By Rob Dugdale in Geneva

Robert Archibald (right) led the scoring

Great Britain held off a late Swiss surge to beat Switzerland 89-78 in Geneva and book a place in Europe's Division A for next season.

Robert Archibald scored 23 points and Luol Deng added 22 as the team triumphed 163-119 on aggregate in their two-leg play-off.

GB led for almost the whole game, but were forced to hold off a strong finish from the Swiss.

However, Deng and Archibald led GB to a ninth successive win.

Luol Deng's shooting masterclass

The result is a crucial one for GB and means they will be able to try to qualify next summer for the 2009 European finals and 2010 World Championships, something they needed to do in order to be allocated an Olympic berth as hosts in 2012.

In Geneva, Britain led for virtually the entire game, posting double-digit leads in the first, second and third quarters.

But the Swiss, who had capitulated 74-41 in the first leg in Sheffield, refused to lie down and hit a fourth-quarter 11-0 scoring streak to trail just 70-71.

Deng hit two baskets to ease the pressure, but the Swiss again came back, trailing 78-79 with three minutes remaining before GB's charge to victory.

"We took our foot off the gas and let them back in the game a bit," said GB coach Chris Finch.

"It was the simple stuff that we weren't focussing on. We sat back a bit and let them play the game they wanted.

"But we got some big stops down the end through tightening up our defence and getting the ball back inside calmed us down."

Alistair Gray, chairman of British Performance Basketball added: "This is an outstanding achievement and surpasses anything the team has accomplished in the modern era," .

Great Britain's women were also celebrating as they beat Portugal 60-49 to secure a promotion play-off game against the Netherlands at Manchester's Amaechi Centre on 22 September.