain.
Each qualification tournament will have A and B sub-groups.
No more than two teams from Europe will be allowed to be in each sub-group, and no more than three European teams in a single qualification tournament. No more than one team from America zone will be allowed in a single qualification sub-group and no more than one team from Asia and Oceania will be allowed in a single qualification tournament.
A total of 24 teams will participate in the final qualification game, which will be divided into four tournaments. Only the winners of those tournaments will be able to qualify for the Olympic Games.
Qualifying tournaments will be held from the 2nd of July to the 7th of July, 2024, but the men’s basketball tournament at the Paris Olympics will be held from 27th of July to the 10th of August, with group tournaments held in Lille and decisive games – in Paris.
As previously reported, for Latvia to become eligible to host the tournament, the government provided Latvian Basketball Association with funding of EUR 2.7 million. The majority of this amount – EUR 2.4 million – is intended to go towards licence fees.
The organisation of the basketball tournament in 2024 will cost the state budget another EUR 2.07 million. The overall state budget financing for the organisation of the Olympic Games qualification tournament is EUR 4.79 million, as estimated by the Ministry of Education and Science.
It is hoped that up to 10 000 fans of foreign teams could arrive to watch the tournament live. According to estimates from the Ministry of Economy, Latvia’s state budget may receive up to EUR 2.6 million from various purchases by those fans.
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