FIBA: PHL in contention for 2019, 2023 World Cup hosting

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines has made the shortlist to host the next two editions of the FIBA World Cup, the International Basketball Federation announced in its official website www.fiba.com Friday.

Two other Asian countries in China and Qatar and three European nations in Germany, France and Turkey are also in the running to stage the 2019 and the 2023 editions of the FIBA flagship competition.

Germany is said to be in contention “alone or possibly as part of a joint candidacy with France.”

Of the six candidates, two have hosted the quadrennial meet. The Philippines staged the event in 1978 at the Araneta Coliseum and Turkey in Istanbul in 2010.

FIBA made the announcement ahead of the FIBA Basketball World Cup Bid Workshop in Geneva, Switzerland to be attended by a six-man Philippine delegation led by Tourism Undersecretary and chief operating officer Domingo Ramon Enerio III, PBA chairman Patrick Gregorio, and SBP executive director Sonny Barrios.

FIBA's Central Board announces the 2019 host in its next meeting on June 18-19. The fiba.com report said FIBA might also decide which of the remaining countries is to stage the 2023 edition, or to extend the bidding process.

"We are extremely pleased to announce that six countries have expressed their interest to host the biggest basketball tournament in the world," said FIBA secretary general Patrick Baumann.

"The commitment to growing basketball as well as to stage first-class sporting events is something they all have in common," Baumann also said.

The 2019 World Cup will be the first one to feature 32 teams, qualifying from FIBA’s new competition system and calendar to be introduced in 2017. It will be home and away games.

All candidates will attend a workshop at FIBA's Geneva headquarters on Dec. 15-16. Site visits will take place in early 2015.

Also making up the Phl delegation attending the workshop are SBP deputy executive director for international affairs Butch Antonio, SBP logistics consultant Andrew Teh, and Sean Nicholls, president of Octagon Asia-Pacific, a renowned sports marketing and advertising firm based in Sydney.

“We are very serious about the bid process and we will be there to win it,” said SBP vice chairman Ricky Vargas.

“SBP president Manny V. Pangilinan wants to make an impression on the seriousness of our bid so that aside from SBP officials, we have requested DOT Undersecretary Enerio and Octagon Asia president Nicholls to join,” said Barrios.

Earlier, SBP officials met with DOT Secretary Ramon Jimenez who expressed keen interest in the project and saw its potential benefits for Philippine tourism.