Basketball Australia's ambitious plans to bid for major FIBA events
Basketball Australia has developed an ambitious plan to bid for some of the biggest tournaments in world.
The moves will look to bring some of FIBA's biggest events to Australian shores, including the 2021 Asian Cup, the 2022 World Cup for Women, and the 2027 World Cup for Men. The ambitious schedule has been constructed after initial plans of a possible bid for the 2023 World Cup for Men were dropped in favour of a grander vision.
Basketball Australia plans to bid for FIBA major events
Basketball Australia CEO Anthony Moore, recently spoke to The Herald Sun about their grand plans.
"The FIBA Basketball World Cup is the pinnacle event of national team basketball and the world's biggest nations all play our great game at this elite level," he said.
Victoria is set to be a major part of Basketball Australia's strategy, with both metropolitan and rural venues to be considered in hosting events.
"If you look at an Asian Cup in Victoria, there is an opportunity to obviously do it in CBD Melbourne because we've got three venues. But it could go to Geelong, it could go to Bendigo, Ballarat," Moore explained.
This year will see Australia make their debut in the FIBA Asia Cup following changes made to FIBA's qualification system for the World Cup. The Women's event will take place in July, while the male edition will be held during August. Both the Opals and the Boomers are favourites to take home the silverware despite likely missing their best players due to unavailability.
No doubt, as one of the leading nations in the region, the Asia Cup will soon take place in Australia. However, the World Cup for men, which has never taken place in the country, would be a major coup for basketball in the Oceania region. Australia hosted the 1994 FIBA World Championships for women, an event in which the Opals finished fourth behind gold medalist Brazil.
"There are a multitude of opportunities for our senior men’s and women’s team to play legitimate world cup or international events in Australia," said Moore.
The last time the best basketball nations all came to our shores at the same time this happened, at the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMrPjl-927Q
With both the Opals and Boomers likely genuine medal contenders, if Basketball Australia's grand scheme comes to fruition, it could well facilitate the long-term success of the sport on and off the court.