FIBA Americas to visit Colombia on road to FIBA's new competition system

SAN JUAN (Americas) - The regional office of the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) in the Americas announced it will make a historic visit to Colombia next week, from June 16-18 to join scheduled meetings with government officials, the national basketball federation in the country, private entities and the media.

The delegation of the International Basketball Federation will be headed by FIBA Americas Regional Director Mr. Alberto Garcia, his assistant Victor Mansure and FIBA Americas National Federation and Sport Development Director Mr. Anibal Garcia.

Paraguay will be the third country visited in the previously announced program where 23 countries in the Americas are scheduled to be visited in three phases. Paraguay and Uruguay were previously visited.

The first phase is scheduled between the months of April-July and will consist of visits to Chile, Panama, Dominican Republic, Bahamas and Cuba with the main objective of strengthening relations towards implementation of FIBA’s New Competition System coming into effect in 2017.

The new FIBA Calendar and Competition System from 2017 onwards opens a new era for basketball all over the world - one which features 1,680 top players during 1,200 national teams games and millions of fans all around the globe.

This new system will serve as a qualifier to the 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup World Cup to be played in China and that for the first time in its history will have 32 participating teams (7 from the Americas). Qualification for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games will go through the 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup and four Olympic Qualifying Tournaments.

"Colombia is a very important country towards the future of basketball in our continent and essential to the first phase of this ambitious program of visits to our national federations in the continent.", said the FIBA Americas Regional Director Mr. Alberto Garcia. "It is very important that Colombia and the country’s sports entities understand in detail the great challenge that this new competition system will entail for the Colombian Basketball Federation (Fecolcesto) and we want to assist them in having their opportunities maximized and establishing a work plan guaranteeing that the future implementation is a resounding success. This first meeting and the reception they have planned ahead of our visit is a great first step on the road to making this a reality."

FIBA