FIBA World Cup Qualifiers: all qualified teams and Second Round groups / News - Basketnews.com

Credit: FIBA Credit FIBA

With only one game remaining in the 2023 FIBA World Cup European Qualifiers, the teams that have advanced through to the Second Round of the tournament are clear.

With Russia and Belarus being removed from the competition due to the countries' aggression and subsequent war in Ukraine, there were some changes in the Qualifiers that affected both the First Round matchups and the Second Round fights.

Further competition format

The top three teams from each group in the First Round advanced to the Second Round of the European Qualifiers. All teams will carry over the results from the First Round.

In the Second Round, each team will play games with the three teams from the other group over the final three windows. The Second Round windows will take place in August 2022, November 2022, and February 2023.

At the end of these additional six games per team, three teams from each group will qualify for the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023.

Following Belarus and Russia's removal from their respective groups and all results from both teams being annulled, the rest of the teams from their respective groups advanced to the Second Round of Qualifiers with four games played.

To uniformly classify teams across these two groups (H and G; A and B), the first-round games against the last ranked teams of Group G and Group A will not be considered for the classification of Group L and I.

2nd Round - The Groups Group I Group J Group K Group L Latvia (3-1) Finland (5-1) France (5-1) Italy (3-1) Greece (3-1) Germany (5-1) Lithuania (5-1) Iceland (3-1) Belgium (2-2) Slovenia (4-2) Montenegro (4-2) Georgia (2-2) Turkey (2-2) Israel (3-3) Hungary (3-3) Spain (2-1) Serbia (1-3) Sweden (2-4) Czech Republic (3-3) Ukraine (1-2) Great Britain (1-3) Estonia (2-4) Bosnia & Herzegovina (3-3) Netherlands (0-4)

The second stage of the competition will start in August, with the 4th window scheduled for August 22-30. The 5th window will take place on November 7-15, while the 6th and final window is scheduled for February 20-28, 2023.

Credit FIBA

Qualified Teams

Latvia(Group A) Belgium(Group A) Serbia(Group A) Greece(Group B) Turkey(Group B) Great Britain(Group B) Finland(Group C) Slovenia(Group C) Sweden(Group C) Germany(Group D) Israel(Group D) Estonia(Group D) France(Group E) Montenegro(Group E) Hungary(Group E) Lithuania(Group F) Czech Republic(Group F) Bosnia and Herzegovina(Group F) Georgia(Group G) Spain(Group G) Ukraine(Group G) Iceland(Group H) Italy(Group H) Netherlands (Group H)

Group A

Latvia surprisingly comfortably took first place in Group A. Cheered by a fierce crowd in Riga Arena, the Baltic state took down the group favorite Serbia, capturing the top spot in the group.

Serbia complicated its position in the Second Round even more against Belgium. In a match that was first postponed due to a power outage in Cair Arena in Nis, Belgium stunned Serbia and took second place in the group, leaving the group's favorites in third place with only three wins in their account.

However, with wins against Slovakia being annulled, Serbia is going to the Second Round with only one victory.

Pos Team GM W L HW HL PPG PPG A Diff STR L5 1 Latvia 6 5 1 3 0 79.2 70.3 8.8 +5 + Slovakia 60 93 Latvia + Latvia 66 59 Serbia + Latvia 68 63 Belgium + Belgium 65 66 Latvia + Latvia 82 74 Slovakia 2 Belgium 6 4 2 2 1 76.7 65.3 11.3 +2 + Serbia 73 74 Belgium + Belgium 102 59 Slovakia - Latvia 68 63 Belgium - Belgium 65 66 Latvia + Belgium 73 69 Serbia 3 Serbia 6 3 3 2 1 74.7 73.2 1.5 -2 - Serbia 73 74 Belgium - Latvia 66 59 Serbia + Slovakia 63 71 Serbia + Serbia 75 63 Slovakia - Belgium 73 69 Serbia 4 Slovakia 6 0 6 0 3 62.7 84.3 -21.7 -6 - Slovakia 60 93 Latvia - Belgium 102 59 Slovakia - Slovakia 63 71 Serbia - Serbia 75 63 Slovakia -

Group B

As Belarus was eliminated from the group following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, all three teams of the group qualified for the next stage of the Qualifiers.

Shane Larkin could not put his country through, and Greece won both games against Turkey, essentially capturing first place in just two matches.

Pos Team GM W L HW HL PPG PPG A Diff STR L5 1 Greece 4 3 1 2 0 77.5 71.8 5.8 +3 +++- 2 Turkey 4 2 2 1 1 76.8 71.5 5.3 +1 +--+ 3 Great Britain 4 1 3 1 1 71.8 82.8 -11 -3 ---+

Group C

Luka Doncic returned to the Slovenian national team with vengeance during the last European Qualifiers window. However, it was not enough to take first place in the group.

