It’s done. With just under six months to go before the event, the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) has completed the qualification process for the 2023 Men’s World Cup, to be held from 25 August to 10 September in the Philippines, Japan and Indonesia. The 32 qualified teams are now known. The 2023 edition will see the presence of nine countries absent from the previous edition in 2019. Cape Verde, Georgia, Latvia and South Sudan will also participate for the first time. Egypt, Finland, Lebanon, Mexico and Slovenia will be celebrating their return to international basketball’s premier event. The next step is the group draw. The draw is scheduled for Saturday 29 April at the Araneta Coliseum in Manila, one of the venues for the games in the Philippines. In addition, the 28 teams that played in the second round of the FIBA 2023 World Cup qualifiers but failed to qualify, as well as the 12 top-ranked teams that did not participate in the second round, will take part in the Olympic pre-qualification tournaments for the Paris 2024 Games. Among the latter teams is Russia, the highest-ranked European team that did not qualify for the 2023 World Cup. A final decision on their participation in the Olympic qualification route will be made on 28 April at the FIBA Central Board.
