SAO PABLO (FIBA Basketball World Cup) – With clear goals set and a generational change planned, the Brazilian Basketball Confederation (CBB) announced Aleksandar Petrovic as the new Head Coach of the Brazilian national team for the FIBA Basketball World Cup Americas Qualifiers.

"We intend to qualify for the next FIBA Basketball World Cup,” said Petrovic in the press conference. "I know and really like the group. It is a pleasure for me to be the head coach of the Brazilian National Team, I’m very happy and I trust that we will be successful.”

Vitor Benite will be a key player for Petrovic

The coach, who qualified his home country’s national team Croatia to the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, listed Augusto Lima, Ricardo Fischer, Vitor Benite and Vitor Faverani as key players for Brazil in their qualification process to the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019.

“I’ve followed these players and I want them in the team.”, said Petrovic. “I come here prepared. Little will be changed in the offense in the beginning. My focus will be on defense. I played against them and identified some aspects that need to be corrected. My priority is to add intensity to the team and have a team with big men that shoot. That’s the way the game is played right now. I really like Rafael Mineiro too and he will be in my list," added the Croatian.

Petrovic and the Brazilian Federation will now assemble the team that will face Chile and Venezuela in the first window of the FIBA Basketball World Cup Americas Qualifiers, and set out clear goals for the Brazilian National Team.

“The challenge begins as early as November. At first the plan is to arrive in Chile three days before the game. For the game against Venezuela we will do a training before," added Petrovic. "The plan is to work with players between the ages of 19 and 22.”

"Players who are in Europe play on the 19th and it will take a lot of planning for them to be with us. I like Rafa Luz and I want to count with him if he’s recovered from his injury. If any of the athletes do not want to play with the National Team in the window, they will automatically be out of the World Cup. The National team will be composed of players that want to play," he concluded.

Petrovic will be joined in the sidelines by AmeriCup 2017 coaches César Guidetti, Bruno Savignani, and Felipe Santana.

Beginning in November 2017, the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 Americas Qualifiers will establish a new road to the FIBA Basketball World Cup China 2019. The new format will take place over the course of six windows and feature the world’s top 80 national teams playing 1,200 games in front of millions of fans all around the globe.

The qualifying windows for the FIBA World Basketball Cup 2019 will be November 20-28, February 19-27 (2018), June 25 to July 3, September 10-18, November 26 to December 4, and February 20-28 (2019).

After the six windows, the top seven teams from the Americas will reserve a spot in the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 in China from August 31 – September 15.

FIBA