The Serbians have been drawn in Group D, with Hungary and Slovakia the other two nations in one of two qualifying groups to be played in Slovenia.

"Everyone knows we have changed the roster, many players have retired since 2021 or are not in the team now," Serbia captain Tina Krajisnik said.

"We have young players, they are keen to work and we have the same team chemistry and our character is the main thing, we are an ambitious team and will fight for a medal to the end."

Co-hosts Slovenia open their campaign later in the day against Britain in a group which also sees France play Germany, returning to the EuroBasket finals after a 12-year absence, later in the evening.

At the 2021 European Basket, held in Valencia, France lost to Serbia in the final, the fifth consecutive time they had been runners in the competition.

"It is true that is a few years that we are running after the first place but we are ready we are focused to go to the end," French captain Sarah Michel said.

"This time we are ready to make our best to to finish where we want to be."

The other two groups are set for the Menora Mivtachim Arena in Tel Aviv, where host nation Israel will meet Belgium in their first match in Group B in early evening

Italy play against the Czech Republic in the other match in the group,

Montenegro against Greece is the lunchtime fare in Group A before the first day of competition is concluded with Latvia against Spain, top seeds in the group.

The experience of Maria Conde, a member of Spain’s victorious 2017 squad is expected to be a key factor but most expect Spain to top the group with the other three sides scrambling for second place.

Spanish skipper Silvia Dominguez has warned against complacency after her side only finished seventh on home soil two years ago.

"We know how it was in 2021, our first goal is the first round, we don’t want to look forward for more things, of course we have goals but our first goals are the qualifying spots for the Olympics," Dominguez insisted.

The four group winners go through automatically to the last eight, but the second place teams in each group face quarter final qualification matches.

These matches also feature classification games to Olympic qualification tournaments.

The quarter and semi-finals are all scheduled for the Slovenian capital.

The gold medal match is scheduled to take place a week on Sunday (June 25).