2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup qualification (Europe)

The 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup qualification for the FIBA Europe region, began in February 2020 and concluded in February 2023. The process determined the twelve teams that would qualify for the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup.

2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup

European Qualification
Tournament details
Dates	20 February 2020 – 27 February 2023
Teams	39
Official website
European qualifiers website European pre-qualifiers website
← 2019 2027 →

On 9 December 2019, the World Anti-Doping Agency initially handed Russia a four-year ban from all major sporting events, after RUSADA was found non-compliant for handing over manipulating lab data and lying to investigators. WADA prohibited the use of the Russian flag and anthem at major international sporting events.^[1] However, the Russia national team could still enter qualification, as the ban only applied to the final tournament to decide the world champions. Russia appealed the ruling to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS),^[2] which ruled in favour of WADA on 17 December 2020, but cut the ban from four to two years.^[3] Had Russia qualified, its players would have been able to use its name, flag and anthem at the World Cup, as a result of the nation's two-year ban expiring on 16 December 2022.^[3][4] However, Russia was later expelled from the tournament due to its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.^[5]

Format

FIBA Europe was allocated 12 berths at the World Cup. In total, 39 FIBA Europe teams took part in the qualification tournament. The qualification consisted of the following stages:

• Pre-Qualifiers
  • First round: Eight teams that did not advance to the EuroBasket 2022 qualifiers took part.
  • Second round: The four teams were joined by the eight teams that were eliminated from the EuroBasket 2022 qualifiers. Teams that advanced from the previous round were assigned to Pot 3, while teams eliminated from EuroBasket 2022 qualifiers were assigned to Pots 1 or 2, according to FIBA rankings. Austria withdrew before the round and was replaced by Luxembourg.
• Qualifiers
  • First round: 24 teams that qualified for EuroBasket 2022 and eight teams that advanced from Pre-Qualifiers were organized into eight groups of four. The top three teams of each group qualified for the second round.
  • Second round: The top 24 teams from the first round were organised into four groups of six, with results carried over from the first round. The top three teams of each group qualified for the World Cup.

Pre-qualifiers

Main article: 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup qualification (Europe) – Pre-qualifiers

Teams that did not advance to the EuroBasket 2022 qualifiers took part in the pre-qualifiers round.

First round

Group A

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification
1	Portugal	6	5	1	447	369	+78	11[a]	Pre-qualifiers second round
2	Belarus	6	5	1	498	347	+151	11[a]
3	Cyprus	6	1	5	354	481	−127	7[b]
4	Albania	6	1	5	391	493	−102	7[b]

Source: FIBA
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Head-to-head results; 3) Points difference; 4) Points scored.
Notes:

1. Portugal 131–129 Belarus
2. Cyprus 152–137 Albania

Group B

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification
1	Iceland	6	5	1	517	455	+62	11	Pre-qualifiers second round
2	Slovakia	6	3	3	467	459	+8	9
3	Luxembourg	6	2	4	481	495	−14	8[a]
4	Kosovo	6	2	4	455	511	−56	8[a]

Source: FIBA
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Head-to-head results; 3) Points difference; 4) Points scored.
Notes:

1. Luxembourg 179–173 Kosovo

Second round

Group C

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification
1	Sweden	4	3	1	379	273	+106	7[a]	Qualifiers
2	Portugal (H)	4	3	1	302	304	−2	7[a]
3	Luxembourg[b]	4	0	4	282	386	−104	4

Source: FIBA
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Head-to-head results; 3) Points difference; 4) Points scored.
(H) Hosts
Notes:

1. Sweden 156–139 Portugal
2. Luxembourg replaced Austria, who withdrew before the start of the round.^[6]

Group D

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification
1	Latvia (H)	4	4	0	362	284	+78	8	Qualifiers
2	Belarus	4	2	2	314	313	+1	6
3	Romania	4	0	4	279	358	−79	4

Source: FIBA
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Head-to-head results; 3) Points difference; 4) Points scored.
(H) Hosts

Group E

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification
1	Montenegro (H)	4	4	0	323	284	+39	8	Qualifiers
2	Iceland	4	2	2	329	308	+21	6
3	Denmark	4	0	4	278	338	−60	4

Source: FIBA
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Head-to-head results; 3) Points difference; 4) Points scored.
(H) Hosts

Group F

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification
1	North Macedonia (H)	4	2	2	270	263	+7	6	Qualifiers
2	Slovakia	4	2	2	259	262	−3	6
3	Switzerland	4	2	2	249	253	−4	6

Source: FIBA
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Head-to-head results; 3) Points difference; 4) Points scored.
(H) Hosts

Qualifiers

Main article: 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup qualification (Europe) – Qualifiers

First round

Group A

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification		LAT	BEL	SRB	SVK
1	Latvia	6	5	1	475	422	+53	11	Second round (Group I)		—	68–63	66–59	82–74
2	Belgium	6	4	2	460	392	+68	10			65–66	—	73–69	102–59
3	Serbia	6	3	3	448	439	+9	9			101–100	73–74	—	75–63
4	Slovakia	6	0	6	376	506	−130	6			60–93	57–83	63–71	—

Source: FIBA
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Head-to-head results; 3) Points difference; 4) Points scored.

