PARIS (EuroBasket 2015) - Defending EuroBasket champions France on Saturday announced an impressive preliminary list of 24 players from which the final squad for September's show-piece event will emerge.

Every French team candidate, with the only exception of Joakim Noah, had declared to coach Vincent Collet earlier in spring their desire to compete for a spot on the final 12-man roster that will take to the court on home soil at EuroBasket 2015.

The result is, quite possibly, France's strongest preliminary squad in years.

As expected, EuroBasket 2013 MVP Tony Parker, captain Boris Diaw and Nicolas Batum headline the list.

The three stars, for whom the NBA season has just concluded prematurely, have already stated in no uncertain terms their willingness to lead the French team at September's EuroBasket.

The same applies to Nando De Colo, who fractured his hand only a couple of weeks prior to last September's FIBA Basketball World Cup and had to watch the tournament from the sidelines, but has returned in sublime form this year with CSKA Moscow.

In addition to Diaw and Batum, the 10 other players on the French team that finished third at the World Cup in Spain are also included on the preliminary list.

France had little depth inside in that tournament but that is unlikely to be the case at EuroBasket 2015 since big men Kevin Seraphin, Alexis Ajinca, Ian Mahinmi and Ali Traore are all among the 24 names.

Like De Colo, Mahinmi had the bad luck to sustain an injury a few days before Spain 2014 last year and so did not feature for Les Bleus in FIBA's flagship event.

Ajinca helped France enormously to win the title at EuroBasket 2013 in Slovenia but missed out on the World Cup, while both Seraphin and Traore have not pulled on the blue jersey since the London Olympics.

Shooting guard Fabien Causeur had also dropped off the radar for France after the 2012 Games, but his superb campaign with Laboral Kutxa Baskonia has convinced coach Collet he should be included in the list.

Young center Mouhamadou Jaiteh is the new face in the frontline on this preliminary squad, a few days after winning the EuroChallenge trophy with JSF Nanterre.

Similarly to Jaiteh, small forward Jeremy Leloup is also included in the list and will vie for a spot on the senior national team for the first time in his career.

Forward Nobel Boungou-Colo and power forward Adrien Moerman were the last players to be cut from France's World Cup roster but they are given another chance this year to change coach Collet's mind and make the final squad this time around.

Young guard Leo Westermann was on the preliminary list for EuroBasket 2013 but did not travel to Slovenia, was then sidelined for several months due to serious injury but has had an excellent season with reigning French champions Limoges CSP and will also try to earn a spot on the senior national team in a big tournament for the first time.

The 24 players selected by France head coach Vincent Collet are set to report at the French Institute of Sport (INSEP) by 23 July for medical tests, with training camp commencing in Pau one day later.

France are to play their first warm-up game on 1 August in Finland, against Henrik Dettmann's men and one week later they host a three-nation tournament with the participation also of Serbia and Russia.

Collet's troops conclude their preparations on 30 August with a warm-up game against Germany in Cologne and then fly back home to Montpellier, where their EuroBasket campaign tips off on 5 September.

The defending European champions were drawn in Group A, together with Finland, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Poland, Israel and Russia.

France preliminary squad for EuroBasket 2015: Alexis Ajinca, Nicolas Batum, Nobel Boungou-Colo, Fabien Causeur, Nando De Colo, Boris Diaw, Antoine Diot, Evan Fournier, Mickael Gelabale, Rudy Gobert, Thomas Heurtel, Edwin Jackson, Mouhammadou Jaiteh, Charles Kahudi, Joffrey Lauvergne, Jeremy Leloup, Ian Mahinmi, Adrien Moerman, Tony Parker, Florent Pietrus, Kim Tillie, Ali Traore, Kevin Seraphin, Leo Westermann.

Go to eurobasket2015.org for full coverage of EuroBasket 2015.

FIBA