Mathieu Warnier, Media365: published on Sunday March 17, 2024 at 7:50 p.m.
While the draw for the Paris 2024 basketball tournaments will take place this Tuesday, the Blues have the assurance of not facing the United States in the first round, unlike what happened to them in Tokyo.
Vincent Collet must have appreciated it. This Friday, through a press release, the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) confirmed the terms of the draw for the Paris 2024 Olympic tournaments, which will take place this Tuesday in Mies. Among the conditions imposed for this event, there is one which caught the attention of the French team staff. After missing the 2023 World Cup, with an elimination in the first round and a final 18th place, the Blues plunged in the world rankings to reach ninth position at the end of the last international window. As a result, the French selection finds itself in hat 3 alongside Canada and Puerto Rico. A position which promises a tough draw for the Olympic vice-champions in Tokyo. Indeed, they are theoretically guaranteed to face Germany, the United States or the winner of the qualifying tournament (TQO) organized in Spain in the first round. In addition, there is the possibility of crossing Giannis Antetokounmpo’s Greece or Luka Doncic’s Slovenia.
FIBA and the IOC for the peace of broadcasters
These two teams will meet in Piraeus during a TQO, the winner of which is placed in pot 4. However, FIBA has confirmed that the draw will not allow us to experience the revenge of the last final won by ” Team USA” against the Blues but also to relive the first round clash in Tokyo, which saw the Tricolors dominate the Americans. For this, Vincent Collet and his players can unofficially thank… the broadcasters of the Olympic Games! Indeed, while the first round of the men’s and women’s basketball tournaments will take place at the Stade Pierre-Mauroy in Lille from July 27 to August 4, there will be four matches per day with groups A and B of the men’s table which will open the ball followed the next day by men’s group C and women’s group A. Finally, women’s groups B and C will conclude the program on the third day. A pattern that will be repeated three times to conclude this group phase.
A fiery quarter-final not impossible
The teams still in the running will return to Paris to play the final phase in Bercy from August 6 to 11. If the draw left the Americans and the French playing in the same group or in groups A and B, the scheduling of the matches would turn into a headache between the requests for NBCall-powerful broadcaster in the United States, and France Televisions, which will offer the event unencrypted in France. Indeed, in such a scenario it would be impossible to offer the two teams in the evening in Lille, that is to say in the afternoon on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. As a result, it has already been decided to place the United States in Group C when fate decides the position of the Blues. In this way, the wishes of the two main broadcasters of Paris 2024 will be respected. We will therefore have to wait until at least the quarter-finals to see two teams presented as the favorites for the gold medal do battle on the floor.
2024-03-17 18:50:00
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