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

Here is the number 13 team in the FIBA World Ranking Men, presented by Nike, the two-time Olympic medalists Italy. The Europeans have appeared in 13 Olympics and took the silver medal in 1980 and 2004. 

How they qualified

Italia legend Luigi Datome bid farewell to the game after the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023

Italy were at the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 for back-to-back appearances in the flagship event for the first time since 1986 and 1990. The Europeans started strong with a 14-point win over Angola. Italy lost the second game, 87-82 to Dominican Republic but bounced back with a seven-point victory over hosts Philippines. 

Italy opened many eyes in their opening game of the Second Round as they rallied from 16 points down with 14 minutes left to beat Serbia 78-76 - thanks to 30 points from Simone Fontecchio. The Italians finished the second group phase with a 16 point win over Puerto Rico to take first place in Group I. That meant Italy's first appearance in the top eight of a World Cup since 1998.

That also meant a date with USA in the Quarter-Finals, and that just days after USA were shocked by Lithuania. And Italy were no match for the extra motivated Americans with a 100-63 loss. The Italians ended up losing their final two games to finish eighth. Those were also the final games for Luigi Datome in an Italia jersey.

Italy's eighth place finish qualified them for the OQTs as one of the best 16 remaining teams that did not advance directly to the Summer Olympics.

Record at the Olympics

 Italy with silver medals in 2004

Appearances: 13 -1936 (7th); 1948 (17th); 1952 (17th); 1960 (4th); 1964 (5th); 1968 (8th); 1972 (4th); 1976 (5th); 1980 (2nd); 1984 (5th); 2000 (5th); 2004 (2nd); 2020 (5th)

Medals: 2 - 🥈(1980, 2004)

Recent OQT history*

* Since 2008

 
Italy have been in the OQTs the last two editions and the Europeans went through the extra tourney and landed at the Tokyo Olympics.

In 2016, Italy hosted the OQT in Turin but the home fans could not celebrate with their heroes. The Italians started with a 27-point blowout of Tunisia and then downed Croatia 67-60 to take first place in the group stage. Italy beat Mexico by 25 points in the Semi-Finals but in the Final, Croatia got their revenge with an 84-78 overtime win over the Italians. 

Italy qualified for the OQT again in 2020 with the event in Belgrade. Senegal did not participate in the OQT so Italy and Puerto Rico faced off in only game of the group stage - Italy winning 90-83.

The Italians blew out Dominican Republic 79-59 in the Semi-Finals to move into the Final against Serbia. Nicolo Mannion, Achille Polonara and Simone Fontecchio combined for 67 points as Italy defeated the hosts 102-95 to reach the Tokyo Olympics.

Last Olympics appearance 

 Italy beat Germany at the 2020 Olympics

Italy finally returned to the Olympics for the first time since claiming silver in 2004. The Italians' campaign in Tokyo started with a 92-82 win over Germany. Italy could not make it two straight wins as they fell to Australia 86-83. The team finished the group phase with an 80-71 victory against Nigeria to take second place in the group.

Italy faced off against fellow Europeans France in the Quarter-Finals. Italy fought back from 14 points down and evened the game 73-73 with less than 3 minutes to play. But France finished the game on an 11-2 run and Italy were defeated 84-75 and went back home.

The OQT Group Phase 

The OQT Puerto Rico is pretty open with the hosts Puerto Rico to go along with Europeans Italy and Lithuania. Italy will start the tournament as heavy favorites in their first game against Bahrain, even though the Asians won the Olympic Pre-Qualifying Tournament 2023 Syria. The Italians will move onto a showdown with Puerto Rico in the second game of the group. The home side will be hungry for revenge after Italy beat them 73-57 at the FIBA World Cup last summer - not to mention the last OQT in Belgrade.

The top two teams will go into the Semi-Finals with those sides facing Côte d'Ivoire, Lithuania and Mexico from Group A.

Italy OQT games

vs Bahrain (July 2)
vs Puerto Rico (July 4)

Players to watch

Italy have an offense that is carried by multiple players but the top offensive force is Simone Fontecchio, who showed his star level last summer at the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023. The forward will once again be a major leader for Italy this summer.

Italy's dynamic young duo of Gabriele Procida and Matteo Spagnolo will be ready to take on even more responsibility this summer - though Procida suffered an injury in April and his availability is unknown.

Matteo Spagnolo

Niccolo Melli remains the venerable leader in the post and is still going strong at 33 years old. Forwards Achille Polonara and Giampolo Ricci both turn 33 later in the year but also are great assets to the team.

Italy also have strong backcourt players in Marco Spissu, Nico Mannion, Stefano Tonut and Alessandro Pajola.

One wild card could be Danilo Gallinari as the NBA veteran has only played two games for the country since the 2020 Olympics. Those games were in the August 2022 window for the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 European Qualifiers. In early September - just before FIBA EuroBasket 2022 - Gallinari tore his left ACL and he missed the entire 2022-23 season. He will turn 35 during the Olympics but he played more than 50 games this season for three NBA teams and his veteran presence would likely be a boost in Puerto Rico.

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 Lithuania here.

FIBA