FIBA Europe Press Release, Dec 04, 2011: The Draw for the Qualification Round of EuroBasket 2013 and EuroBasket Women 2013 was completed in Freising, Germany on Sunday. There will be no easy path to the EuroBasket 2013 Final Round for some of Europe’s powerhouses as they were drawn in groups that include tough opposition.
In the Men there are 6 groups of which 5 consist of 5 teams and 1 of 6 teams. The teams which will finish at the top two spots and the four best of the third placed teams will make up the 16 teams who will join Spain, France, Russia, FYR of Macedonia, Lithuania, Greece, Great Britain and the hosts Slovenia in the EuroBasket 2013 Final Round.
The toughest groups are arguably A, the only group with six teams and F. In Group A Serbia meet neighbours Montenegro and Israel, both participants of EuroBasket 2011, as well as Slovakia, Estonia and Iceland. In Group F top seeds Turkey meet EuroBasket 2011 participants Italy and Portugal, alongside Czech Republic and Belarus. In Group B top seeds Germany face opposition from Bulgaria, Azerbaijan, Sweden and Luxembourg.
In Group C Croatia and Ukraine are up against Austria, Hungary and Cyprus while in Group D, the surprise of EuroBasket 2011, Georgia, meet Bosnia and Herzegovina, Latvia, Netherlands and Romania. In Group E Finland go up against Poland, Belgium, Switzerland and Albania.
EuroBasket Women 2013 Qualification Round:
The EuroBasket Women 2013 Qualification Round will see 25 teams battling it out in 5 groups of 5 teams each. The teams who finish in the top two positions in each group, a total of 10, will qualify for the Final Round in France, in 2013. Russia, Turkey, France, Czech Republic, Croatia and Great Britain have already punched their ticket to the tournament.
In Group A, Israel will have a tough task at hand against Belarus, Hungary, Ukraine and Portugal. In Group B the hosts of the last EuroBasket Women, Poland, meet that tournament’s surprise team from Montenegro alongside Serbia, Switzerland and Estonia.
Groups C and E seem to be the most finely balanced of all groups. In Group C Slovakia, Belgium, Netherlands, Lithuania and Slovenia will be fighting for the two tickets. In Group E top seed Greece are joined by Latvia, Italy, Finland and Luxembourg. In Group D Spain should be the favourites to go through but they will have to prove it on the court against Germany, Sweden, Romania and Bulgaria.
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