Nigeria’s D’Tigers are likely to face tough oppositions at the group stage of the FIBA men’s World Cup after been drawn in pot seven alongside Senegal, New Zealand, and Angola ahead of the FIBA Men’s World Cup.
The draw proper comes upon Saturday, March 16, at Shenzhen Bay Arena in China where teams will know their opponents for the World Cup which will hold between the 31st of August and 15th of September.
Here are Guidelines for the draw.
Thirty-two (32) teams have qualified to play in the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019. They have been distributed into eight (8) pots of four (4) teams each.
As tournament hosts, China have the right to be placed in Pot 1. They are joined there by number 1 team in the world, USA, number 2 Spain and number team ranked team France.
The 28 remaining teams owe their places in pots 2 through to 8 to their position in the Ranking, with one exception.
A change has been made to avoid having two (2) teams from the Americas in the same group. As already four (4) of them – Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, USA and Venezuela – will be drawn in Groups A, C, E and G, Canada have been moved from Pot 5 to Pot 6, switching places.
Teams will be drawn and placed in the first available group as per the groups’ alphabetical order;
Finally, after each team is drawn into a group, its position into the group will also be drawn, defining the order of games in the respective group in the Group Phase.
Pot 1 – The 4 teams (China, USA, Spain, France) will be assigned to Groups A, C, E and G. As agreed with the Local Organizing Committee (LOC), the Host China will be placed into Group A in Beijing and reigning world champions USA will be allocated to Group E in Shanghai;
Pot 2 – The 4 teams (Serbia, Argentina, Lithuania, Greece) will feed into Groups B, D, F and H, with a straight draw;
Pot 3 – The 4 teams (Russia, Australia, Brazil, Italy) will also feed into Groups B, D, F and H. Brazil cannot be drawn in the same group as Argentina;
Pot 4 – The 4 teams (Puerto Rico, Turkey, Dominican Republic, Venezuela) are drawn into Groups A, C, E and G. The 3 American teams – Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic and Venezuela – cannot be drawn in the same group as the USA;
Pot 5 – The 4 teams (Germany, Czech Republic, Poland, Iran) will be distributed into Groups A, C, E and G; Iran cannot be drawn in the same group as China;
Pot 6 – The 4 teams (Canada, Montenegro, Philippines, Korea) will feed into Groups B, D, F and H. Canada cannot be drawn in the same group as either Argentina or Brazil, while the Philippines and Korea cannot be placed in the group with Australia;
Pot 7 – The 4 teams (Nigeria, Senegal, New Zealand, Angola) feed into Groups B, D, F and H. New Zealand cannot be drawn in a group with other Asian teams;
Pot 8 – This will conclude the draw with the distribution of the last 4 teams (Japan, Jordan, Tunisia, Cote d’Ivoire) into the remaining groups. In this pot, Japan and Jordan cannot be drawn in the same group as either China or Iran.
GROUP AND VENUE
Group A -> Beijing
Group B -> Wuhan
Group C -> Guangzhou
Group D -> Foshan
Group E -> Shanghai
Group F -> Nanjing
Group G -> Shenzhen
Group H -> Dongguan
D’Tigers are the first team in Africa to qualify for the World Cup and will be hoping for a favourable draw if they are to go the next round.
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