BEIRUT (Lebanon)- The FIBA Regional Office-Asia on Monday, January 26, announced the hosts for the FIBA Asia Cup 2029 Pre-Qualifiers First Round to be played later this year.
Dubai in UAE, Atyrau in Kazakhstan, Seremban in Malaysia and Ulaanbaatar in Mongolia were named as the host cities for the FIBA Asia Cup 2029 Pre-Qualifiers First Round, marking the first step towards identifying the teams that will feature in the FIBA Asia Cup 2029, FIBA’s flagship competition for men’s National Teams in Asia.
The FIBA Asia Cup 2029 Pre-Qualifiers, played over two rounds, will identify eight teams who will join the sixteen automatically teams – by virtue of their participation in the FIBA Asia Cup 2025 in Jeddah (Saudi Arabia) – in the FIBA Asia Cup 2029 Qualifiers.
Seventeen National Teams – 16 from Asia along with one from Oceania – feature in the FIBA Asia Cup 2029 Pre-Qualifiers First Round.
FIBA Asia Cup 2029 Pre-Qualifiers First Round
Ten teams from Western Region – from West Asia, Gulf, Central Asia and South Asia Sub-Zones have been drawn into Groups A and B of the FIBA Asia Cup 2029 Western Region Pre-Qualifiers.
Six teams from South East Asia and East Asia Sub-Zones along with one team from Oceania have been drawn into Groups C and D of the FIBA Asia Cup 2029 Eastern Region Pre-Qualifiers.
Group A (Dubai, UAE): Bahrain, UAE, Kuwait, Oman, Nepal.
Group B (Atyrau, Kazakhstan): Kazakhstan, Palestine, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Kyrgyzstan.
Group C (Seremban, Malaysia): Indonesia, Malaysia, Hong Kong China.
Group D (Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia): Thailand, Mongolia, Vietnam, Fiji.
Each group in the First Round will feature a Round Robin tournament to be played during the International Window Period for Men between Aug 24-Sept 1 2026.
FIBA Asia Cup 2029 Pre-Qualifiers Second Round
The top three teams from each First Round group will advance to the FIBA Asia Cup 2029 Pre-Qualifiers Second Round, and will be divided into two groups of six teams each.
Group E: 1A, 2A, 3A, 1B, 2B, 3B
Group F: 1C, 2C, 3C, 1D, 2D, 3D
The hosts for the Second Round, from among the participating teams, will be announced later with priority and preference given to a National Federation that already hosted one of the Groups in the First Round.
Each group in the FIBA Asia Cup 2029 Pre-Qualifiers Second Round will feature a Round Robin tournament to be played during the International Window Period between Nov 23-Dec 1, 2026.
The top four teams from each group in the Second Round will make it to the FIBA Asia Cup 2029 Qualifiers joining the sixteen teams that played in the FIBA Asia Cup 2025.
The FIBA Asia Cup 2029 Qualifiers – much similar to the FIBA Asia Cup 2025 Qualifiers – will comprise three International Windows in February 2028, November 2028 and February 2029, followed by two FIBA Asia Cup 2029 Qualifying Tournaments for Third Placed teams to ascertain the sixteen teams that will feature in the FIBA Asia Cup 2029.
FIBA