Basketball at the 2024 Summer Olympics: participants, format, where and when matches will be held

Basketball at the 2024 Summer Olympics: what is the format?

The men's and women's tournaments will follow a similar format: 12 teams will be divided into three groups of four teams and will play on an "each against each" basis.

Based on the results of the group stage, two teams from each group will qualify for the play-offs, as well as the top two teams who will finish in third place.

The play-offs will include the quarter-final, semi-final, third place match and final.

Basketball at the 2024 Summer Olympics: who will play?

According to the results of the draw, the following groups were formed.

Participants in the men's tournament:

• Group A: Australia, Greece, Canada, Spain
• Group B: France, Germany, Brazil, Japan.
• Group C: Serbia, South Sudan, Puerto Rico, USA.

Women's tournament participants:

• Group A: Serbia, Spain, China, Puerto Rico.
• Group B: Canada, Nigeria, Australia, France.
• Group C: Germany, USA, Japan, Belgium

Basketball at the 2024 Summer Olympics: when and where will the matches be played?

All group stage matches in both the women's and men's tournaments will take place at the Pierre Mauroy Stadium in Lille. The play-off stage will move to Paris and its matches will be played at the Accor Arena.

Group stage matches in the men's tournament will be played on 27-28, 30-31 July and 2-3 August. The play-off stage will begin on 6 August with quarter-final matches, while the semi-finals will take place on 8 August. The third place matches and the final will be held on 10 August.

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The women's tournament will begin on 28-29 July with group stage matches, which will also take place on 31 July–1 August, as well as 3-4 August. The semi-final matches will take place on 9 August, while the bronze and gold finals will take place on 11 August.

History of Basketball in the Olympics

As a full-fledged sport, basketball was first introduced in 1936. Prior to that, there were unofficial exhibition tournaments in 1904 and 1924.

Notably, prior to the 1992 games, NBA basketball players were banned from competing in the Olympics. This ban was lifted at the Barcelona games, after which the US team established total dominance in men's basketball, failing to win gold only once in 32 years - at the Athens games in 2004.

The women's tournament was first introduced at the Montreal Games in 1976, and the Americans have also excelled in it ever since. Only three times has gold not gone to the United States: in 1976 and 1980 to the Soviet women's basketball team, and to the Unified Team in 1992.

It is the U.S. men's and women's national teams that are the current gold medal winners in the basketball tournament.

When and where will the finals be held?

The men's final will take place on 10 August at 21:30 CET, while the women's final will take place the following day but at 15:30 CET. As mentioned earlier, both final matches will be played at the Accor Arena in Paris.