2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup

Hosts selection

Main article: 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup bids

The whole bidding process started in April 2014. Bids from numerous nations were submitted. On 16 March 2015, it was confirmed that the World Cup would be staged in Asia, with China and Philippines as the final countries to be the basis for the selection of the host. On 7 August 2015, it was announced that China won the bid against the Philippines and will host the upcoming World Cup.

Voting results

Venues

Qualification

Main article: 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup qualification

China as the hosts automatically qualified for the tournament. The continental championships were no longer the qualification system for the World Cup. Instead, two rounds of continental qualifying tournaments were held over two years.

The first round of the Americas, Asia/Oceania and Africa qualifiers featured 16 teams each, whereas Europe had 32 teams. Division A teams were split in groups of four, to be held in a home-and-away round-robin. The top three teams in each groups advanced to round two, and the last placed teams played the best Division B teams to qualify for the next season's Division A.

In round two of the World Cup qualifiers, teams were split in groups of six, totalling four groups in Europe and two in the other qualifiers. Teams carried over the points from round one, and faced other three teams again in a home-and-away round-robin. The best teams in each group qualified for the World Cup.

Starting 2019, no wild card selection was held, and the Olympic champions were not guaranteed a spot in the tournament.

The draw for the qualifiers was held on 7 May 2017 in Guangzhou.

Montenegro and the Czech Republic debuted in the World Cup. Montenegro was formerly a part of Yugoslavia, and later, Serbia and Montenegro teams, while the Czech Republic was a part of the old Czechoslovakia. Poland was returning to the World Cup, after participating in 1967. Canada, China, Germany, Ivory Coast, Russia, and Tunisia were returning to the World Cup after missing out in 2014. Croatia, Egypt, Finland, Mexico, Slovenia, and Ukraine were the teams that participated in 2014 that did not qualify in 2019. Brazil and the United States qualified in 2019, continuing their streaks in participating in all World Cups.

Qualified teams

;Africa (5)

;Americas (7)

• USA United States

;Asia and Oceania (8)

• (host)

;Europe (12)

• SRB Serbia

Squads

Main article: 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup squads

Each team had a final roster of 12 players; a team can opt to have one naturalized player as per FIBA eligibility rules from its roster.

Referees

The following referees were selected for the tournament.

• Gentian Cici (ALB)
• Juan Fernández (ARG)
• Leandro Lezcano1 (ARG)
• Leandro Zalazar (ARG)
• Scott Beker (AUS)
• James Boyer (AUS)
• Ademir Zurapović (BIH)
• Guilherme Locatelli (BRA)
• Cristiano Maranho (BRA)
• Martin Horozov (BUL)
• Arnaud Kom Njilo (CMR)
• Matthew Kallio (CAN)
• Michael Weiland (CAN)
• Felipe Ibarra (CHI)
• Duan Zhu (CHN)
• Ye Nan (CHN)
• Yu Jung (TPE)
• Carlos Peralta (ECU)
• Yohan Rosso (FRA)
• Carsten Straube (GER)
• Georgios Poursanidis (GRE)
• Harja Jaladri (INA)
• Ahmed Al-Shuwaili (IRQ)
• Saverio Lanzarini (ITA)
• Manuel Mazzoni (ITA)
• Tolga Şahin (ITA)
• Takaki Kato (JPN)
• Yevgeniy Mikheyev (KAZ)
• Andris Aunkrogers (LAT)
• Mārtiņš Kozlovskis (LAT)
• Omar Bermúdez (MEX)
• Krishna Domínguez (MEX)
• Ahmed Abaakil (MAR)
• Kingsley Ojeaburu (NGR)
• Julio Anaya (PAN)
• Ferdinand Pascual (PHI)
• Wojciech Liszka (POL)
• Michał Proc (POL)
• Alexis Mercado (PUR)
• Jorge Vázquez (PUR)
• Roberto Vázquez (PUR)
• Aleksandar Glišić (SRB)
• Zdenko Tomašovič (SVK)
• Boris Krejič (SLO)
• Luis Castillo (ESP)
• Antonio Conde1 (ESP)
• Hwang In-tae (KOR)
• Kim Jong-kuk (KOR)
• Markos Michaelides (SUI)
• Nicolas Fernandes (TAH)
• Yener Yılmaz (TUR)
• Sergiy Zashchuk (UKR)
• Steven Anderson (USA)
• Matthew Myers (USA)
• Andrés Bartel (URU)
• Daniel García1 (VEN) 1 – Suspended after the match France vs. Lithuania.

Preparation games

Several teams participated in official tournaments or in exhibition ones, either ad hoc or already existing ones, to prepare for the World Cup.

