Mies (Switzerland), June 17 (IANS) The women’s basketball pre-qualifying tournament for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games will be held in Guadalajara, Mexico, the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) said.

Eight teams that failed to qualify for the 2026 FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup in Berlin in September will compete in the Olympic pre-qualifier from August 17 to 23. Only the winner of the tournament will qualify for the FIBA Women’s Olympic Qualifying Tournaments set for February 2028.

Argentina, Brazil, Canada, New Zealand, the Philippines, Senegal, South Sudan and Mexico, which replaces Colombia, will have another chance to pursue their Olympic dreams.

Mexico, as the best non-qualified team in the FIBA World Ranking for Women from the same continent, will replace Colombia, who are unable to participate.

The 16 participating teams for the Olympic qualifiers will include the top two teams from Africa, the top four each from the Americas and Asia, and the top six from Europe, excluding from the relevant region the winner of the pre-qualifying tournament.

Host United States, pending approval by the FIBA Central Board, and the winner of the 2026 World Cup, along with the other 10 best teams from the 2028 qualifying tournaments, will compete at LA28.

The draw for the pre-qualifier will be held at FIBA headquarters on Friday here at the Patrick Baumann House of Basketball on Friday.

The eight FIBA Women’s Olympic Pre-Qualifying Tournament nations will be drawn into two groups of four. Each team will play against the other opponents in their group in a single round-robin format, meaning at least three games for every country heading to Guadalajara.

The top two teams from each group will advance to the Semi-Finals, with the winner of the subsequent Final taking the ticket to the FIBA Women’s Olympic Qualifying Tournaments 2028.

For those nations that do not qualify in Guadalajara, they will all remain on the Road to LA 2028. They can still all progress to the FIBA Women’s Olympic Qualifying Tournaments via next year’s respective Women’s Continental Cups 2027.