Basketball
The Austrian women’s basketball team will qualify for the European Championships in November for the first time in 22 years. Russia’s, Montenegro and Denmark will face each other in Group F on Friday. For VBV men, the first group (Group A) to qualify for EM 2025 is against Switzerland, Cyprus and Ireland.
The favorite in the pool with the Austrians is obviously three-time European champion Russia, who last finished sixth in the 2021 finals. ÖBV women with Montenegro will face the twelfth Eurobasket this year. Denmark qualified and won one of five defeats.
Team boss Hubert Schmidt sees a “good mix” of opponents for his team. Russia is a big name. Let’s wait to meet the best players. “In qualifying, 14 places will be awarded for the final round in two years, which will take place in Slovenia and Israel. Austria had also applied. Ten group winners and four top runners-up buy tickets.
VBV men travel the longest distance when trying to compete in a European championship for the first time since 1977. In November they enter the first of three possible rounds of pre-qualification for Eurobasket 2025, after which only the “real” qualifier.
Team boss Raul Corner talked about an interesting group, “Our goal is to get to the top two”. Out of the ten teams participating, three group winners and the best group runner-up will be promoted. The women will play in November this year and next and in February 2023. The men will also start in November and continue in February and June 2022.
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