Group B

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification		GRE	TUR	GBR	BLR
1	Greece	4	3	1	310	287	+23	7	Second round (Group I)		—	72–71	93–71	Annu.
2	Turkey	4	2	2	307	286	+21	6			67–76	—	84–67	Canc.
3	Great Britain	4	1	3	287	331	−44	5			78–69	71–85	—	Canc.
4	Belarus[a]	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	Expelled		Canc.	Annu.	Canc.	—

Source: FIBA
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Head-to-head results; 3) Points difference; 4) Points scored.
Notes:

1. Belarus was expelled, after beating Turkey 84–70 and losing against Greece 77–67.^[7]

Group C

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification		FIN	SLO	SWE	CRO
1	Finland	6	5	1	474	446	+28	11	Second round (Group J)		—	86–76	85–69	77–71
2	Slovenia	6	4	2	506	482	+24	10			79–83	—	94–89	97–69
3	Sweden	6	2	4	479	494	−15	8			72–62	81–84	—	98–105 (OT)
4	Croatia	6	1	5	462	499	−37	7			79–81	74–76	64–70	—

Source: FIBA
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Head-to-head results; 3) Points difference; 4) Points scored.

Group D

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification		GER	ISR	EST	POL
1	Germany	6	5	1	474	425	+49	11	Second round (Group J)		—	84–80	66–69	93–83
2	Israel	6	3	3	476	452	+24	9			67–71	—	96–77	69–61
3	Estonia	6	2	4	415	470	−55	8[a]			57–88	69–79	—	75–71
4	Poland	6	2	4	444	462	−18	8[a]			69–72	90–85 (OT)	70–68	—

Source: FIBA
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Head-to-head results; 3) Points difference; 4) Points scored.
Notes:

1. Estonia 143–141 Poland

Group E

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification		FRA	MNE	HUN	POR
1	France	6	5	1	464	343	+121	11	Second round (Group K)		—	73–67	81–40	94–56
2	Montenegro	6	4	2	464	428	+36	10			70–69	—	84–88	83–69
3	Hungary	6	3	3	399	469	−70	9			54–78	67–83	—	69–68
4	Portugal	6	0	6	386	473	−87	6			56–69	62–77	75–81	—

Source: FIBA
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Head-to-head results; 3) Points difference; 4) Points scored.

Group F

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification		LTU	CZE	BIH	BUL
1	Lithuania	6	5	1	462	421	+41	11	Second round (Group K)		—	72–83	77–56	89–69
2	Czech Republic	6	3	3	485	483	+2	9[a]			66–74	—	93–81	83–80
3	Bosnia and Herzegovina	6	3	3	472	486	−14	9[a]			77–78	97–90	—	76–73
4	Bulgaria	6	1	5	446	475	−29	7			70–72	79–70	75–85	—

Source: FIBA
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Head-to-head results; 3) Points difference; 4) Points scored.
Notes:

1. Czech Republic 183–178 Bosnia and Herzegovina

Group G

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification		ESP	GEO	UKR	MKD
1	Spain	6	5	1	504	402	+102	11	Second round (Group L)		—	89–61	88–74	80–44
2	Georgia	6	4	2	467	462	+5	10			82–76 (OT)	—	88–83	91–70
3	Ukraine	6	3	3	463	448	+15	9			76–77	79–66	—	78–61
4	North Macedonia	6	0	6	373	495	−122	6			65–94	65–79	68–73	—

Source: FIBA
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Head-to-head results; 3) Points difference; 4) Points scored.

