This is Susijeng’s contribution in the remaining World Cup matches – this is how basketball’s Olympic qualifying places are decided

This week, the Finnish men’s national basketball team is seeking a place in the lower extension group of the World Cup for next year’s Paris Olympics qualification.

Susijeng’s shock loss to Japan sealed the fact that Finland will continue its games in the World Cup after Tuesday’s match against Germany in the lower continuation series. Susijengi is fighting for places 17–32 at the World Championships, but above all also for the Olympic qualification places.

Twelve teams will qualify for next year’s Olympic basketball in Paris. One of them is already certain, that is the host France. The other eleven places are divided so that seven countries get a direct place in the World Cup. The remaining four places will be allocated in the Olympic qualification next year.

Now Finland is looking for a place in that 24-team Olympic qualifier, from which one could still try to make an effort at the Paris Olympics. However, there are only 4 spots available for the Olympics in the qualification.

Finland’s road to the Olympics itself, but also to the Olympic qualifiers, still has many twists and turns. The road to the Olympic qualification also experienced a bump when Finland lost to Japan. With one initial group win and two follow-on series wins, Finland would have secured a place in the Olympic qualification. Even with two wins in the follow-up series, it is possible.

A total of 19 teams can qualify for the Olympic qualifiers from the World Championships. In other words, out of a total of 32 World Cup teams, 26 get a place in either the Olympics or the Olympic qualifiers.

From Finland’s point of view, however, the situation is made difficult by the fact that direct Olympic places and Olympic qualifying places are allocated based on certain country quotas. For Europeans, the sieve is particularly tight. For the two best of the World Cup, a direct Olympic place and after that the qualifying places based on the World Cup ranking.

The last round of the preliminary groups of the World Cup has yet to be played, so it is difficult to speculate on the qualifying places. Before the final round of the initial group, it seems that the top 16 can have up to 10 countries from Europe at best.

Apart from Finland, the Olympic host France, which has already secured its place, has bounced out of the upper continuation group as the only European country. However, the situation is still open in several blocks.

The large number of European teams in the top 16 does not hurt Finland in the fight for the Olympic qualification places.

Ten European teams in the upper extension groups of the World Cup would practically mean that the best two of them would get an Olympic qualification spot and the other eight would reach the Olympic qualification. All of them would certainly be ahead of Finland in the ranking, so there would only be eight spots left for the Olympic qualification.

There are also more teams coming from America to the upper secondary series than they have places directly to the Olympics or Olympic qualifiers. America has two direct quota places for the Olympics and one place for the Olympic qualification.

Based on the current situations, five countries from America would be going to the upper secondary series: the Dominican Republic, the United States, Brazil, Puerto Rico and Canada. Two of these teams would therefore end up in the ranking comparison and overtake Finland in it. At the moment, at least ten teams would be ahead of Finland in the ranking comparison.

That would leave six ranking places available for the Olympic qualifiers in the lower follow-on series. At the moment, Susijengi would secure its Olympic qualification spot by being among the top two in its next group, but at the same time, it should not be among the two weaker group runners-up as a whole.

The final number of those who will qualify for the Olympic qualifiers from the lower secondary series of the World Cup can still be announced during Tuesday and Wednesday. For example, the filling of quota places in Asia and Africa and their effect on the ranking also throw their own spoon into the soup.

Therefore, with suitable results, the third place in the play-off group may be enough, but the starting point for getting an Olympic qualification place would be a ranking in the top two in the play-off group and with as good a goal difference as possible.

The further blocks are played in the same cities where the teams have already played their initial blocks. So Finland will continue its games in Okinawa. Game days are Thursday and Saturday. Finland will face opponents from group F in its next group, which means Cape Verde, Georgia or Venezuela will likely be coming up against them. Before the final round, it would seem that Cape Verde and Venezuela would remain Finland’s opponents for the rest of the week.

The final World Championship ranking is decided in the lower continuation blocks so that the first places in all four different continuation blocks are put into their own comparison, the second places into their own comparison, the third places into their own comparison and the fourth places into their own comparison.

Sources:

Olympic Qualifiers in Basketball (FIBA)

Competition format of the World Cup and International Basketball Rules (FIBA)