Asia to host 2019 FIBA World Cup but where?

MANILA, Philippines - FIBA has decided to hold the 2019 World Cup in Asia but won’t announce which country – the Philippines or China – will host until the Central Board convenes to finalize the selection during its meeting on June 18-20 in Switzerland.

SBP executive director Sonny Barrios said yesterday the decision to trim the bidders from six to two came as a surprise. “We found out about it only through FIBA’s media release,” said Barrios. “Now, the hard work begins to perfect our bid offer.” The deadline for bidders to submit their candidature files to FIBA is April 30. Then, the bidders will fly to Switzerland to make a 20-minute audio-visual presentation to the Central Board before a decision is made.

Barrios said SBP president Manny V. Pangilinan has been briefed on the latest development. “Of course, Sir MVP is excited because it now boils down to just two finalists,” he said. “He considers it a big challenge. He wants us not only to work hard but also to work together as a team. That means mobilizing the resources of the MVP Group, TV5, Octagon and DDB. This early, he wants us to prioritize marketing, how to generate advertisers and sponsors for the event. In a way, FIBA’s selection of the Philippines as a finalist is a breakthrough. It’s become clear that we’re definitely in the running.”

The decision to stage the next World Cup in Asia came during the FIBA Executive Committee meeting in Switzerland last week. The Executive Committee is made up of FIBA president Horacio Muratore of Argentina, secretary-general Patrick Baumann of Switzerland, treasurer Ingo Weiss of Germany, vice president and FIBA Africa president Hamane Niang of Mali, first vice president and FIBA Europe president Turgay Demirel of Turkey, FIBA Oceania president Burton Shipley of New Zealand, NBA deputy commissioner Mark Tatum of the US and Spanish Basketball Federation president Jose Luis Saez.

China and the Philippines were joined by Germany, Turkey, Qatar and France in bidding to host the World Cup. It was later disclosed by FIBA that Germany, Turkey and Qatar are bidding for the 2023 edition. France was reportedly forming an alliance with Germany as co-host. The decision on the country to host the 2023 World Cup will be made next year. FIBA will form an Evaluation Commission to visit the bidding nations after this year’s continental championships.

The Executive Committee will reconvene on June 16-17 before the Central Board meets in Switzerland. The final verdict on the 2019 host country will be made and announced by the Central Board. All the Executive Committee members are in the Central Board made up of 26 elected and appointed officials, including Pangilinan.

FIBA also announced that the 2014 FIBA World Cup earned a net income equivalent to P738.5 Million, constituting “a solid basis in order to invest in the numerous projects FIBA has for the 2014-19 term of office.”

In view of the new qualifying system for the 2019 World Cup, the Executive Committee approved a large-scale assessment program where FIBA officials will make some 360 visits across the world. “This is to help ensure that with the new competition system coming into effect in 2017, as many national federations as possible are ready to compete at the highest level and field competitive teams in the qualification process of flagship events,” said FIBA. “Looking ahead to future editions of the FIBA World Cup, it was confirmed that the 2019 event will be played in Asia with China and the Philippines as the two candidates left in the race to host it. FIBA’s Central Board will make this final decision at its meeting in June.”

There are several key changes in the competition system. First, the World Cup will be moved to 2019 and every four years thereafter to avoid clashing with other major sporting events like the FIFA World Cup. Second, the World Cup will be preceded by a two-year qualification period with six windows for each year in November, February, June, September, November and February. Third, the World Cup will be expanded from 24 to 32 teams split into eight preliminary groups. The teams are the host country, five from Africa, seven from the Americas, seven from Asia/Oceania and 12 from Europe.

Fourth, qualification for the Olympics will go through the World Cup and Olympic qualifying tournaments. Fifth, Asia and Oceania will play the qualification phase in an Asia-Pacific region to ensure competitive games. Australia and New Zealand will be bracketed in the same zone as China, South Korea, Iran and the Philippines. In the previous World Cup format, Oceania was represented by two teams and Asia by three. In the new format, the combined zones will bring in seven teams compared to five before. And finally, the continental championships will follow a four-year cycle starting in 2017 with a similar qualification system to start after each World Cup.

“The new FIBA calendar and competition system from 2017 onwards opens a new era of basketball all over the world, one which features 1,680 top players during 1,250 national team games and millions of fans all around the globe,” said FIBA.