World Cup passes now on sale

MANILA, Philippines - So far, seven countries, including the Philippines, are assured of playing at the FIBA World Cup in Spain next year and 13 more will join the cast after a series of continental qualifiers up to Sept. 22. Four wildcard tickets will be distributed by FIBA to complete the 24-nation cast with the restriction of a maximum of three in a zone.

During the recent FIBA-Asia Championships in Manila, FIBA communications director Patrick Koller said it would be a thrill if Filipino fans could bring their enthusiasm and love for the game to Spain. Koller was amazed by the passion that Filipinos showed in cheering for the host team that took the silver medal in the 15-team competitions.

The 24 teams in the FIBA World Cup will be split into four groups of six with a draw to determine the compositions in February. The group games will be played in four different venues – the Bizcaia Arena in Bilbao, the Palacio Municipal de Deportes in Granada, the Palacio de Deportes in Las Palmas, Canary Islands and the Palacio Municipal de Deportes in Seville.

After the first round of eliminations, the last two placers of each group are struck out of contention. The 16 survivors, four in each group, advance to the two-stage knockout quarterfinals to be held at the Palacio de los Deportes de la Comunidad in Madrid and the Palau Santo Jordi in Barcelona. The eight winners move on to play in the second stage of the knockout quarterfinals and the four survivors advance to the semifinals in Madrid. The playoff for third place will be on Sept. 13 and the finals on Sept. 14, both in Madrid.

The seven countries assured of World Cup slots are host Spain, 2012 Olympic champion US, Australia and New Zealand as the qualifiers from Oceania and Iran, the Philippines and South Korea as the qualifiers from Asia. Six slots are reserved for Europe which will determine the qualifiers in a 23-nation tournament on Sept. 4-22 in Slovenia. Four slots are set aside for the Americans which will hold qualifiers for 10 countries on Aug. 30-Sept. 11 in Venezuela. Africa has three slots and the zone qualifiers will be staged on Aug. 20-31 in the Ivory Coast.

The FIBA World Cup used to be known as the FIBA World Championships and it is the first time the flagship tournament will be called the World Cup in line with the FIFA World Cup, the Rugby World Cup and the Cricket World Cup. “The new name reflects the prestige that FIBA’s tournament has as a premier international competition and allows for it to be recognized for what it truly is: one of the biggest global sporting events,” said FIBA. The Naismith trophy, symbolic of world supremacy, will be at stake at the FIBA World Cup.

FIBA is now accepting purchases of a Follow Your Team (FYT) pass with access to five preliminary games, the minimum every team will play. Only a limited number of FYT passes will be sold. Prices of tickets in the preliminaries where Spain and the US are not playing range from 15 EUR or P870 to 75 EUR or P4,400 per session of one or two games. In the finals, the highest-priced ticket is 200 EUR or P11,600 and the lowest-priced ticket is 60 EUR or P3,500.

After the draw in February, venue passes will be sold where a buyer is assured of a ticket to 15 games in the preliminaries, seven knockout quarterfinal games in Barcelona and nine games, including the finals, in Madrid. A venue pass carries a 20 percent discount off the retail price of each ticket. Day passes and session tickets will also be sold.

To make it easy for tourists, FIBA has designated a travel agency to arrange for the “FanM2014 Package” consisting of travel, accommodation and game tickets. The travel agency is Halconviajes.com with the email address of [email protected]. Ticket inquiries may be made at fiba.com/spain2014 or through the event ticketing network entradas.com.

In the preliminaries, each host city will stage three games a day, split into two sessions – a double session with one ticket for two games and a single session with one ticket for one game. The two-stage knockout quarterfinals will begin on Sept. 6 in Madrid and Barcelona. The eight teams booted out of contention after the first round of eliminations will not play classification games. Starting Sept. 11, only one game will be played until the finals with Barcelona hosting the first semifinal game and Madrid the second the next day.

Organizers are setting up a secondary market for tickets in case early buyers choose to sell if their teams fail to advance. “If your ticket is sold, you will receive 100 percent of the value you paid for that specific ticket,” said FIBA. “If it remains unsold, you can still get it back up to a few hours before the game and go enjoy the action.”

Tickets are expected to be sold out when Spain and the US play. Spain topped the FIBA World Championships in 2006 in Saitama, Japan, while the US ruled the 2010 edition in Turkey. Tickets for Spain and US games in the preliminaries will sell at a premium of a low of 15 EUR or P870 to a high of 90 EUR or P5,300.