MIES (Switzerland) – Efforts to increase visibility and expand the popularity of women’s basketball received a massive boost today as Google becomes FIBA’s first-ever Global Partner of Women’s Basketball and the FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup.

The partnership will start with this year’s FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup in Sydney, Australia on September 22, where Google will be the Exclusive Presenter of the All-Star 5, recognizing the best players of the tournament.

Additionally, Google and FIBA will collaborate with ESPN to distribute the entire Women’s World Cup. Six games will air exclusively in the United States on ESPN2 and ESPNU – the most Women’s World Cup games to ever air on live television in the U.S. The remaining games will be available on ESPN+. Fans can also watch an additional six games live on FIBA’s YouTube channel and the remaining games on FIBA’s Courtside 1891 subscription streaming platform.

“FIBA is determined to further build women’s basketball and take it to the next level, and we are delighted to welcome on board Google as a Global Partner for the women’s game. We are excited to work with such a prestigious brand with whom we share the same strategic goals in regard to women’s development,” said FIBA Secretary General Andreas Zagklis.

“This partnership promises great things for women’s basketball and the interest in the game globally. Google and its worldwide reach opens countless possibilities to push women’s basketball in the future and we look forward to working with them to enhance the game and attract new fans.”

“At Google, we’re committed to championing equal representation in sports,” said Kate Johnson, Director of Global Sports, Media and Entertainment Marketing, Google. “As FIBA’s first-ever Global women’s partner, we’re proud to help bring even more women’s basketball content to US airwaves and introduce fans to the global game. Through this partnership with FIBA and our collaboration with ESPN, we want to continue to extend visibility and exposure to women’s basketball globally and provide women athletes the recognition they deserve and have worked so hard for.”.

Google’s work with FIBA is an extension of the brand’s efforts to increase visibility and coverage of women’s sports. As a WNBA Changemaker for the past two seasons, Google joined forces with the league and ESPN to deliver more nationally televised regular season WNBA games and added a dedicated segment for women’s sports on SportsCenter.

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MIES (Switzerland) – Following a high number of qualitative applications, the Basketball Champions League is pleased to announce TFT Skopje (MKD), Unicaja (ESP), SL Benfica (POR) and FMP Meridian (SRB) as hosts for the Qualification Round Tournaments, taking place in September. These four tournaments will determine the last four spots in the Regular Season of BCL’s seventh season.

The group hosts will be as follows:

Qualification Round Tournament 1 (Group A) – Skopje, MKD – Boris Trajkovski Sports Center

Game days: 21, 23 & 25 September 2022
Participating Clubs: Fribourg Olympic (SUI), Tofas Bursa (TUR), CSO Voluntari (ROU), Leicester Riders (GBR), NINERS Chemnitz (GER), TFT Skopje (MKD)

Quarter-Final 1: Leicester Riders vs CSO Voluntari
Quarter-Final 2: TFT Skopje vs NINERS Chemnitz

Semi-Final 1: Tofas Bursa vs Winner of Leicester Riders/CSO Voluntari
Semi-Final 2: Fribourg Olympic vs Winner of TFT Skopje/NINERS Chemnitz

Final: Winner SF1 – Winner SF2

Qualification Round Tournament 2 (Group G) – Malaga,  ESP – Palacio De Deportes José María Martín Carpena

Game days: 21, 23 & 25 September 2022
Participating Clubs: Karhu Kauhajoki (FIN), Unicaja (ESP), Egis Kormend (HUN), Heroes Den Bosch (NED), Patrioti Levice (SVK), Siauliai (LTU)

Quarter-Final 1: Heroes Den Bosch vs Siauliai
Quarter-Final 2: Patrioti Levice vs Egis Kormend

Semi-Final 1: Unicaja vs Winner of Heroes Den Bosch/Siauliai
Semi-Final 2: Karhu Kauhajoki vs Winner of Patrioti Levice/Egis Kormend

