The 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup Philippines, Japan and Indonesia draw was held in Manila

The 32 teams that will pursue glory in the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup to be played in four venues spread across the Philippines, Japan and Indonesia between August 25 and September 10 already know their rivals and the scenarios in which they will compete.

The draw for the nineteenth edition of the competition, held at the historic Araneta Coliseum in Manila, meant that the top winner of the competition, the United States, will be part of group C together with Greece, fifth in the last European Championship, New Zealand and Jordan. All the matches in this area, like those in D, will be played at the Moa Arena in the Philippine capital.

Spain, the defending champion, will play the entire first phase at the Indonesia Arena in Jakarta and will measure up against Ivory Coast, its rival in the debut on August 26, Iran and Brazil, which won the ticket agonically. These four teams will watch with special attention what will happen in Group H with Canada, the best ranked in America, France, third in the last two World Cups, Lebanon and Latvia, one of the four debutants along with Cape Verde, Georgia and South Sudan.

Regarding the co-hosts, the Philippines will compete in zone A under the roof of the aforementioned Araneta Coliseum against the Dominican Republic, executioner from Argentina and opponent in the premiere, Italy, whose best performance was the fourth places in 1970 and 1978, and Angola. For its part, Japan will win its place at the Okinawa Arena against Germany, third in the last European tournament, Australia and Finland.

The format of the competition will be the same as that of the last World Cup: the first two from each of the eight groups will qualify for the second phase, which will have four zones of four teams. There, the first two of each will qualify for the quarterfinals, where the single-elimination matches will begin. The teams eliminated in each round of the tournament will continue playing to define their final location.

The extraction of the balls from the cups was carried out by two unmissable basketball references, such as the German Dirk Nowitzki, member of the Central Board and President of the FIBA Players Committee, and the Argentinian Luis Scola, Global Ambassador of the 2023 World Cup, who recognized as a “pride” to embody the role that Bryant used to play before. Regarding Argentina, the team led by Pablo Prigioni, who was a finalist in the last edition, will be the main absence because they failed to qualify after an incredible home defeat against the Dominican Republic.

In recent days, the venues for the next two FIBA Basketball World Cups have also been decided. Germany will host the women’s championship in 2026 while Qatar, for the first time in history, will host the men’s championship in 2027. All matches will be held in Doha, just as happened at the FIFA World Cup.