Basketball New Zealand

FIBA World Championships for Men logo

With 100 days to go before the start of the 2010 FIBA World Championship for Men in Turkey, organisers say all tickets that were available on public sale for the event have already sold out.

Only a small contingent will be made available shortly before the event begins on August 28.

Around 350,000 people are expected to attend the championship, which culminates in the final on September 12.

The event will be played in four cities – Ankara, Istanbul, Izmir and Kayseri – and feature 24 teams, with 288 players playing 80 games. Two new venues have been built especially for the Championship.

Patrick Baumann, the Secretary-General of basketball’s governing body FIBA and a member of the International Olympic Committee, said:

“The 2010 World Championship will be the world’s biggest ever basketball competition, and the biggest event ever to be held in Turkey. We are delighted that all available tickets have already sold out, a sign that the world’s second biggest sport is as popular as ever.

“Basketball has a clean, positive and exciting image and is followed by over 450million people around the world. Its future is as bright as ever and the World Championship will be a clear symbol of the sport’s growing success.”

The first round of the Championship, which returns to Europe for the first time in 12 years, will be played from 28th August to 12th September and feature superstars including Kobe Bryant.

The team winning the FIBA World Championship 2010 will qualify automatically for the London 2012 Olympics.

The following teams have qualified for Turkey:

Group A (Kayseri): Angola, Argentina, Australia, Germany, Jordan, Serbia

Group B (Istanbul): Brazil, Croatia, Iran, Slovenia, Tunisia, USA

Group C (Ankara): China, Greece, Ivory Coast, Puerto Rico, Russia, Turkey

Group D (Izmir): Canada, France, Lebanon, Lithuania, New Zealand, Spain