Pan American Games

Main article: Basketball at the 2019 Pan American Games – Men's tournament

An official and traditional tournament in the Americas. Out of the eight teams from the tournament, five already qualified to the World Cup. Of these five, all except the United States had players expected to be in the World Cup rosters, with the USA playing with collegiate players. Argentina defeated Puerto Rico to win the gold medal.

Acropolis International Basketball Tournament

Main article: 2019 Acropolis International Basketball Tournament

An exhibition tournament. All four participating teams used the Acropolis Tournament as a warm-up. Serbia topped the table to win the championship, ahead of Greece.

Austiger Cup

Main article: 2019 AusTiger International Basketball Tournament

An exhibition tournament. The four teams played in this tournament hosted by China as a warm-up to the World Cup. Serbia topped the table to win the championship, ahead of France.

Málaga Tournament

An exhibition tournament. Four teams participated in a preparation tournament hosted in Málaga, Spain. It was contested by Spain, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, and the Philippines.

Other games

Exhibition games were held as warm-ups for the World Cup. The United States defeated Spain in the Honda Center in Anaheim, which was between the top two teams in the FIBA World Rankings. Australia's defeat of the United States in Marvel Stadium, Melbourne in the 2019 Australian International Basketball series was the first USA team's loss with NBA players since its 2006 FIBA World Championship semifinals loss to Greece. The USA is the second-youngest team in the tournament and features only two players with international experience. Notably the US is missing over 30 of their best players, who opted out either due to injury, or to prepare for the NBA season.

Format

The tournament was played in three stages. During the first stage, the 32 qualified teams were sorted into eight groups of four (A-H) and each team in a group played the other three teams once. The top two teams from each group then advanced to the second group stage. In the second group stage, there were four groups of four (I-L) made up of the teams that advanced from the first round, with the teams that have not yet played each other facing off against one another once. The top two teams from groups I to L will qualify for the final knockout phase.

Classification rounds were revived after they were not held in 2014. They were traditionally held in every World Championship/World Cup and were last seen in action in 2010.

In total, 92 games were played over a total of 16 days.

Draw

Main article: 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup seeding

The draw took place on 16 March 2019 at Shenzhen Cultural Center in Shenzhen.

Hosts China and the three best qualified teams as per the February 2019 FIBA World Rankings were seeded in Pot 1, and China and USA were assigned to groups A and E, respectively. The remaining 28 teams were allocated Pots 2-8 based on the 2019 FIBA World Ranking. Teams in pots 1, 4, 5 and 8 were drawn into Groups A, C, E and G, and Teams in pots 2, 3, 6 and 7 were drawn into Groups B, D, F and H.

Aside from Europe, two teams from the same qualification zone could not be drawn into the same group. Canada was moved from Pot 5 to Pot 6, switching places with Iran (the best ranked team from that pot) to avoid having two teams from the Americas in the same group.

FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 Global Ambassadors Kobe Bryant and Yao Ming, American singer and songwriter Jason Derulo, and Chinese idol singer Yang Chaoyue led the draw ceremony.

After the draw, Group H, which includes Australia, Canada, Lithuania, and Senegal, was described as the "group of death".

Groups A, C, E, and G

Groups B, D, F, and H

Preliminary round

Classification of teams

1. Highest number of points earned, with each game result having a corresponding point:

• Win: 2 points
• Loss: 1 point
• Loss by default: 1 point, with a final score of 2–0 for the opponents of the defaulting team if the latter team is not trailing or if the score is tied, or the score at the time of stoppage if they are trailing.
• Loss by forfeit: 0 points, with a final score of 20–0 for the opponents of the forfeiting team.

1. Head-to-head record via points system above
2. Point difference in games among tied teams
3. Points for in games among tied teams
4. Point difference in all group games
5. Points for in all group games Source: FIBA

Group A

Main article: 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup Group A

Venue: Wukesong Arena, Beijing

Group B

Main article: 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup Group B

Venue : Wuhan Sports Center Gymnasium, Wuhan

Group C

Main article: 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup Group C

Venue: Guangzhou Gymnasium, Guangzhou

Group D

Main article: 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup Group D

Venue: Foshan International Sports and Cultural Center, Foshan

Group E

Main article: 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup Group E

Venue: Shanghai Oriental Sports Center, Shanghai

Group F

Main article: 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup Group F

Venue: Nanjing Youth Olympic Sports Park Gymnasium, Nanjing

Group G

Main article: 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup Group G

Venue: Shenzhen Bay Sports Centre, Shenzhen

Group H

Main article: 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup Group H

Venue: Dongfeng Nissan Cultural and Sports Centre, Dongguan

Second round

Group I

Main article: 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup Group I

Venue: Foshan International Sports and Cultural Center, Foshan

Group J

Main article: 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup Group J

Venue: Wuhan Sports Center Gymnasium, Wuhan

Group K

Main article: 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup Group K

Venue: Shenzhen Bay Sports Centre, Shenzhen

Group L

Main article: 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup Group L

Venue: Nanjing Youth Olympic Sports Park Gymnasium, Nanjing

17th–32nd Classification

Bottom 2 teams from each group in Round 1 played in the Classification Round.

