FIBA confirms 8 top-seeded teams in World Cup draw

26 February 2019

MIES (Switzerland) – The FIBA World Ranking Men, presented by NIKE, has been updated after the February window brought the curtain down on the Qualifiers for the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019.

This latest edition of the ranking serves as the basis to determine the seeds and pots for the draw of the first-ever 32-team World Cup. The top seeds will be tournament hosts China and the seven best ranked qualified teams – USA, Spain, France, Serbia, Argentina, Lithuania and Greece.

The complete draw procedures, based on the ranking and geographical principles, will be published during the week leading up to the next milestone event on the Road to China 2019.

The top 9 remains unchanged, with Russia (525.3 points) moving up to complete the top 10. This is in part due to Sergey Bazarevich’s charges going 2-0 in their last two games of the European Qualifiers to ensure their return at the World Cup after missing out in 2014.

Russia’s gain is Australia’s loss as the Boomers (515.0) drop to #11 after splitting (1-1) the last two games of their Asian Qualifiers campaign.

Senegal move up two places to #37 on the back of winning their last three African Qualifiers games to clinch their World Cup place.

Estonia will not be joining them at FIBA’s flagship competition but a 71-70 win over #4 Serbia enables them to move up three spots to #45.

The FIBA World Ranking Men, presented by NIKE, will next be updated following the conclusion of the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 (August 31-September 15). It takes into consideration rating points of games played in top official FIBA competitions and their Qualifiers over the course of an eight-year period.

Philippines remains at 31st position in Asia with 317.6 points behind Australia #11 (515.0 pts) , Iran #27 (349.5 pts), and China #30 (317.9 pts).

Below are the 32 teams that will compete at the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 in China this summer (August 31-September 15) .

Tournament hosts: China
Africa (5): Angola, Cote d’Ivoire, Nigeria, Senegal, Tunisia
Americas (7): Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico,USA, Venezuela
Asia (7): Australia, Iran, Japan, Jordan, Korea, New Zealand, Philippines
Europe (12): Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Lithuania, Montenegro, Poland, Russia, Serbia, Spain, Turkey

Follow the writer on Twitter: @burnsports

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