13th November, 2013
Nigeria and fourteen other national teams across four zones of the Federation of International Basketball Associations (FIBA) have submitted their applications for the four wild cards for the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup.
FIBA in a statement on Wednesday said that 15 national teams that participated in their 2013 continental championships were seeking to qualify for next year’s world championship in Spain.
The competition, which dunks off on Aug. 30 to Sept.14, 2014, already has 20 national teams that have already booked their place for Spain 2014.
Teams already in the competition include the hosts Spain and the Olympic Champion, the USA, teams from Africa: Angola, Egypt and Senegal and teams from Americas: Mexico, Puerto Rico, Argentina and Dominican Republic.
Others are teams from Asia: Iran, Philippines and Korea, teams from Europe: France, Lithuania, Croatia, Slovenia, Ukraine and Serbia and those from Oceania: Australia and New Zealand.
The four recipients of the wild cards will complete the 24-team field for the 2014 World Cup and it has Nigeria (Africa), Brazil (South America), Canada (North America) and Venezuela (the Americas).
The Asia countries include China and Qatar while Bosnia and Herzegovina, Finland, Germany, Greece, Israel, Italy, Poland, Russia and Turkey are from Europe.
According to the statement, no more than three national teams from one FIBA Zone can receive the wild cards.
FIBA will reveal which countries will receive the four cards at its Central Board meeting scheduled for between Feb. 1 and Feb. 2 in Barcelona, Spain.