Group H

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification		ITA	ISL	NED	RUS
1	Italy	4	3	1	367	348	+19	7[a]	Second round (Group L)		—	95–87	75–73	Canc.
2	Iceland	4	3	1	340	343	−3	7[a]			107–105	—	67–66	Canc.
3	Netherlands	4	0	4	297	313	−16	4			81–92	77–79	—	Canc.
4	Russia[b]	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	Expelled		Annu.	Annu.	Annu.	—

Source: FIBA
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Head-to-head results; 3) Points difference; 4) Points scored.
Notes:

1. Italy 200–194 Iceland
2. Russia was expelled, after beating Italy 92–78, Iceland 89–65 and Netherlands 80–69.^[8]

Second round

Group I

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification		LAT	SRB	GRE	TUR	BEL	GBR
1	Latvia	10	9	1	807	707	+100	19	2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup		—	66–59	67–57	111–85	68–63	79–63
2	Serbia	10	6	4	825	803	+22	16[a]			101–100	—	100–94 (OT)	77–76	73–74	101–83
3	Greece	10	6	4	775	764	+11	16[a]			60–80	97–92 (OT)	—	72–71	85–68	93–71
4	Turkey	10	4	6	782	742	+40	14[b]			74–83	72–79	67–76	—	86–52	84–67
5	Belgium	10	4	6	679	717	−38	14[b]			65–66	73–69	70–72	54–82	—	72–57
6	Great Britain	10	1	9	697	832	−135	11			80–87	68–74	78–69	71–85	59–88	—

Source: FIBA
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Head-to-head results; 3) Points difference; 4) Points scored.
Notes:

1. Serbia 192–191 Greece
2. Turkey 2–0 Belgium

Group J

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification		GER	FIN	SLO	SWE	ISR	EST
1	Germany	12	10	2	960	854	+106	22	2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup		—	94–80	90–71	73–66	84–80	66–69
2	Finland	12	9	3	978	934	+44	21			81–87	—	86–76	85–69	79–73	91–71
3	Slovenia	12	7	5	994	958	+36	19			81–75	79–83	—	94–89	79–87	104–83
4	Sweden	12	5	7	919	939	−20	17			50–67	72–62	81–84	—	71–68	71–72
5	Israel	12	4	8	944	948	−4	16[a]			67–71	95–97 (OT)	62–75	83–95	—	96–77
6	Estonia	12	4	8	870	977	−107	16[a]			57–88	68–76	79–78	82–87	69–79	—

Source: FIBA
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Head-to-head results; 3) Points difference; 4) Points scored.
Notes:

1. Israel 2–0 Estonia

Group K

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification		FRA	LTU	MNE	HUN	BIH	CZE
1	France	12	10	2	973	742	+231	22	2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup		—	70–63	73–67	81–40	92–56	95–60
2	Lithuania	12	9	3	922	852	+70	21			65–90	—	90–73	89–64	77–56	72–83
3	Montenegro	12	7	5	900	852	+48	19			70–69	56–65	—	84–88	88–69	88–70
4	Hungary	12	6	6	871	954	−83	18[a]			54–78	78–88	67–83	—	87–77	83–69
5	Bosnia and Herzegovina	12	6	6	927	987	−60	18[a]			96–90 (2OT)	77–78	74–66	83–78	—	97–90
6	Czech Republic	12	3	9	878	968	−90	15			59–72	66–74	56–65	79–82	93–81	—

Source: FIBA
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Head-to-head results; 3) Points difference; 4) Points scored.
Notes:

1. Hungary 165–160 Bosnia and Herzegovina

Group L

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification		ESP	ITA	GEO	ISL	UKR	NED
1	Spain	10	8	2	823	703	+120	18[a]	2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup		—	68–72	89–61	87–57	88–74	84–72
2	Italy	10	8	2	881	836	+45	18[a]			84–88 (OT)	—	91–84	95–87	85–75	75–73
3	Georgia	10	5	5	795	814	−19	15[b]			82–76 (OT)	84–85	—	77–80	88–83	77–66
4	Iceland	10	5	5	786	842	−56	15[b]			61–80	107–105 (2OT)	85–88	—	91–88 (OT)	67–66
5	Ukraine	10	4	6	811	797	+14	14			76–77	89–97	79–66	79–72	—	72–56
6	Netherlands	10	0	10	712	816	−104	10			64–86	81–92	80–88	77–79	77–96	—

Source: FIBA
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Head-to-head results; 3) Points difference; 4) Points scored.
Notes:

1. Spain 156–156 Italy. Teams ranked on overall points difference.
2. Georgia 165–165 Iceland. Teams ranked on overall points difference.

Statistical leaders

As of 27 February 2023

Player averages Category Player Team Average Points Elvar Már Friðriksson  Iceland 20.7 Rebounds Tryggvi Hlinason  Iceland 10.0 Assists Ludvig Håkanson  Sweden 7.4 Steals Aleksa Avramović  Serbia 2.3 Blocks Tryggvi Hlinason Aleksander Balcerowski  Iceland  Poland 2.2 Minutes Thaddus McFadden  Georgia 35.9 Efficiency Tryggvi Hlinason  Iceland 22.8

Team averages Category Team Average Points  Italy 88.1 Rebounds  Ukraine 41.6 Assists  Spain 21.4 Steals  France 10.5 Blocks  France 4.3 Efficiency  France 100.8