Dawn of new era for FIBA

TOKYO – FIBA secretary-general Patrick Baumann said the other day that the Swiss-based international governing body is set to embark on an ambitious program geared towards making basketball the world’s most popular sport.

“We’re entering a new era,” said Baumann during the FIBA 2019 World Cup bidding event at the Prince Park Tower Hotel here last Friday. “We want to bring the World Cup, our flagship and most impactful event, to the next level, to more countries, to more fans in arenas and to more media. We’re completely revamping the 2019 format. First, we’re moving it to 2019. Then, we begin a 15-month qualifying period from November 2017 with six qualifying windows to involve 140 national teams playing over 200 games on a home-and-away basis. Asia and Oceania will now be together with seven qualifying slots available. We’re giving fans many chances to support their national team in arenas close to them. With the increase in exposure, more players and more countries will emerge to play big roles in FIBA. We will create new stars with more competitive games leading to more excitement.”

The 2019 FIBA World Cup will feature 32 teams from 24 in Spain last year. The six qualifying tournaments will be held in November 2017 and February, June, September and November 2018 and February 2019. The participating teams will be the host nation, five from Africa, seven from the Americas, seven from Asia/Oceania and 12 from Europe.

FIBA president Horacio Muratore of Argentina said bringing the World Cup to Asia in 2019 is in keeping with the theme of One FIBA. China will be the third Asian country to host the World Cup after Manila in 1978 and Saitama in 2008.

What makes the 2019 World Cup even more competitive is it will offer direct qualification to the 2022 Tokyo Olympics, said Muratore. At the 2022 Summer Games, there will be 12 slots for men’s basketball. Eight will be for the host country and seven qualifiers from the World Cup – the best finishers from Africa, Asia and Oceania and the two best placers from the Americas and Europe. Additionally, the 16 best remaining finishers from the World Cup will join the top two non-qualified placers from each FIBA region to dispute four wildcard Olympic slots in a 24-nation derby split into four tournaments of six teams each.

With a bigger World Cup ahead, China developed the theme “More Than Ever” for its bid which focused on the vast resources of the world’s most populous nation. The Chinese delegation was made up of International Olympic Committee and Chinese Basketball Association president Yu Zaiqing, deputy director of media Xu Jicheng, Chinese Olympic Committee vice president Gao Zhidan, Beijing vice mayor Zhang Jiandong, NBA legend Yao Ming and Chinese Basketball Association deputy secretary-general Xu Lan.

China’s audio-visual presentation was a statement of capability based on global connections and modern transportation. The offer capitalized on China’s infrastructure which has no equal in Asia. China said it will employ eight hosting cities, each with a capacity of 100,000 hotel rooms with five-star amenities.

Zaiqing said China has 600,000 basketball courts with eight venues “fully capable of hosting a fantastic event.” He said China’s experience of hosting the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the 2011 Shenzhen Universiade and the 2014 Nanjing Youth Olympics is a basis to promise a successful staging of the World Cup.

“Trust us, we deliver your every expectation,” said Zaiqing. “China never, never lets you down.” The message had an underlying meaning, that China was collecting on a debt as it has always been available as a host for any FIBA event. The coming FIBA Asia Championships will be the third of the last four editions with China as host.

Jiandong said 200 million Chinese fans watched the local league finals on TV and they’ll be the base of spectators for the World Cup. He said China’s political stability suggests full support and financial guarantee from the national government. Echoing Zaiqing’s message, Jiangdong reiterated that China will do as promised. He added, “with FIBA guidance, we will deliver a fantastic World Cup with our rich experience and expertise, more than ever.”

China got an endorsement on video from former NBA star Stephon Marbury, a CBA mainstay who said China has the best fans in the world. Yao Ming said basketball is his greatest passion and the sport will flourish like never before when China hosts the World Cup.  He ended his spiel by handing a basketball to Muratore who was in the front row of the conference room.

  PBA legend Freddie Webb, who was on the last Philippine team to play at the Olympics in 1972, said China’s audio-visual presentation was overpowering. “They showed their capability to host,” he said. “It was a golden opportunity for us to win the bid but China had the edge in resources. It was a learning experience for us. Next time we get an opportunity to bid for an event of this magnitude, we’ll know what to do. I felt proud as a Filipino because we got this far in bidding for the World Cup.” Webb was in town on a family vacation and happened to stay in the same hotel where the bidding event was held.