By Can Erozden
The Turkish men's national basketball team will play against Hungary in a Friday FIBA EuroBasket 2025 qualifying game in Istanbul.
Ranked 15th in Europe, Türkiye are second in qualifying Group B as they are going 1-1.
Ergin Ataman's Türkiye previously won a home game against Iceland 76-75 in February.
Italy are the leaders after they won their two matches. Italy previously beat Türkiye and Hungary to go perfect.
Türkiye's opponents Hungary bottomed the group after losing their two games. Third-place Iceland have 1-1 win/loss record before the Italy game on Friday.
In the group stage, teams will play against each other at home and away.
The Türkiye vs. Hungary match at Istanbul's Basketball Development Center will start at 1730GMT on Friday.
Hungary are 21st in Europe.
On Nov. 25, Türkiye will visit Hungary.
The EuroBasket 2025 qualifiers are played across three windows and the second one is held on Nov. 18-26 before its February 2025 window.
The three best teams from each group (Group A to H), except the EuroBasket 2025 co-hosts, will qualify for the finals.
The EuroBasket 2025 will be co-hosted by the Greek Cypriot administration, Finland, Poland, and Latvia in August-September.
"In the groups containing the host nations, the host and the two other highest placed teams will qualify for the FIBA EuroBasket 2025," the organizers said.
The four host nations have already been qualified for the next year's EuroBasket.
- Italy to visit Iceland in Group B game
Group B leaders Italy will visit Iceland in a Friday game at Reykjavik's Laugardalsholl.
Led-by Fenerbahce Beko forward Nicolo Melli, Italy, ranked ninth in Europe, is one of the important basketball nations in the globe.
The Iceland vs. Italy game will begin at 1930GMT.
Iceland previously beat Hungary 70-65 in a home match in February, but then they lost to Türkiye 76-75 in the same month.
In February, Italy won against Türkiye 87-80 in their opener in Pesaro, and then they hammered Hungary 83-62 in an away game in Szombathely.