TENERIFE, Canary Islands, Spain (FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup 2018) - Tenerife, the largest of Spain's Canary Islands, will host the FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup 2018, the International Basketball Federation confirmed on Sunday.

The Group Phase will be held across the Tenerife Sports Pavilion Santiago Martin in San Cristobal de La Laguna and the Palacio Municipal de Deportes "Quico Cabrera" in Santa Cruz. The Final Phase will then take center stage in the Tenerife Sports Pavilion Santiago Martin, which has a seating capacity of 5,100.

The Quico Cabrera venue is set for reconstruction and once completed will be a 3,600-seater facility.

The FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup, the biggest international women's basketball competition, will bring together the 16 best teams from around the world from September 22-30, 2018. All participants are known following the conclusion of the 2017 FIBA Women's Continental Cups.

Tenerife has experience of hosting high-level basketball competitions, most recently serving as the background for the Final Four of the inaugural season of the Basketball Champions League and the FIBA Intercontinental Cup.

The announcement was made ahead of Sunday's FIBA Intercontinental Cup fixture between 2016-17 Basketball Champions League winners Iberostar Tenerife and 2017 DIRECTV Liga de las Americas champions Guaros de Lara.

FIBA President Horacio Muratore said: "We look forward to hosting next year's FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup in Tenerife, a region that has enjoyed great basketball growth, exposure and momentum lately. We are pleased to see the tremendous support put forward by the government to further the development of basketball in the Canary Islands as well as the strong desire of local organizers to invest in the women's game, as demonstrated by measures like the refurbishment of the Quico Cabrera facility. These initiatives are essential in order to have a lasting and effective legacy in place."

Spanish Basketball Federation (FEB) President Jorge Garbajosa said: "Getting to host the greatest women's basketball competition in our country is really important for us. Just like FIBA, the Spanish Basketball Federation is completely committed to growing the participation of women in sports and in our case this is tied in with our program 'Universo Mujer' which is dedicated to improving the economic benefits for the companies investing in the development of women in sports. Tenerife is a land of basketball and therefore is honored to host all of the teams and welcome all of the fans who will be travelling over for the Women's Basketball World Cup. For Spain's own fans, this will be the perfect opportunity to honor the Spanish team, the reigning European champions. We are very confident that the 2018 edition of the Women's Basketball World Cup will be the best one in FIBA's history."

Joining Mr Muratore and Mr Garbajosa for this special occasion on the Road to Spain 2018 were: the Mayor of La Laguna, José Alberto Díaz Domínguez; the President of the Canarian Basketball Federation, Manuel Gómez Padilla; as well as former Spain women's internationals Nieves Anula, Yolanda Moliné, Lidia Mirchandani, Miriam Henningsen, María Concepción Barrero and Charo Borges, the first player born in the Canary Islands to have represented the Spanish national team.

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About FIBA
FIBA (fiba.basketball) - the world governing body for basketball - is an independent association formed by 213 National Basketball Federations throughout the world. It is recognised as the sole competent authority in basketball by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

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