The 2019 FIBA World Cup moves to the Second Round on 6 September. The field has been cut in half as the remaining 16 teams compete for the title. Catch up on everything you’ll need to know before the Second Round begins.
Remaining Schedule
Second Round (Group Phase): 6 September – 9 September
Quarterfinals: 10 September – 11 September
Semifinals: 13 September
Final: 15 September
Host Cities
The four host cities for the 2019 FIBA World Cup Second Round are Foshan, Wuhan, Shenzhen and Nanjing.
Foshan
Arena: Foshan International Sports & Cultural Arena
Games Hosted: Group I
Wuhan
Arena: Wuhan Sports Center
Games Hosted: Group J
Shenzhen
Arena: Shenzhen Bay Sports Center
Games Hosted: Group K
Nanjing
Arena: Youth Olympic Sports Park Gymnasium
Games Hosted: Group L
The Format
The Second Round features four new groups, as two qualifiers from each First Round group join together to create a new set of four teams. For example, the top two qualifiers in Group A join the top two qualifiers in Group B to form one of the Second Round groups. In this round, teams play two additional games against the two nations they did not face in the First Round. Records carry over from the First Round, and the two top teams from each group advance to the Quarterfinals. The bottom two teams are eliminated and ranked in places 9 to 16.
In the Quarterfinals, the bracket is set up so that the first-place nation from each group faces a second-place nation from a different group. Quarterfinal games will be played in Dongguan and Shanghai. Losers of the Quarterfinals play in the Classification Round for places 5 to 8. The winners head to Beijing for the Semifinals on 13 September. The third-place game and FIBA World Cup Final will be played on 15 September in Beijing, as well.
Second Round Groups
Group I (Foshan): Argentina, Poland, Venezuela, Russia
Group J (Wuhan): Serbia, Spain, Italy, Puerto Rico
Group K (Shenzhen): USA, Brazil, Greece, Czech Republic
Group L (Nanjing): France, Australia, Lithuania, Dominican Republic
Tiebreakers
What happens if teams finish tied in the standings in the Second Round? FIBA declared its set of tiebreaker policies to determine which teams might advance and help with final placement of squads for purposes of 2020 Olympic qualifications.
- Win/Loss Record
- Point differential of games between teams that are tied
- Most points in the games between teams that are tied
- Point differential in all games in the group
- Most points in all games in the group
If teams have the same numerical point totals for all of the first 5 tiebreaker steps, then FIBA will conduct a random team draw to determine which team advances/gets the higher ranking.
