A top delegation of the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) visited Qatar recently and was left highly impressed with the state-of-the-art facilities in the country which will host the Basketball World Cup 2027 - the first ever edition in the Middle East and North Africa region. After touring several facilities, the FIBA delegation, headed by its President Hamane Niang, expressed its confidence that the Gulf State – known as the world’s sports hub – will host an exceptional edition of the global tournament.
Qatar will host the FIBA World Cup at four venues – the Lusail Multipurpose Hall, Duhail Sports Hall, Ali Bin Hamad Al Attiyah Arena and Aspire Academy, and the FIBA delegation gave thumbs up to all these arenas hailing the ‘world class facilities’ there. Qatar won the hosting right for the World Cup 2027 at the FIBA Central Board meeting in Manila, Philippines in April. The country was preferred over other candidates with readiness of world-class competition venues and country’s rich experience of hosting major sports events being the main factors behind the successful bid. “Qatar has hosted many major events in recent years that include the World Handball Championship, World Athletics Championships, the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 and the World Judo Championships. This is one of the factors why FIBA picked Qatar as hosts,” said FIBA President Niang.
The visiting FIBA officials including Secretary General Andreas Zagklis noted that Qatar 2027’s compact nature with all the venues located within close proximity would play key role in the tournament’s success. The same factor also played major role in Qatar’s delivery of the FIFA World Cup 2022, termed as the best-ever edition in history of the tournament. “The 2027 World Cup will be an entirely different proposition for our fans. First, because we’re coming to a city that has extraordinary accessibility in terms of flights from around the world as well as a very compact World Cup, where all 32 teams will be in the same city. It is the dream of every basketball fan to wake up in the morning and have the opportunity to watch several games of the best players in the world,” said Zagklis.
While the Qatar Basketball Federation has started all managerial, technical and logistics preparations, the country will come into the spotlight after the 2023 FIBA World Cup that will take place in the Philippines, Japan, and Indonesia from August 25 to September 10. Qatar always sets new benchmarks while staging major events and the FIBA World Cup in four years time is also expected to be a roaring success.
