REGENSBURG (David Hein's Eye on the Future) - Last week’s FIBA U18 African Championship 2018 completed the field for the FIBA U19 Basketball World Cup 2019 - well, actually the FIBA Executive Committee's announcement of Greece as the hosts sealed the 16-team group.  So, let's look ahead to next summer’s global spectacle.

First off, here is a run-down of the 15 qualified teams by regions.

United States won their fifth straight FIBA U18 Americas Championship and booked their tickets to the 14th U19 World Cup along with Canada, Argentina and Puerto Rico in mid-June.

Early August saw Serbia return to the top of Europe by knocking off hosts Latvia for a repeat of the FIBA U18 European Championship crown. Also grabbing spots in the global tournament were France, Russia and Lithuania. The U19 World Cup hosts Greece finished 14th and usually would have been relegated to Division B, but they were named as hosts of the U18 European tournament next summer.

In mid-August, Australia grabbed the title in their first-ever FIBA U18 Asian Championship, defeating fellow debutants from Oceania New Zealand in the Final. The other two qualified teams were China and Philippines.

The final two qualifiers came from the FIBA U18 Africa Championship in early September as Mali claimed their first U18 continental trophy by holding off returnees Senegal.

So, what makes this field special?

The United States will arrive at the U19 World Cup on a big-time mission after they lost to Canada in the 2017 Semi-Finals in Cairo. The USA team re-watched the U19 loss to the Canadians before the 2018 U18 Americas Final, which was played in Canada. But as always with United States teams, USA Basketball will face a challenge to get their top players because of guys declaring for the NBA Draft and getting ready for college. But you can bet that USA will take no prisoners.

Canada meanwhile will have a massive target on their backs - also by other top nations around the world. So, this will be an important tournament for Canada to prove they are worthy of consideration as one of the best in the world.

Argentina are back for a 13th time - missing just the 1987 tournament - as they qualified for next summer’s U19 World Cup, unlike the 2017 edition when they backed in after Brazil were suspended. And Puerto Rico make back-to-back appearances for the first time since three in a row from 2003 to 2009.

The Dominican Republic missed out on a second berth in three editions while Chile still have yet to reach the U19 World Cup.

Serbia were the 2007 U19 champs and also grabbed silver in 2011 and 2013. But they missed out on Egypt 2017 and will be ready to show they deserve to be on the world podium.

Latvia actually shouldn’t have been in the U18 European Championship as they were relegated the year before. But they had declared to be hosts and could not be sent down to Division B. And then they rode the wave of the home fans and reached the Final - and reached the U19 World Cup for the first time since hosting the event in 2011.

France are back in a second straight U19 World Cup while Russia return for the first time since 2013 and Lithuania are making their seventh appearance in the last eight editions - which includes the 2011 title.

Missing out from Europe are countries such as up-and-coming Germany, the 2017 runners-up Italy as well as Spain and Turkey.

New Zealand beat Australia in the FIBA U18 Oceanian Championship 2016 Final - meaning that Australia missed the FIBA U19 Basketball World Cup for the first time.

It should be no surprise that Australia won the U18 Asian tournament, especially considering that Sam Froling and his teammates were on a mission to right the wrong of the country missing out on the 2017 U19 World Cup - the first time the Australians failed to qualify.

New Zealand hosted the 2009 U19 World Cup and then didn’t qualify for the event for the first time until 2017. And the Tall Blacks are back again.

China’s victory over Philippines in the Third Place Game is significant as they want to show the rest of the non-Oceanian teams that they are back on top of Asia (even though Philippines beat China in the U18 Asian group stage) as they get back to the U19 World Cup after missing the tournament in Cairo.

The Philippines at that point though were already in seventh heaven as they had qualified for the U19 World Cup for the first time since the first edition way back in 1979. So Heraklion better be prepared for some enthusiastic Filipino fans.

With Australia and New Zealand in Asia’s qualifying zone now, Korea failed to reach the U19 World Cup for the first time since 2009 - snapping a streak of four tournaments and six of seven. Iran’s three-tournament streak was also snapped and Japan failed to build on their 2017 appearance - which had been their first since 1999.

Mali meanwhile will come to the U19 World Cup as the African U18 champions for the first time as they make back-to-back appearances. Senegal booked their U19 ticket for just the second time - the first one coming in 2013 after winning the U18 African crown in 2012. The country later relinquished that title after committing age fraud with some of their players.

Senegal’s re-emergence on the world stage means that Egypt’s run of four U19 showings in five editions ends while Angola will also not return.

With the 16-team FIBA U19 Basketball World Cup 2019 field finally complete, world basketball fans can already start looking forward to a share of great teams and storylines to follow in Crete. 

David Hein

FIBA

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