Valdivia: the Capital of Chilean Basketball

VALDIVIA (FIBA Basketball World Cup Americas Qualifiers 2019) – The Chilean National Team will face their next two games of the FIBA Basketball World Cup Americas Qualifiers at the Antonio Azurmendi Coliseum of the city of Valdivia. Fans have bought all tickets to the match that will take place at the “cathedral of Chilean basketball), where the locals will face Group B’s Colombia and Venezuela this weekend to try to qualify for the next stage. The Chileans currently have a 4-defeat record (Brazil 86-73, Venezuela 77-56, Brazil 83-58 and, most recently, Colombia 71-67) and just one win (74-69 against Colombia).

By the end of the month of March, conversations began between the Municipality of Valdivia and FEBAChile so that the Antonio Azurmendi Coliseum --which was established 52 years ago-- welcomed the qualifying games. Today, that is a fact. On Friday, the Chilean National Team will play two fundamental encounters there in their goal of qualifying to the next level.

Established in 1552 by Spanish conqueror Pedro de Valdivia, it was originally named “Santa María la Blanca de Valdivia”, and it was one of the first cities in the South of Chile. Today, it is commonly known as “la Catedral del Baloncesto (the cathedral of basketball)” as Irán Marcos, President of the Chilean Basketball Federation since 2017 tells us: “It's essential that the city is in it. The stadium has all the conditions for it. There were many interested cities, but Valdivia was the most appropriate. This enthusiasm that exists today is because of the guys’ good results. They've had very good games. They have played a good game against Brazil, Venezuela and Colombia; and if we win know we can move on to the next phase, which is encouraging. There are many cities that are basketball fans, but Valdivia is known as the capital of Chilean basketball and for the people it's very important to play there.”

The venue is key for any National Team. The Chilean directives had until August to submit the 3 potential cities to welcome the rivals; which were, besides Valdivia, Temuco and Puerto Montt. Without a doubt, due in part to its basketball foundation, Valdivia had the advantage --a venue that is well-known for its capacity of executing important national basketball events.

“Both Valdivia and Sol are cities that are south of Chile and have fans that support basketball. It rains quite a lot and, for that reason, basketball is one of the favorite sports. Tickets are all sold out 20 days ago. There are no tickets for the games,” said Irán. Meanwhile, Omar Sabat, Valdivia’s major, said: “We're convinced that we're the cathedral of basketball and we've worked for it always. From the month of March we set in motion some details that we must improve to showcase the world the capital of the Los Ríos Region.”

“This new format is very motivating. People are able to watch their National Team. That happened in specific cities and they (the public) didn't have the chance of supporting their team. This new format has been of a great impact for basketball. Specially in South America. Federations have more commitments and responsibilities. We have to have a better management to be able to face this new modality that requires a lot of work to be done. Having a stadium that meets FIBA requirements has its costs and we just have furbished two certified courts: one in Sol and now in Valdivia, but one of the problems is capacity. We're going to play at a Coliseum that only holds 4000 people. We played against Brazil and were visitors in front of 12,000 fans. Without a doubt, economic hardships are what force us to face this in this manner. As a nation we have to think about this and hopefully this government is able to understand that we need a stadium with a larger capacity, which would help us a lot. We thank FIBA for giving us this opportunity, but as a country we need to have a better infrastructure to be able to prepare better for competitions,” said the coach.

 “This is what we believe. We would like to have stadiums like Argentina, Brazil and Venezuela, that have a great seating capacity. We have the 2023 Pan American Games and we don't know if something bigger will be built, but we hope that the games leave us infrastructure that the country can use. With a venue with a larger capacity, tickets could also be more affordable so that more people could attend. As a country we need to think about having stadiums with a larger capacity for the sports that are played in closed spaces,” he added.

“The new format gives you the possibility of seeing your National Team and watching rivals and players that you usually don't have the opportunity to see. The Qualifiers are here to stay. There are countries that have had to renounce being hosts because they don’t have stadiums that comply with the requirements and that makes us grow, it improves our organization, infrastructure, human resources, our national competition. When we all improve all the aspects of our country's basketball, there will be a very hard Qualifiers in the Americas.

Besides, Irán talked about what is coming next this Friday for the National Team: “There is a very good attitude on behalf of the coaching staff and the players; they're all training in Valdivia and are truly on the same page regarding what's coming up. We, as directives, are trying to give them the best conditions. The Colombians are a complicated rival, and both National Teams will be with all of our players that were playing overseas and were given the opportunity of playing in their national teams. This situation favors both and, for this reason, the game is not the same one that was played in Colombia. It will be difficult. They have to win to stay in the race. It will be a beautiful celebration. We hope everything goes well for South American basketball. There are very important players in Venezuela; we’ll have to work hard and step by step.”

FIBA