Group M

Main article: 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup Group M

Venue: Guangzhou Gymnasium, Guangzhou

Group N

Main article: 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup Group N

Venue: Wukesong Arena, Beijing

Group O

Main article: 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup Group O

Venue: Dongfeng Nissan Cultural and Sports Centre, Dongguan

Group P

Main article: 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup Group P

Venue: Shanghai Oriental Sports Center, Shanghai

Final round

Main article: 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup final round

Quarter-finals

Argentina vs. Serbia

Spain vs. Poland

United States vs. France

Australia vs. Czech Republic

Classification semi-finals

Serbia vs. United States

Poland vs. Czech Republic

Semi-finals

Spain vs. Australia

Argentina vs. France

Seventh place playoff

Fifth place playoff

Third place playoff

Final

Main article: 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup Final

Final standings

|note_res_OQT-WC= The next 2 best teams in every subzone will be qualified to the Olympic Qualifying Tournament by being a Wild Card.

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|col_OQT-WC=orange1 |text_OQT-WC= Qualification to Olympic Qualifying Tournament by Wild Card.

Awards

The all-star team and MVP were announced on 15 September 2019.

All-Tournament Team

Main article: FIBA Basketball World Cup All-Tournament Team

Statistical leaders

Player tournament averages

Points

Rebounds

Assists

Blocks

Steals

Minutes

Free throws

Field goal shooting

Double-doubles

Efficiency

Team tournament averages

Points

Rebounds

Assists

Blocks

Steals

Free throws

Field goal

Player game highs

Team game highs

Marketing

Logo

The official logo of the 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup was officially unveiled on 21 March 2017 in a ceremony held in Shanghai. The logo's concept was inspired from the Beijing Opera where the actors symbolize concepts such as wisdom, persistence, power and perfection, which are prerequisite characteristics that the participating players of national team will need to exhibit "in order to succeed". The logo design was also inspired from the Chinese Dragon Dance, a cultural tradition depicting a story of two flying dragons battling over a shining pearl which is meant to parallel the competition of national teams for the Naismith Trophy. The logo was created by Shanghai-based agency Flagship.

Sponsors

Infront China became the exclusive marketing partner for the domestic commercial rights of FIBA Basketball World Cup China 2019, according to a strategic cooperation agreement officially announced between Infront China, a Wanda Sports company, the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) and the Organizing Committee for the competition.

Mascot

An international mascot design competition was organized with the winning mascot chosen by fans. Yan Xu's design, a Chinese Dragon-inspired mascot named Son of Dreams, was announced to be the winning mascot on 18 April 2018. Son of Dreams was born in China on 8 August 2015 one day after China was announced as the host according to the mascot's fictional biography. The magical horns of the mascot is described as having the ability to give the dragon "the power to see in the future, envisioning plays and moves before they actually happen". He wears a red and blue uniform with the tournament's logo and high tops by China's top player Yao Ming. The mascot was chosen over other finalists Speed Tiger who was inspired by a Siberian tiger and QiuQiu (a.k.a. Little Lightning) who was inspired by a Chinese lion. The official mascot made his first public appearance on 28 June 2018 in Shenzhen.

Ball

On 16 March 2019, FIBA revealed the official ball that would be used in the World Cup, Molten BG5000, designed by Molten.

Official song

The song "Champion" was released on 24 July 2019, and performed by American singer-songwriter Jason Derulo featuring Chinese singer Tia Ray. It was performed both in English and the host language Chinese.

Issues and concerns

There were concerns from national federations that they would not be able to play the qualifiers with players from top professional leagues globally (the National Basketball Association and EuroLeague), which was possible with professional leagues operating in mid-year.

Broadcasters

The television rights holders by territory as follows:

Controversy

Australian center and NBA champion Andrew Bogut voiced concerns on the officiating in the semi-final match against Spain. During the match after a call he disagreed with, Bogut was seen gesturing with his hands that the officials had been bribed. Post-match, he claimed that it was a "disgrace" and encouraged people to look into where the headquarters are based. 3-time NBA champion and Australian assistant coach was less accusative but also cited their run of luck with officiating when the two sides meet.

Patrick Mills was also controversially snubbed from the All-Star Five. Even being told he had been in the five before being omitted. Many fans and journalists felt that Mills should have been part of the All-Star Five.

References

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