PR N°17 - Road to Rio 2016 tips off

MIES (Rio 2016) - The process to determine the 24 teams - 12 men's and 12 women's - that will compete in the Olympic Basketball Tournament (6-21 August 2016) at the 2016 Rio Games gets underway on Thursday.

Between 11 June and 3 October, a total of 68 men's teams and 50 women's teams from across FIBA's five regions - Africa, Americas, Asia, Europe and Oceania - will take part in continental championships, looking to punch their ticket for next year's Olympics in Brazil. Should they fall short of accomplishing this, they can still give themselves another shot at fulfilling their Olympic aspirations by securing places for the 2016 FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament (4-10 July 2016) and the 2016 FIBA Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament (13-19 June 2016).

Following the conclusion of all 10 continental championships, seven men's teams and five women's teams will have qualified directly for Rio 2016, while 12 men’s and 12 women’s teams will have earned spots for the Olympic Qualifying Tournaments.

ROAD TO RIO 2016 - HOW IT WORKS

Road to Rio 2016 (Men) - Click on graphic to enlarge

MEN
Teams already qualified: USA (as winners of the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup).

AfroBasket 2015 (Tunis, Nabeul, Tunisia, 19-30 August)
Winner qualifies automatically for 2016 Men’s Olympic Basketball Tournament.
2^nd- and 3^rd-place teams earn spots for 2016 FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament (OQT).

2015 FIBA Americas Championship (Mexico City, Mexico, 31 August-12 September)
1^st- and 2^nd-place teams qualify automatically for 2016 Men’s Olympic Basketball Tournament.
3^rd-, 4^th- and 5^th-place teams earn spots for 2016 FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament (OQT).

2015 FIBA Asia Championship (Changsha, China, 23 September-3 October)
Winner qualifies automatically for 2016 Men’s Olympic Basketball Tournament.
2^nd- and 3^rd-place teams earn spots for 2016 FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament (OQT).

EuroBasket 2015 (Germany, France, Latvia and Croatia, 5-20 September)
1^st- and 2^nd-place teams qualify automatically for 2016 Men’s Olympic Basketball Tournament.
3^rd-, 4^th-, 5^th- and 6^th-place teams earn spots for 2016 FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament (OQT).

2015 FIBA Oceania Championship (Melbourne, Australia and Wellington, New Zealand, 15 and 18 August)
Winner qualifies automatically for 2016 Men's Olympic Basketball Tournament.
2^nd-place team earns spot for 2016 FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament (OQT).

Road to Rio 2016 (Women) - Click on graphic to enlarge

WOMEN
Teams already qualified: USA (as winners of the 2014 FIBA Women’s World Championship).

AfroBasket Women 2015 (Yaounde, Cameroon, 24 September-3 October)
Winner qualifies automatically for 2016 Women's Olympic Basketball Tournament.
2^nd- and 3^rd-place teams earn spots for 2016 FIBA Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament (WOQT).

2015 FIBA Americas Women's Championship (Edmonton, Canada, 9-16 August)
Winner qualifies automatically for 2016 Women's Olympic Basketball Tournament.
2^nd-, 3^rd- and 4^th-place teams earn spots for 2016 FIBA Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament (WOQT).

2015 FIBA Asia Women's Championship (Wuhan, China, 29 August-5 September)
Winner qualifies automatically for 2016 Women's Olympic Basketball Tournament.
2^nd- and 3^rd-place teams earn spots for 2016 FIBA Women’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament (WOQT).

EuroBasket Women 2015 (Hungary and Romania, 11-28 June)
Winner qualifies automatically for 2016 Women's Olympic Basketball Tournament.
2^nd-, 3^rd- 4^th- and 5^th-place teams earn spots for 2016 FIBA Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament (WOQT).

2015 FIBA Oceania Women's Championship (Melbourne, Australia and Tauranga, New Zealand, 15 and 17 August)
Winner qualifies automatically for 2016 Women's Olympic Basketball Tournament.
2^nd-place team earns spot for 2016 FIBA Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament (WOQT).

At its meeting on 7-9 August, FIBA's Central Board will decide whether or not to grant automatic qualification to Brazil’s men’s and women’s national teams at the Olympic Basketball Tournaments of the 2016 Rio Games.

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About FIBA

FIBA (fiba.com) - the world governing body for basketball - is an independent association formed by 215 National Basketball Federations throughout the world. It is recognised as the sole competent authority in basketball by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

For further information about FIBA visit fiba.com or follow FIBA on facebook.com/fiba, twitter.com/fiba and youtube.com/fiba.