In preparation for the new FIBA Competition System which will commence with the 2019 World Cup Qualifiers, the governing body organised the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 Qualifiers Marketing and Communication Workshop for African national federations.
The two-day workshop which was the last of the series was held on Sunday and Monday March 12 and 13 in Abidjan and member federations sent delegates from their Marketing, Communications and Strategy departments respectively. The delegates included Kunle Raji, Head of Marketing and Strategy for the Nigerian Basketball Federation; Yvan Ntabazi, Vice President and Head of Marketing of the Uganda Basketball Federation; Samba Gueye, the Head of Communications for Senegal Basketball Federation.
Kunle Raji expressed delight on the workshop; `It is a good initiative to bring African national federations together to discuss a new way forward for basketball with FIBA`s new competition system.
"FIBA is very forward looking and is massively supporting the National Federations to be self-sustainable in their various domains. So, the new FIBA Qualifiers Calender and the Windows System are definite plus for National Federations`
The FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 Qualifiers are scheduled to start in November this year with a total of 80 national teams playing. The qualifiers will be played over 6 windows of 9 days each. The window dates are 20 - 28 November 2017, 19 - 27 February 2018, 25 June - 3 July 2018, 30 August -18 September 2018, 26 November - 4 December 2018 and 18 - 28 February 2019.
Five teams are expected to represent the continent in the FIBA World Cup. The tournament will feature a total of 32 teams - 12 European countries, 7 Asian countries, 7 countries from Americas (North and South Americas), 5 African countries and host China.
On the impact of the new qualification system and calendar on basketball in Nigeria, Mr Raji added; `Considering that our national team players are not based here, the new home and away games will bring them closer to their fans, thereby helping to boost basketball followership in Nigeria. It also portends to raise revenues and grow the game appreciably`
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