World Cup quarterfinals set; Canada qualifies for 2024 Olympics

The Canadian national team pulled off a comeback victory over Spain on Sunday to secure a spot in the World Cup quarterfinals and a place in the 2024 Olympics, joining Team USA as the two FIBA Americas squads to achieve both feats.

It will be the first time Canada has been in the men’s basketball event at the Olympics since 2000. It’s also the first time the team has made the final eight of the FIBA World Cup since 1994.

The Canadian World Cup team is a talented one led by NBAers Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Dillon Brooks, Luguentz Dort, and Kelly Olynyk, among others. For next year’s Olympics in Paris, the Canadians will also likely attempt to recruit other NBA players who didn’t take part in this year’s tournament, including Nuggets guard Jamal Murray and Warriors forward Andrew Wiggins.

The loss to Canada means that Spain, as well as Brazil (who would have made the Olympics if Canada had lost today), will need to compete next summer for a spot in the 2024 Olympics. Additionally, the World Cup will have a new champion — the Spaniards won in 2019.

Italy, Latvia, and Serbia were the other teams to claim spots in the 2023 World Cup quarterfinals on Sunday.

Italy hasn’t made the quarterfinals since 1998 and has never won a World Cup medal; Latvia has never made the quarterfinals and is the smallest country to ever make the final eight of a major FIBA tournament, per HoopsHype; Serbia, meanwhile, lost the gold medal game to Team USA in 2014 but missed out on a medal in 2019, finishing fifth.

The matchups in the quarterfinals are as follows:

• Tuesday:
  • Lithuania vs. Serbia
  • U.S. vs. Italy
• Wednesday:
  • Canada vs. Slovenia
  • Germany vs. Latvia

In the semifinals on Friday, the winner of the Lithuania/Serbia game will face the winner of Canada/Slovenia, while the winner of U.S./Italy will square off against the winner of Germany/Latvia. The victors in those games will compete in the final next Sunday.

Six teams — U.S., Canada, France, Australia, Japan, and South Sudan — have qualified for the 2024 Olympics, with six spots still up for grabs. Four of those participants won’t be determined until next year’s qualifying tournaments, while the top two European teams in this year’s World Cup will earn the other two. Germany, Slovenia, Serbia, Lithuania, Italy, and Latvia all remain in the running for one of those two Olympic berths.