The 1xBet betting company presents the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup, which will be held from August 25 to September 10 in three Southeast Asia countries. Today we will talk about the main tournament favorites and the African teams’ chances.
Place
Popular in other sports, the trend when the world forum is hosted by several countries simultaneously also reached basketball. The 19th World Cup will be hosted by the Philippines, Japan and Indonesia. The first two countries already have experience hosting world championships, and Indonesia is about to debut. Unfortunately, this country’s national team could not fulfil the FIBA criteria and qualify for the home world championship. For the first time in history, the world forum will be held without one of the host countries’ teams.
Format
The World Cup will occur in three stages: two group stages and a playoff. Initially, 32 teams will be divided into 8 groups of 4, and the top two from each quartet will advance to the next stage. In the second round, 16 teams will again form 4 groups. The winners and runners-up will go to the playoffs and compete.
List of participants
From Europe, 12 teams will play at the Cup: Greece, Latvia, Finland, Germany, Slovenia, Lithuania, France, Spain, Italy, Georgia, Montenegro and Serbia.
Asia will be represented by 8 teams: Australia, China, Japan, Iran, Lebanon, New Zealand, Jordan and the Philippines.
The Americas will be represented by Canada, the United States, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Brazil, Venezuela and Mexico.
Africa’s honor will be defended by Côte d’Ivoire, Angola, South Sudan, Egypt and Cabo Verde.
Favorites
Even before the start, all eyes are on the US national team. The eternal favorite of the world championships does not always take the tournament seriously but always brings NBA stars to the world forum. The Golden State Warriors and the US national team coach, Steve Kerr, again gathered a young squad, which still looks like an unconditional favorite.
The Americans will be led by Anthony Edwards (Minnesota), Tyrese Haliburton (Indiana), Paolo Banchero (Orlando), Brandon Ingram (New Orleans), Mikal Bridges (Brooklyn) and other young stars. At the 2019 World Cup, the NBA All-Star Team failed resoundingly, losing to the French in the quarterfinals. Personnel conclusions were made: Steve Kerr did not take star veterans to the tournament who were not in the mood for a serious fight.
A big blow to the Greek national team’s ambitions was dealt by its leader Giannis Antetokounmpo. The two-time NBA season MVP and 2021 NBA Finals MVP has not recovered from a knee injury and will miss the Cup. Without him, the Greeks can hardly count on a high place.
The Lithuanian leader Domantas Sabonis will also not be able to help his team because he is still recovering from an injury received during the high season.
But the star of Dallas and the entire NBA, Luka Doncic, is eager to fight. After the failure at the EuroBasket 2022, the Slovenian is determined to lead his team to victory.
The current world champions – the Spaniards – also gathered a strong squad. There is only one NBA player on their team – point guard Ricky Rubio from Cleveland, who is treated more than he plays, but the Spaniards’ strength is in team play, and they may well compete for a place in the top three.
The 2023 World Cup’s main loss is the absence of the best player in the world at the moment, Nikola Jokic. The Serb led Denver to the NBA championship and became Finals MVP, but now he’s decided to take a break before the start of the new season and miss the tournament in Asia. At home, the Nuggets star was criticized for this, but the Olympics are ahead, and Jocker promised to do everything to bring the Serbs there.
The team of NBA players from Canada is ready to compete with the championship favorites, strong France, led by super talent Victor Wembanyama, Italy and Puerto Rico.
African teams
The Angola team is one of the giants of African basketball and very rarely misses the world championships. This time, the team is faced with getting out of Group A, which brought Italy, the Philippines and the Dominican Republic together.
Experienced Côte d’Ivoire is taking part in the World Championships for the fifth time. The team from West Africa led by Italian coach Paolo Povia got into a strong group with Ireland, Spain and Brazil, but will try to show character and will to win.
All players of the Egyptian national team represent the national championship and interact well with each other. The Egyptians are coached by Canadian manager Roy Rana, who will try to surprise Mexico, Montenegro and Lithuania in Group D.
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