Having defeated Slovenia both times previously, Finland took away the hopes of Croatia to advance to the next round with Lauri Markkanen's clutch three-pointer in away territory. Croatia once again failed to qualify for a major basketball event.

Pos Team GM W L HW HL PPG PPG A Diff STR L5 1 Finland 6 5 1 3 0 79.0 74.3 4.7 +5 +++++ 2 Slovenia 6 4 2 2 1 84.3 80.3 4 +2 ++--+ 3 Sweden 6 2 4 1 2 79.8 82.3 -2.5 -3 ---+- 4 Croatia 6 1 5 0 3 77.0 83.2 -6.2 -2 --+--

Group D

Germany was the undisputed favorite in the group, and the team proved its status. Only a single loss at the very start of the Qualifiers against Estonia gave the country first place.

That win against Germany proved golden for Estonia. With Germany defeating Poland in the last game of the First Round behind Dennis Schroder's record-breaking 38 points, Estonia had just enough wins to advance to the next round due to a better head-to-head difference against Poland.

Pos Team GM W L HW HL PPG PPG A Diff STR L5 1 Germany 6 5 1 2 1 79.0 70.8 8.2 +5 +++++ 2 Israel 6 3 3 2 1 79.3 75.3 4 +1 +---+ 3 Estonia 6 2 4 1 2 69.2 78.3 -9.2 -3 ---+- 4 Poland 6 2 4 2 1 74.0 77.0 -3 -1 -++--

Group E

One more group with a clear favorite in mind. France took the only loss when its meaning was already minuscule. An absolute beating of Hungary in the very last match proved why France captured first place in the group.

Portugal was not a worthy opponent for any of the other three teams. With the important win against France, Montenegro took second place ahead of Hungary and will proceed to Second Round with 4 wins.

Pos Team GM W L HW HL PPG PPG A Diff STR L5 1 France 6 5 1 3 0 77.3 57.2 20.2 +1 +-+++ 2 Montenegro 6 4 2 2 1 77.3 71.3 6 +2 ++-++ 3 Hungary 6 3 3 1 2 66.5 78.2 -11.7 -1 -++-- 4 Portugal 6 0 6 0 3 64.3 78.8 -14.5 -6 -----

Group F

Lithuania hoped to be the only lossless team in the European before the final match against the Czech Republic. However, the away squad comfortably defeated the Lithuanians while gaining a head-to-head advantage at the same time.

The winner of third place and the subsequent advance to the next round was decided in the match between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Bulgaria on the very last day of the competition.

Bulgaria had to play without its main guy and superstar Sasha Vezenkov. Although limited in resources, Bulgaria managed to put up a tremendous fight on the away court. However, the fate of the Bulgarians was decided by Dzanan Musa, who hit a three-pointer with 2 seconds left in the match to bury Bulgaria and put the Bosnian through to the next round.

Pos Team GM W L HW HL PPG PPG A Diff STR L5 1 Lithuania 6 5 1 2 1 77.0 70.2 6.8 -1 -++++ 2 Czech Republic 6 3 3 2 1 80.8 80.5 0.3 +3 +++-- 3 Bosnia and Herzegovina 6 3 3 2 1 78.7 81.0 -2.3 +1 +---+ 4 Bulgaria 6 1 5 1 2 74.3 79.2 -4.8 -3 ---+-

Group G

Georgia gave Spain its first loss in the European Qualifiers in the last window of the First Round. Although the Spaniards miraculously took the game to overtime, clutch shots by Rati Andronikashvili and Thaddus McFadden gifted the underdogs a win and improved the position in the Second Round.

Ukraine can still take second place in the group if they defeat Spain in the last remaining match on July 7th due to having a better head-to-head result against Georgia.

Pos Team GM W L HW HL PPG PPG A Diff STR L5 1 Spain 5 4 1 3 0 85.4 65.2 20.2 -1 -++++ 2 Georgia 6 4 2 3 0 77.8 77.0 0.8 +1 +-++- 3 Ukraine 5 3 2 2 0 77.4 74.2 3.2 +2 ++-+- 4 North Macedonia 6 0 6 0 3 62.2 82.5 -20.3 -6 -----

Group H

Russia was eliminated from the group due to the country's aggression and the subsequent war in Ukraine. All past results were canceled, meaning all three remaining teams were sure about advancing to Second Round.

The Netherlands lost the two games against Iceland by a combined value of 3 points and will go to the next stage of the competition winless, essentially blocking the way for the country to qualify for the World Cup.

Pos Team GM W L HW HL PPG PPG A Diff STR L5 1 Italy 4 3 1 2 0 91.8 87.0 4.8 +2 ++-+ 2 Iceland 4 3 1 2 0 85.0 85.8 -0.8 +1 +-++ 3 Netherlands 4 0 4 0 2 74.3 78.3 -4 -4 ---- Like what we are doing? Support us by becoming BN+ member.