FIBA - Profile of 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup wild card candidate: Bosnia and Herzegovina

MIES (FIBA Basketball World Cup) - On 1 February 2014, FIBA's Central Board will announce the national teams that will be the recipients of the four wild cards to complete the field at the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup.

Fifteen national teams from across four FIBA zones submitted their applications for the wild cards. They all participated in their respective 2013 continental championships which are qualifying tournament for FIBA's flagship event in Spain next year (30 August-14 September 2014).

The 15 candidates are: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Canada, China, Finland, Germany, Greece, Israel, Italy, Nigeria, Poland, Qatar, Russia, Turkey and Venezuela.

In the lead-up to the decision on 1 February, we will profile all 15 applicants.

We begin with Bosnia and Herzegovina (BIH).

Recent history in international competitions: Bosnia and Herzegovina failed to advance past the First Round at EuroBasket 2013 as they fell victim to the point difference tiebreaker. They beat Montenegro, The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (MKD) and Lithuania to finish Group B with a 3-2 record like the top four teams in the pool. But their six-point win over Lithuania wasn't enough to reach the Second Round as they needed a victory by 10 points or more. At EuroBasket 2011, Bosnia and Herzegovina had learned the detriment of a big loss, falling to Finland by 28 points and then losing out in a three-way tie for third-place in their group because of that defeat. The tournament in Lithuania was the first time the country had been at a EuroBasket since 2005, after missing out on qualification for the 2007 and 2009 tournaments. At the 2003 and 2005 continental events, Bosnia and Herzegovina lost all three of their games. They have yet to feature in a world tournament (FIBA Basketball World Cup, Olympic Games or FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament).

Harun Mahmutovic, Secretary General of the Basketball Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, took time to make his country's case for being given a wild card.

FIBA: What are the three main reasons why your country deserves to receive a wild card to participate in the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup?
Mahmutovic: Bosnia and Herzegovina is a small country with a population of five million. Nevertheless, it is one of the greatest basketball countries. Basketball is the most popular sport in the country. The national team has participated nine times at EuroBasket. In the qualifying phase for EuroBasket 2013 (played during the summer of 2012), we were first in our group. Giving a wild card to Bosnia and Herzegovina would help the development of our alliance and the development of basketball in our country considering that we are one of the most talented nations in the world for basketball helping to develop the sport in the world.

FIBA: If given a wild card, how competitive can we expect your country to be and how confident are you that the team will feature all its leading/best players?
Mahmutovic: Our national team consists of very good and popular players like Mirza Teletovic (Brooklyn Nets/NBA), Ognjen Kuzmic (Golden State Warriors/NBA), Nihad Djedovic (FC Bayern Munchen/Euroleague), Zack Wright (Brose Baskets Bamberg/Euroleague), Nedzad Sinanovic (Valadolid/Spain), Andrija Stipanovic (Ostende/Belgium) and Elmedin Kikanovic (Enisey Krasnoyarsk/Russia). We are confident all of these players will make themselves available to play at Spain 2014. In the past 15 years, 97 players who were born in Bosnia and Herzegovina have played for the national teams of other countries (Croatia, Spain, Slovenia, Turkey, Serbia, Germany...etc).

FIBA: How will having your national team play at the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup help the growth, development and popularity of the sport in your country?
Mahmutovic: If FIBA gives us a wild card for the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup, it will show that even small basketball states can dream and that everything is possible in sports. It will show that FIBA wants to help countries that have political problems and those unions who work really hard against many obstacles to succeed. If you assign us the wild card, it will show the politicians in our country that the sport has no boundaries and it will inevitably help our country to unite in the fight for basketball and sports. For the past three years, we have successfully organised the European Championships for younger category in which every year 22 countries have participated. Two years ago, we started with the national team U16 and U18 and for two years we won playing in A Division European Championships. Bosnia and Herzegovina has a political problem and the government would not set aside even one Euro for our national basketball teams.

FIBA: What do you consider as the greatest moment in your country's basketball history?
Mahmutovic: At EuroBasket 2013, we were the only team that had three wins in the First Round and did not go to the Second Round. We beat Lithuania, who went on to finish with the silver medal.

FIBA