FIBA is completely revamping the qualification for their World Cup, making it look somewhat FIFA-like: http://www.fiba.com/calendar2017 Highlights: FIBA World Cup to move to (September) 2019, then played every four years. Expanded to 32 teams: Host (1), Europe (12), Americas (7), Africa (5), Asia-Oceania (7). A two-division format (promotion-relegation in future years). Top Division A to have 80 teams: Europe (32), Americas (16), Africa (16), Asia-Oceania (16). All other teams in Division B. The World Cup qualifying will be over 12 matchdays, spread over two years, played as six "double-dates" in designated months. First round to have four-team groups (8 in Europe, 4 in others), advancing three teams to the second round. Second round will essentially be six-team groups, with the results from the first round carrying over (so a team would then play the three teams from the "other" first-round group). So for the 2019 tournament, first round qualifying will be Nov '17, Feb '18, June '18. Second round will be Sept '18, Nov '18, Feb '19. World Cup would then directly-qualify a number of teams to Olympics (August 2020), with special qualifying tournaments (June '20) to fill out the Olympic roster. Continental championships would then be played in the "other" odd years (2021, 2025, ...). A similar (but maybe shorter) qualification format. One main point is that they want national teams to play more "home" games in qualifying, instead of the current tournament-style ("tournament of the America's," etc.) qualification, where teams don't play at home at all. (This format has been announced for a while, but I hadn't seen it on these forums.)
Good question. (I had been so much into deciphering the technical setup, that which-team-benefits hadn't crossed my mind.) If you want to talk about the Americas, here is the current rankings list (interesting, only 14 Americas teams have ranking points, and the top tier is supposed to have 16 teams): http://www.fiba.com/pages/eng/fc/even/rank/p/rankMen.html#|tab=fiba_Americas I would say that the increase in the tournament to 32 teams would benefit the "middle-tier" of these teams, like Canada. One question I would have of this format is the long Pan-American travel teams would have, to play only one game. We aren't as compact as Europe. I would see the Americas format morph in some form (i.e., only 12 teams; top four teams getting byes; sub-divisions into North, Central, Caribbean, South).
So it looks like this format is going forward; the visits of the America's region have started: http://www.fiba.com/news/fiba-ameri...n-the-road-to-the-2017-new-competition-system http://www.fiba.com/news/fiba-americas-to-visit-paraguay-on-road-to-fibas-new-competition-system Includes some videos describing the format (but the audio goes out in the middle of one of them).
First seven (of sixteen) teams known in the America's region, after the Central American championships: http://www.fiba.com/centrobasket/20...alifies-to-division-a-in-world-cup-qualifiers The South American champions have just started. Paraguay will refurbish their arena to be ready by November 2017: http://www.fiba.com/news/fiba-americas-visit-to-paraguay-produced-important-results
Twelve of the spots in Americas Division A (i.e. the top division) are known, with the South American championships concluding today: Previously qualified for Americas Division A: Canada, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Panama, Puerto Rico, USA, Virgin Islands qualified from the South American championship: (Final, tonight) Venezuela -v- Brazil, (Third, today) Uruguay -v- Argentina, (Fifth) Colombia: http://www.fiba.com/sudamericano/2016/news/win-over-paraguay-seals-fifth-place-for-Colombia four spots open, looks like there will be an extra qualifying tournament: http://www.fiba.com/sudamericano/2016/news/chile-dominate-bolivia-to-finish-seventh
20/april/2017 Draw Results in for FIBA AmeriCup 2017 http://www.fiba.com/americup/2017/news/draw-results-in-for-fiba-americup-2017 Twelve teams in three groups. Group winners plus Argentina in the final four. http://www.fiba.com/americup/2017/news/official-draw-of-fiba-americup-2017-set-for-thursday One team in the draw is listed as "to be confirmed" (TBC). (Brazil is currently suspended.)
The tournament for the last four spots in the FIBA Americas zone qualifying has been cancelled, so it advances Bahamas, Cuba, Chile, and Paraguay into the Americas final 16. So the only open question is the Brazil suspension. 14/november/2016 http://www.fiba.com/news/fiba-suspends-brazilian-federation http://www.fiba.com/news/americas-n...a-americup-2017-and-development-of-the-region 27/march/2017
Draw for the FIBA Basketball World Cup qualifiers on May 7 http://www.fiba.com/news/executive-...preparations-for-fiba-competition-system-2017 So if the draw is done with four pots, based on the current regional rankings (and for this listing, including Brazil if they get the suspension lifted): rankings: http://www.fiba.com/rankingmen#|tab=fiba_Americas (Note that Jamaica is the only team of the 14 listed that did not qualify for the Americas 16.) Pot A: USA, Argentina, Brazil, Venezuela Pot B: Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Canada Pot C: Uruguay, Panama, Cuba, Paraguay Pot D: Virgin Islands, Colombia, Bahamas, Chile If Brazil is still suspended, the last team would probably come from Bolivia (eighth place in South America 2016), Nicaragua (eighth place in Central America 2016), or Antigua (third place Carribbean 2015). Or they might just select the afore-mentioned Jamaica. (If Brazil is out, Puerto Rico, Uruguay, and Virgin Islands would move up one pot.)
