World Cup Qualifiers will help develop a new generation of Colombian players, says Moreno

BOGOTA (FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019) - Colombia have not played at the FIBA Basketball World Cup since 1982 when the country hosted the event, but beginning in November, international basketball will return to the streets of the country, when the team begins its participation in Americas Qualifiers to the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019.

Colombia will try to get one of the seven tickets available in the Americas to the 2019 China World Cup, but the country will need great feats in Group B of the Qualifiers.

Colombia and Head Coach Guillermo Moreno will look for a top-three finish in a preliminary group that also features Venezuela, Chile and a South American team that will be announced, to move on to the next phase of the Qualifiers.

"Having the opportunity to play against international powers will be progress for us and will grow the new generations, who will be able to see a level of basketball that is not usual in the country," said the Head Coach of the Colombian National Team, Guillermo Moreno.

"We have to create in the players a greater responsibility, discipline, refinement to want to be better in the individual game, and that will be transferred into the betterment of the team," added the coach who led the Colombians to a fifth-place finish in the South American Championship.

In the first Qualifying Window, the Colombians will travel to Venezuela to face their first match on November 24, then they will receive the visit from Chile on November 27.

Prior to the start of the Qualifiers, the Colombians will participate and host one of the preliminary groups of the FIBA AmeriCup 2017. Colombia will host Puerto Rico, Mexico and a South American team yet to be announced in Medellin from August 25-27. The winner of the group will then travel to Córdoba, Argentina to face the Final Phase of the FIBA AmeriCup 2017.

FIBA