GB drawn with Argentina, Lebanon and Rwanda
Great Britain has been drawn in Group D with Argentina, Lebanon and hosts Rwanda for the FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup 2026 Pre-Qualifying Tournament.
The draw for the first ever pre-qualifying tournament for women, which will be held in Mexico and Rwanda between 19 and 25 August, took place in Mies, Switzerland today (Thursday 25 April). The participating teams were distributed across four pots for the draw, based on the FIBA World Rankings for women, with the two hosts included in pot one.
First up for the Great Britain women will be Argentina on Monday 19 August, with the team then taking on Lebanon on 21 August. The final game will be against hosts Rwanda on Thursday 22 August. All tip times will be confirmed closer to the event.
Mark Lloyd, General Manager for the Great Britain Basketball senior women’s team, who are currently ranked 21st in the world, said: “We are delighted to be taking part in the World Cup Pre-Qualifying Tournament. In particular we very much look forward to testing ourselves against nations from the FIBA zones outside of Europe, as generally we have fewer opportunities to do this.
“The group looks to be a competitive one with games against Argentina, Lebanon and Rwanda and we will now put our plan together to arrive in Kigali ready for the group stage.
“This will build on the earlier part of our busy summer programme which includes our game against Germany in London on Sunday 21 July.”
Group A: Czechia, Korea, Mali, Venezuela
Group B: Mexico, Montenegro, Mozambique, New Zealand
Group C: Brazil, Hungary, Philippines, Senegal,
Group D: Argentina, Great Britain, Lebanon, Rwanda
The 16 participating nations were drawn into two tournaments, with eight teams going to Mexico City and eight teams to Kigali. Each tournament will be composed of group play (two groups of four teams) followed by semi-finals and a final. Each group includes four teams from four different continents.
The winner of each tournament will qualify for the FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup 2026 Qualifying Tournaments taking place in March 2026.
The FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup 2026 Qualifying Tournaments will involve 24 teams in total, with the winners of the Mexico and Rwanda Pre-Qualifying Tournaments being joined by 22 teams determined by results in the FIBA Women’s Continental Cups 2025.