Three legendary players to perform Draw of the FIBA U17 Basketball World Cup

MIES (Switzerland) - Nikos Zisis of Greece, Carlos Cabezas and Carlos Jimenez of Spain will perform the draw of the FIBA U17 Basketball World Cup on Thursday, March 17, in Malaga, Spain.

The draw for the 16-team tournament will get underway at 12:00 local time, with the results determining which of the four groups of the FIBA U17 Basketball World Cup 2022 each of the 16 teams will compete in.

The teams participating in the sixth edition of the FIBA U17 Basketball World Cup, which tips off on July 2, are hosts Spain, along with Argentina, Canada, Dominican Republic, Egypt, France, Lithuania, Mali, Poland, Serbia, Slovenia, USA and four teams that will qualify from the FIBA U16 Asian Championship.

Draw Principles

The participating teams have been distributed in four pots, based on the quality and geographical principles.

Therefore, the pots are as follows:

Pot 1: USA, Argentina, Spain, France Pot 2: Lithuania, Poland, Serbia, Slovenia Pot 3: Asia 1, Asia 2, Asia 3, Asia 4 Pot 4: Canada, Dominican Republic, Egypt, Mali [/unordered]

Before the draw commences, the teams from each pot will be distributed in four groups and at the same time they will be assigned competition numbers.

Teams from the same continent/region should be equally distributed across the groups.

A maximum of two European Teams can be drawn in the same group.

The straight draw will be applied, with the following exceptions:

In pot 1, Spain will be drawn in Group A or B, playing in Alhaurin de la Torre, and USA in Group C or D, playing in Marbella. In Pot 4, the two teams from Americas cannot be drawn in the groups which already have a team from that continent. [/unordered]

Legends on stage

Nikos Zisis going to the basket during the EuroBasket 2005 final

Three basketball heroes will perform the draw. Nikos Zisis, member of FIBA Players' Commission, was a key element to the Greece National Team for a career that spanned more than a decade. Zisis was a linchpin in the team, famous for handing a cool head in the toughest of late-game situations, helping his country capture the EuroBasket 2005 crown, while the following year he was instrumental as Greece reached the FIBA Basketball World Cup Final in Japan. 

Carlos Jimenez holding the 2006 FIBA Basketball World Cup

Two other legends from the game will also be on stage in Malaga. Carlos Jimenez was a tough-as-nails  captain of the Spain teams that won the 2006 World Cup, finished runners-up at the EuroBasket the following year and claimed the Olympic silver medal at the Beijing Games in 2008. He provided points, grabbed rebounds and defended heroically as Spain enjoyed their finest hour.

Carlos Cabezas was a hard-working and at times dazzling point guard. The feisty playmaker was skilled and tenacious, a vital part of Spain teams that won the 2006 World Cup and EuroBasket title in 2009, the country's first.

Carlos Cabezas at the FIBA 2006 Basketball World Cup

Those three heroes know very well the importance of FIBA Youth Competitions. Carlos Cabezas started on Spain's most famous youth team, which won the 1999 World Championship for Junior Men and two other medals in European Championships. Nikos Zisis was a medalist in U16, U18 and U20 at the European Championships and Carlos Jimenez brought back a bronze medal from the 1994 U18 European Championship in Israel.

Viewers can tune into the live stream of the draw via the FIBA U17 Basketball World Cup website.

FIBA