MIES (Switzerland) - It is now time to meet the six teams in this FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament 2024 Spain with the dream of becoming Olympic champions this summer.

Here is the number 20 team in the FIBA World Ranking Men, presented by Nike, the two-time Olympics participants Finland. The Europeans are looking to end a 60-year drought since their last Olympics showing in 1964.

How they qualified

Finland qualified for the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 for the country's second appearance in FIBA's flagship event after they took 22nd in their debut in 2014.

They were drawn into Group E in Okinawa, Japan and opened their campaign with a 98-72 loss against Australia. Finland could not overcome the home crowd and dropped their second game to hosts Japan 98-88. Finland failed to pick up even one win in the First Round as they lost by 26 points to eventual champions Germany.

Finland moved into the 17-32 Classification Round and finally secured their first win in the tournament by beating Cape Verde 100-77. The Europeans made it two straight with a 15-point victory over Venezuela.

Finland eventually finished in 21st place at the World Cup. That qualified them for the OQTs as one of the best 16 remaining teams that did not advance directly to the Summer Olympics and were not the highest-ranked team from each Africa, Americas and Asia and Oceania.

Record at the Olympics

The Athletes Village at the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki

Appearances: 2 -1952 (15th); 1964 (11th)
Medals: 0

Recent OQT history*

* Since 2008

The 32-year-old Sasu Salin would love to reach the country's first Olympics

Finland did not make their debut in Division A of FIBA EuroBasket until 2009 and have not participated in an Olympic Qualifying Tournament thus far. It will be the Wolfpack's debut in Spain.

Last Olympics appearance

Finland would love to give their fans a chance to head to Paris to experience the Olympics

Finland appeared in Olympic basketball for the first time in 1952 as hosts and lost all three games to finish 15th overall.

The next appearance - and last one since then - came in 1964 in Tokyo. Finland were in Group B and started on a high note with an 80-72 win over Korea. They lost by 26 points to USA and then by 18 to Uruguay before another loss, 61-54 versus Brazil. Finland grabbed a second win by fending off Australia 61-59 and followed that with a 63-59 triumph over Peru. The Europeans finished off the group stage with 29-point loss against Yugoslavia.

With a 3-4 record, Finland moved into the 9-12 Classification Round. They lost to hosts Japan 54-45 but rebounded to knock off Mexico 73-72 to finish 11th place.

The OQT Group Phase

Sasu Salin knows Spain from playing with Spanish club Tenerife

Finland will head to Valencia this summer for the OQT Spain and tip off their Group B against the Bahamas, who won the FIBA Olympic Pre-Qualifying Tournament 2023 - Argentina. The second game will be against Poland, whom they beat 89-59 in the group stage of the FIBA EuroBasket 2022.

The two top teams from both Groups A and B advance to the Semi-Finals and Finland would have to face one of Spain, Angola, and Lebanon with another victory in the Final needed to book a spot in the Paris Olympics.

Finland OQT games

vs Bahamas (July 2)
vs Poland (July 4)

Players to watch

Finland have one of the most dominant leading players for a national team with Lauri Markkanen the country's uber-star. The power forward showed what he can do at last summer's World Cup where he ranked second with 24.8 points per game. No other Finnish player averaged in double figures.

Mikael Jantunen

Sasu Salin remains one of the world's deadliest shooters at 32 years old and Mikael Jantunen is getting better and better as an eventual Robin to Markkanen's Batman in the forward position. Elias Valtonen also offers a versatile game that can help a team win.

Miro Little

Edon Maxhuni and Miro Little, who turn 20 shortly before the OQT, are also keys at the guard spot while Alexander Madsen provides a strong force in the middle.

Qualified Team Focus series

During coming weeks and months, we will continue to check out all teams ready to step out as part of our Qualified Team Focus series. You can already take a look at Spain and Poland here.

FIBA