MADRID (Spain) - It's full steam ahead for the FIBA U19 Women's Basketball World Cup in Madrid after an official presentation ceremony at City Hall in the capital.

Madrid, Torrejón de Ardoz and Alcalá de Henares will host games for the event, which is to be staged from July 15 to July 23.

The Spanish Basketball Federation (FEB) is also celebrating its centenary year, so for the host country, the U19 Women's World Cup has additional significance.

WE WANT THIS CHAMPIONSHIP TO BE SPECIAL ... DO THINGS THAT HAVE NEVER BEEN DONE IN WORLD BASKETBALL

Rising Spanish stars Elena Buenavida Estevez and Awa Fam Thiam attended the ceremony. Buenavida was the leading scorer in Spain's team that reached last year's U18 European Championship Final and Fam was a leading player in her country's team that made it to the title game of the U16 European Championship. Both were All-Star Five selections in their respective tournaments.

Buenavida, Fam and Elisa Aguilar, who represented Spain's senior women's team from 1996 to 2013

FEB President Jorge Garbosa, a member of Spain's 2006 FIBA Basketball World Cup winning team and one of the country's all-time greats, was at the presentation ceremony.

"This is the most important year of our future," he said. "And within our present and our future, training and women's sports are two strategic pillars. That's why this World Cup is so important to us. We want this championship to be special and we want to do things that have never been done in world basketball."

Madrid Mayor José Luis Martínez Almeida, was on hand. He, too, expressed pride that the Comunidad de Madrid will once again host the global event. The FIBA Basketball World Cup 2014 was held in the Spanish capital.

Madrid Mayor José Luis Martínez Almeida spoke at the ceremony

"Basketball exemplifies the values of sport," he said. "We are organizing many events this year, but this is the one that makes us most excited. For various reasons, one of them because we have been working since 2020 to hold this World Cup. Also because of the institutional collaboration that it entails and because of the Golden Age of Spanish sport cannot be understood without basketball. If there is any team that exemplifies the values of sport, it is basketball."

The president of the Superior Sports Council, José Manuel Franco, was also present and spoke enthusiastically about the opportunity for the country to host another major event.

"I'm sure it will be an organizational and sporting success," he said. "Any championship of these characteristics represents a lot for basketball in general and for Spain in particular. What is going to happen in this championship is going to be a continuation of the success that Spanish women's basketball has experienced."

FIBA