Ainars Bagatskis, Ukraine's national basketball team coach, learned his squad's potential pathways to the 2027 World Cup following Tuesday's qualification draw in Doha, Qatar.
Ukraine's road to the World Cup won't be straightforward. After missing out on EuroBasket 2025 qualification, Bagatskis's team must first navigate through a pre-qualification round against "Slovakia" and "Switzerland" starting this August.
"We know what we need to do now. The path is clear, though challenging," the Latvian specialist might be thinking after seeing the draw results.
Should Ukraine top their pre-qualification group, they'll advance to qualification Group A, facing basketball powerhouse "Spain", neighboring "Georgia", and one of the pre-qualification winners from another group - either "Croatia", "Denmark", or "Norway".
Interestingly, a second-place finish in pre-qualification wouldn't end Ukraine's World Cup dreams. In that scenario, Bagatskis's squad would be redirected to Group C, where they'd face tougher opposition in the form of "Serbia", "Turkey", and "Bosnia and Herzegovina".
The draw, conducted in the 2027 World Cup host nation Qatar, sets up the framework for what promises to be a challenging qualification campaign. Basketball fans should mark their calendars - the main qualification tournament kicks off this November.
Can Ukraine navigate this tricky qualification maze? With Bagatskis at the helm, they'll certainly give it their best shot, but the competition looks fierce.
