Hoops

FIBA Americas

Dominican Republic will be a good chance for one of those wildcards for sure as I previously noted.

Billo - I'm with you. I still like the wildcard qualification tournament idea though. I worked for Beijing. But to be invited to this tourney the only requisite should be that only the highest ranked teams that have not yet qualified based on FIBA's world rankings at a certain date.

Out of the regionsn that have already been played out and won, the only team that looks reasonbly strong is the Dominican Republic from FIBA Americas IMO. I would expect at least 3 of the ildcards to go to teams in Europe - after all their region is the deepest.

Yeah that was a good way to do it for the olympics. I guess cause all the teams have had a shot at qualifying in their Zone championships that they figure getting them together to play yet again may be overkill?

Personally I think the wildcard system is in place to save the big drawcard teams in case they don't qualify so they don't cop a loss in revenue. Note FIBA's last 2 points:-

a) Importance of the country to FIBA's marketing and television partners
b) Importance of the country to the Organizers of the FIBA World Championship

That sums it all up right there :)

I was only going off what they did for Beijing in whereby they held a qualification tourney for the last few spots. From memory, they invited what they perceived to be the best possible teams that had not yet already qualified and played them off against one another in a mini-qualification tournament.

Due to the junior season running closer to Xmas than usual, which means there is a clash with an annual Xmas Carnival, will the round be changed?

The wildcards aren't selected from a qualification tournament but by the following criteria set by FIBA:-

The criteria for the wild cards
- In order to be invited, a team must have participated in its 2009 FIBA Zone Qualifying Championship.
- There can be a maximum number of three teams from a given FIBA Zone.

In addition to the two above-mentioned requirements, FIBA shall take into consideration the following aspects:

Sporting Aspects
Popularity of basketball in the country
Quality and sporting results of the country's national team
Quality of work by the National Federation
Economic Aspects
Involvement of local television station(s) and/or competition(s) in domestic and international basketball
Importance of the country to FIBA's marketing and television partners
Importance of the country to the Organizers of the FIBA World Championship

Note: The FIBA Central Board is the highest executive body of FIBA where 20 members and three ex-officio members meet twice yearly. The Central Board establishes the Internal Regulations and assigns the organization of all World Championships.