Serbia lost in the final of the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023. Their expectations for Paris 2024 are really high.

MIES (Switzerland) The draw for the Men’s Olympic Basketball Tournament Paris 2024 took place on March 19. It is now time to meet the teams who have already qualified for the Olympics, with the goal of becoming Olympic champions this summer.

Serbia, the World Cup 2023 finalists and 2016 Olympic silver medalists, is ranked fourth in the FIBA World Ranking Men, as given by Nike. European athletes will compete in the Olympics for the second time.

Before the World Cup began, Serbia was not a major favorite to win, but legendary head coach Svetislav Pesic created an excellent team strategy and an impressive defensive pattern. The Serbs began with a 42-point victory over China and subsequently defeated Puerto Rico by 17 points. The final first-round game was a 32-point triumph over South Sudan.

The Second Round began with a surprise as Italy defeated Serbia 78-76, with Pesic’s squad surrendering a 16-point lead. Serbia rebounded strongly, defeating the Dominican Republic by 23 points to finish second in the group behind Italy. Serbia defeated Lithuania 87-68 in the quarter-finals before defeating Canada 95-86 in the semi-finals.

Serbia’s title ambitions were shattered in the Finals, where they lost to Germany 83-77. The game was close for the opening 25 minutes before Germany pulled away, and Serbia was unable to recover. Serbia qualified for the Olympics as one of the top two European finishers at the FIBA World Cup after reaching the Final.

Serbia has a rich Olympic history, having competed as part of Yugoslavia and Serbia and Montenegro. Serbia has only competed in one Olympic Games under their flag. That happened in 2016, when Sasa Djordjevic led his country to the silver medal.

Serbia competed in the 2016 FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament Belgrade before the Rio Olympics, defeating Puerto Rico 108-77 to qualify for their first Olympics as Serbia.

The Serbians began the Rio Games with an easy victory over Venezuela, but then stumbled with a 15-point loss to Australia, followed by a 76-75 setback to France and a 94-91 loss to the United States. Serbia concluded the group stage strong, defeating China by 34 points to finish fourth.

Serbia won the third quarter 34-14 against Croatia in the Quarter-Finals, but they had to stave off a dramatic Croatian rally to win 86-83. Serbia exacted revenge on Australia in the Semi-Finals, allowing only 14 points in the first half of an 87-61 win over the Boomers.

Serbia, on the other hand, was no match for the United States in the Gold Medal Game, losing 60-28 in the middle two quarters and eventually succumbing to 96-66. But Djordjevic and company had done their duty and returned home with a silver medal around their necks.