Final: Winner SF1 – Winner SF2

Qualification Round Tournament 3 (Group F) – Lisbon, POR – Pavilhão Fidelidade

Game days: 21, 23 & 25 September 2022
Participating Clubs: Brose Bamberg (GER), Keravnos (CYP), Budivelnyk (UKR), Golden Eagle Ylli (KOS), Norrköping Dolphins (SWE), SL Benfica (POR)

Quarter-Final 1: Norrköping Dolphins vs Budivelnyk
Quarter-Final 2: Golden Eagle Ylli vs SL Benfica

Semi-Final 1: Brose Bamberg vs Winner of Norrköping Dolphins/Budivelnyk
Semi-Final 2: Keravnos vs Winner of Golden Eagle Ylli/SL Benfica

Final: Winner SF1 – Winner SF2

Qualification Round Tournament 4 (Group E) – Belgrade, SRB – Aleksandar Nikolić Hall

Game days: 21, 23 & 25 September 2022
Participating Clubs: Bakken Bears (DEN), Opava (CZE), FMP Meridian (SRB), Parnu Sadam (EST), Rio Breogan (ESP), Swans Gmunden (AUT)

Quarter-Final 1: Swans Gmunden vs Parnu Sadam
Quarter-Final 2: FMP Meridian vs Rio Breogan

Semi-Final 1: Bakken Bears vs Winner of Swans Gmunden/Parnu Sadam
Semi-Final 2: Opava vs Winner of FMP Meridian/Rio Breogan

Final: Winner SF1 – Winner SF2

The four winners of the Qualification Round tournaments will qualify for the Regular Season, joining the 28 directly qualified teams.

Tip-off times will be determined at a later stage.

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MIES (Switzerland) – The second window of the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 Qualifiers featured plenty of exciting storylines as national teams from across the globe continue their battles for a spot in the 32-team field at next year’s spectacle to be staged in the Philippines, Japan and Indonesia.

Results from the Qualifiers have led to some changes in the latest FIBA World Ranking Men, presented by Nike, on all continents. In Europe, France, Greece, Iceland and Georgia are moving up; South Sudan, DR Congo and Senegal in Africa; Brazil in Americas; Kazakhstan and Lebanon in Asia.

The most recent World Cup 2023 Qualifying Window brought one movement in the top five. France swapped spots with Slovenia, going from five to No. 4 on the back of their two wins over Portugal – 94-56 at home and 69-56 in Portugal. Those two victories secured Les Bleus qualification for the Second Round of European Qualifiers. Slovenia meanwhile lost twice to Finland, 86-76 on the road and then 83-79 at home.

The other change in the top 10 saw Greece move ahead of Italy for the No. 9 spot. The Greeks came up with two wins over Turkey – 72-71 at home and 76-67 in Istanbul – while Italy suffered a double-overtime 107-105 defeat in Iceland before bouncing back for a 95-87 victory at home over the northern Europeans.

Iceland’s historic win over the Italians saw them jump two spots to No. 44 – with Georgia the other larger European nation moving up two spots, jumping to No. 36 after defeating North Macedonia twice.

South America’s second-best team Brazil made a one-spot jump to No. 14 after knocking off Uruguay 85-66 and Colombia 119-73 – both games at home – to lock up a spot in the Second Round as well.

In Asia meanwhile, Kazakhstan had a strong window with wins at Iran (73-69) and Bahrain (95-48) to reach the Second Round with a 4-0 mark and jump two spots in the World Ranking to 68. Lebanon rose one spot to 54 after a 74-63 defeat in Jordan and an 81-68 victory in Saudi Arabia.

The biggest mover in the men’s World Ranking was South Sudan, who had a World Cup Qualifiers debut for the ages with wins over Rwanda (68-56), FIBA AfroBasket 2021 champs Tunisia (72-64) and Cameroon (74-68) in the window played in Senegal. That performance saw South Sudan jump six spots to No. 76. Congo DR also jumped multiple places, rising two spots to No. 79 after beating Kenya 66-56 and Senegal 62-57 before losing 62-51 to Egypt.

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