Georgia – Ukraine. Forecast and announcement for the World Cup qualification match

On Thursday, November 27, the men’s basketball team of Ukraine will begin the fight for entry to the main part of the 2027 World Cup, which will be held in Qatar. In order to successfully qualify for the planetary forum, Ainars Bagatskis’ wards will need to go through two qualifying rounds. And the first of them immediately starts with a very important match for our team from the point of view of the tournament.

In recent years, the Georgian national team has become a very strong fighter in the European basketball arena. This is confirmed by the fact that the team from the Caucasus has not missed six consecutive continental championships (2011, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2022, 2025), and in 2023, for the first time in its history, it played at the World Cup, bypassing our team in qualifying for this tournament. The real breakthrough for the Georgians took place at EuroBasket 2025, when the Caucasians sensationally reached the quarterfinals, knocking out one of the main favorites in the form of the French national team at the 1/8 stage – 80:70.

In their current roster, the Georgians have one top player of the European level. Tornike Shengelia has long been a star of continental basketball and has earned the recognition of fans of the orange ball. Also, the Caucasian received great respect thanks to his devotion to the national team. And now Shengelia will take to the floor in Tbilisi less than a day after the Euroleague home match for his “Barcelona”. And Tornike will appear in the team location just a couple of hours before the game with Ukraine.

Another very important and well-known player for Georgians is bigman Giorgi Shermadini. And here we were a little unlucky. The fact is that the center of the Spanish “Tenerife” planned to stop playing for the national team after the last Eurobasket, but later changed his mind and decided to play in front of his home fans and in the November window in general. And just then, the Ukrainian national team is coming to Tbilisi.

Also, a naturalized American is always a serious combat unit for the Georgian team. And there are a lot of such at hand in Georgia. This time, the coaching staff decided on the age-old defender Teddy McFadden, who scored 49 points in two matches against the Ukrainian national team in qualifying for the 2023 World Cup.

In general, our rivalry with the Georgians is equal. The teams played four official matches, and each of them has two victories in the active and two fiascos in the passive. Initially, Ukraine and Georgia exchanged victories at the main stages of the continental championships. At EuroBasket 2011, the Ukrainians lost – 53:69, and in 2017 they took revenge – 88:81. Later, the teams found themselves in the same group in the qualification for the 2023 World Cup and exchanged home victories. In Tbilisi, the final siren recorded the numbers on the scoreboard – 88:83, and on our conditional home floor in Riga – 79:66.

It will be very difficult for the Ukrainian national team to advance in this historic confrontation with the Georgians. We have already written about the fact that the personnel situation of the “blue-yellow” before this match is very difficult. So, the Georgians are deservedly favorites in the upcoming match. But in basketball, underdog victories are far from rare. Let’s expect that today will be just such a case.

Sport.ua forecast: according to all the pre-match schedules – the victory of the Georgian national team, but I really want to be wrong

November 27

Georgia – Ukraine

Denmark – Spain

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