Draw tomorrow (May 7). The Americas draw is set for 9:10 p.m. in China (9:10 a.m. U.S. Eastern). The draw will mostly separate the North/Central/Caribbean teams from the South American teams for the first round, with the odd-numbered pots beings grouped together, and the even pots grouped together. This should help alleviate the brutal travel, at least at the beginning. Pot 1: ARG, VEN Pot 3: URU, COL Pot 5: PAN, CHL Pot 7: PAR, [tba] * TBA due to the Brazil suspension. Pot 2: USA, CAN Pot 4: PUR, DOM Pot 6: MEX, ISV (Virgin Islands) Pot 8: CUB, BAH (Bahamas) http://www.fiba.com/basketballworld...-Cup-2019-Americas-Qualifiers-Draw-Principles
And we have the qualifying draw. Some teams are still TBA. The USA and Mexico headline a juicy group C, which also includes Cuba (so will the be the mass-exodus of Cuban players?) [No word if the November 26 game will be in Columbus. ] Also, Canada's group doesn't seem that bad, at first glance. And if you want to view the draw, there were a lot of production errors. The on-screen graphics listed the wrong pot once, the host mis-read some groups in the post-draw review, the entire stream went blue-screen right after the American draw, some Igor-like behemoth kept walking through the frame, and, my favorite, the geisha girl (who was wearing silver gloves) couldn't unscrew the ping-pong balls. And a good joke by Scottie Pippen, who was drawing the Asia groups. When he pulled the Jordan ball, he says it wasn't Michael. And, again, the qualifying format in short: after the first round, the top three advance to the second round (carrying over their first-round results), and would then play the three teams from another group to complete the qualifying. The fourth-place team drops into a relegation round against the top teams from the second-tier. (And, also, again, the USA will be relying on NBA D-League players for the qualies.) Africa A: GUI Guinea, RSA South Africa, CMR Cameroon, TUN Tunisia Africa B: UGA Uganda, RWA Rwanda, MLI Mali, NGR Nigeria Africa C: COD Democratic Republic of Congo, ANG Angola, MAR Morocco, EGY Egypt Africa D: SEN Senegal, MOZ Mozambique, CIV Cote d'Ivoire, [tba] http://www.fiba.com/basketballworldcup/2019/african-qualifiers Americas A: URU Uruguay, ARG Argentina, PAR Paraguay, PAN Panama Americas B: VEN Venezuela, CHI Chile, [tba], COL Colombia Americas C: MEX Mexico, PUR Puerto Rico, USA United States, CUB Cuba Americas D: ISV Virgin Islands, CAN Canada, BAH Bahamas, DOM Dominican Republic http://www.fiba.com/basketballworldcup/2019/americas-qualifiers Asia A: CHN China, NZL New Zealand, KOR Korea, HKG Hong Kong Asia B: JPN Japan, TPE Chinese Taipei, AUS Australia, PHI Philippines Asia C: SYR Syria, LBN Lebanon, IND India, JOR Jordan Asia D: IRQ Iraq, QAT Qatar, KAZ Kazakhstan, IRI Iran http://www.fiba.com/basketballworldcup/2019/asian-qualifiers Europe A: MNE Montenegro, SLO Slovenia, [tba], ESP Spain Europe B: [tba], TUR Turkey, LAT Latvia, UKR Ukraine Europe C: POL Poland, [tba], LTU Lithuania, HUN Hungary Europe D: ITA Italy, [tba], CRO Croatia, ROU Romania Europe E: [tba], BEL Belgium FRA France, RUS Russia Europe F: [tba], CZE Czech Republic, ISL Iceland, FIN Finland Europe G: GER Germany, SRB Serbia, [tba], GEO Georgia Europe H: ISR Israel, GBR Great Britain, GRE Greece, [tba] http://www.fiba.com/basketballworldcup/2019/european-qualifiers/groups Americas C Tentative Schedule Thursday 23 November 2017 Mexico -v- Cuba Puerto Rico -v- USA Sunday 26 November 2017 USA -v- Mexico Cuba -v- Puerto Rico Friday 23 February 2018 Mexico -v- Puerto Rico USA -v- Cuba Monday 26 February 2018 Cuba -v- Mexico USA -v- Puerto Rico Thursday 28 June 2018 Puerto Rico -v- Cuba Mexico -v- USA Sunday 1 July 2018 Puerto Rico -v- Mexico Cuba -v- USA