PARIS (FIBA Basketball World Cup) - The 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup is just around the corner. In the lead-up to the biggest international basketball event, we take an individual look at all 24 teams.

Country: France
FIBA bwin Ranking Men: No. 8
Last participation in the FIBA Basketball World Cup: 2010 (3 wins, 3 defeats; 13th place)
Best result in the history of the FIBA Basketball World Cup: 4th Place (1954)
Result in qualifying tournament for 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup: 1st place at EuroBasket 2013 (8 wins, 3 defeats)

France will arrive at the FIBA Basketball World Cup nearly one year after their first-ever EuroBasket title triumph.

For the first time, Les Bleus go into a major tournament as the reigning champions of the old continent.

National team coach Vincent Collet will have many of the players who captured the trophy in Ljubljana, Slovenia, too, but a couple of key components will be missing in point guards Tony Parker and Nando de Colo.

Parker, long before helping fire the San Antonio Spurs to their fifth NBA title, indicated that he was going to take this summer off and not represent France at the World Cup in Spain.

That opened the door for De Colo to assume more responsibility, only for a left hand injury suffered in the preparations to rule him out a coupe of weeks before the start of the tournament.

Thus, France will rely more heavily on guards Antoine Diot and Thomas Heurtel at the World Cup.

Both European-based players have shown plenty of quality for their clubs over the years, and Diot has also had starring roles for France at EuroBasket 2009 and last year in Slovenia.

The World Cup will represent the first real opportunity for Heurtel to show that, just as he has for Laboral Kutxa (Baskonia) in Spain's Liga Endesa and the Turkish Airlines Euroleague, he can run the show for Les Bleus.

In one way, the absences of Parker and now De Colo ease the pressure on France with expectations, at least on the outside, understandably lowered.

But France are always big, strong and athletic.

They still have great talents in Nicolas Batum, Boris Diaw and Mickael Gelabale, a determined and inspirational veteran forward in Florent Pietrus and plenty of youngsters who are chomping at the bit go prove their worth.

If Diot and Heurtel are going to be under pressure to produce in the backcourt, the same can be said of Joffrey Lauvergne, Rudy Gobert and Ian Mahinmi in the low post.

France were in a similar situation at the 2006 FIBA World Championship in Japan, and in Turkey four years ago when Parker was not in the squad.

Those national sides were still talented and won a lot of games.

There is no reason to think that France cannot defend and rebound as well as last year.

Before De Colo's injury, Collet said the aim was to at least reach the Quarter-Finals in Spain.

That objective will not have changed.

There are going to be plenty of challenges at the start with Group A games in Granada against Brazil, Serbia, Egypt, Spain and Iran.

FIBA