THE municipality of Bocaue, Bulacan is getting ready to welcome fans and delegates who will come to watch the games of the 2023 FIBA World Cup.
Senator Joel Villanueva, who considers Bocaue his hometown, said this as he welcomed the successful bid of the Samagang Basketbol ng Pilipinas to co-host the event with Japan and Indonesia.
Villanueva is Vice Chairperson of the Senate Committee on Sports.
“We are also elated that the gold-medal game will be held at the Philippine Arena in Bocaue, Bulacan. It will be a good opportunity for us to showcase our world-class sports facilities, as well as the hospitality of the Filipinos,” said Villanueva.
With the availability of the the world’s largest indoor arena, Villanueva expects a record crowd of over 57,000 fans to watch.
The Asian bloc that includes the Philippines, Japan and Indonesia won a bid that beat out the Argentina-Uruguay consortium last Saturday.
This was after the candidate countries, through their representatives, presented their final pitch before the FIBA Central Board in Switzerland.
“We are extremely happy that basketball-loving Filipinos will finally witness the FIBA World Cup here in our home soil. We congratulate the officials of Samahan ng Basketball ng Pilipinas for their triumphant mission in winning the bid to host the FIBA 2023 World Cup together with Japan and Indonesia,” said Villanueva.
The Philippines will host the quarterfinals, semifinals, and the finals.
The last time the event was held in the Philippines was in 1978 at the Araneta Coliseum, where Yugoslavia defeated the then-Soviet Union in the final held at the Araneta Coliseum.
Back in 1978, only 14 teams competed. This time around, 32 countries are set to battle for basketball supremacy. Indonesia and Japan will each host eight countries, with group round games to be held in Jakarta and Okinawa. The 16 other teams will play their group round games in Manila.
The Philippines, Japan and Indonesia, as co-hosts, are automatically qualified for the tournament.
The qualification stage for other nations will start in in 2021.
“I think it’s an event that makes all Filipinos very happy and I’m sure all of the fans in Indonesia and Japan are equally happy. As you know we are just a basketball crazy country,” said SBP Chairman Manny Pangilinan. “FIBA has been gracious enough to give us the hosting rights for the FIBA Basketball World Cup. It’s an extremely important event for Philippines basketball to have.” With Bill Casas
Even as they celebrated a historic moment for the country, Pangilinan noted that the real work has only just started. After all, this is the first time that the FIBA World Cup will be held in multiple countries.
“The work with Japan and Indonesia starts today,” he said.
“Now the real work begins. We have to come together to make sure that we’re able to host and conduct a really great tournament,” added Reyes.