World Championship 2006 - Draw information

On Sunday 15th January at 3pm local time (7am CET), the city Tokyo will
have a first glimpse of how it will be to host the world when
delegations from 5 continents and from all 24 countries will be present
at the draw for the 2006 FIBA World Championship in Japan.

The 24 qualified teams will be drawn in four groups of six teams each
with the goal to balance the representation by continent and to create
groups that will be also balanced in strength.

FIBA Sports Director, Lubomir Kotleba, who will be responsible for the
technical part of the draw: "We will make sure that the nine European
teams and the six teams from the Americas teams will be equally spread
over the four groups.

"Therefore we will have three groups with 2 European teams and one group
with 3 European teams.

"We will also have two groups with 2 teams from the Americas, and two
groups with 1 team from the Americas. Obviously the three teams from
Africa, the four teams from Asia and the two teams Oceania will not be
drawn into the same group. The rest will be up to the lots."

Immediately after all the 24 teams have been assigned to one of the four
groups, FIBA and the LOC will create a daily schedule with the match-ups
of each team in the first round. FIBA will also announce in which city
each group will play in the first round: Hamamatsu, Hiroshima, Sapporo
or Sendai. The Final Round will be played in the city of Saitama close
by Tokyo.

In the meanwhile players and coaches around the world get ready for the
most prestigious basketball title on earth. The world’s top basketball
talent will meet just six weeks after the world’s best footballers have
determined their champion in the FIFA World Cup.

The 2006 edition of the FIBA World Championship is expected to be the
toughest basketball competition ever, due to the increased number of 24
teams and the commitment of the world’s best players.


The following 24 teams will compete in the event:

Angola
Argentina
Australia
Brazil
China
France
Germany
Greece
Italy
Japan
Lebanon
Lithuania
New Zealand
Nigeria
Panama
Puerto Rico
Qatar
Senegal
Serbia & Montenegro
Slovenia
Spain
Turkey
Venezuela
USA

From FIBA <http://www.fiba.com>