THE 18th edition of FIBA Basketball World Cup is to tip off Aug. 31. China is the host for the 2019 FIBA World Cup schedule.

The tournament this time has 32 participating teams and will be held in eight different cities in China, namely Beijing, Shanghai, Nanjing, and Wuhan as well as four cities in Guangdong Province: Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Dongguan and Foshan.

There are altogether 92 matches that will be played in 16 days. The tournament will end with the final match Sept. 15, 2019.

The venue for the final and the third-place playoff is Beijing.

The participating 32 teams are grouped into eight groups of four teams each. Unlike previously, this time the seven teams coming out on top (two teams from Europe, two from American continents, one team each from Oceania, Asia and Africa continents) will be qualified automatically to the Olympic Games that are to be held in Tokyo in 2020.

The next top 16 teams, according to their points in the FIBA World Cup 2019, will be granted participation in one of the four qualifying tournaments for the Tokyo Olympic Games.

(SD-Agencies)