2019 FIBA World Cup – African qualifiers Group F first-leg fixtures September 14 Senegal Vs Rwanda September 15 Rwanda Vs Cote d’Ivoire September 16 Rwanda Vs CAR FIBA Africa has confirmed that Nigeria’s largest commercial city of Lagos will host Group F’s first-leg fixtures of the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 – African Qualifiers. The games will be played at the Indoor Sports Hall of the National Stadium on September 14-16, and will be contested by six teams that advanced to the second round earlier this month, including hosts Nigeria, the Central African Republic, Cote d’Ivoire, Mali, Senegal, and Rwanda. Rwanda progressed to second round qualifiers as Group B first runners-up, behind leaders Nigeria. Mali advanced as second runners-up of the group. To form the six-team Group F for the ultimate round of qualifiers, Group B teams were merged with the best three teams from Group D, which was led by Senegal followed by Central African Republic (CAR) and Cote d’Ivoire in second and third place, respectively. All first round results will be carried forward to the second round and teams from the same first round group will not face each other again, meaning that Rwanda will only play teams that came from Group D namely; Senegal, Central African Republic and Cote d’Ivoire. The first game for Vladmir Bosjnak’s team is slated for September 14 against Senegal before taking on Cote d’Ivoire the following day and wrapping up the fourth window games with a clash against Central African Republic on September 16. Meanwhile, the host countries of the second-leg fixtures – both for Group E and F – to be played from November 30 to December 2, are yet to be determined. The top two teams from Group E and F will automatically qualify for the World Cup, joined by the third best ranked team from either of the two groups. As per the first round results, Nigeria lead Group F with 12 points followed by Senegal with 11 points while Central African Republic and Rwanda complete top four with nine points each. Cote d’Ivoire and Mali are fifth and sixth respectively, with eight points each. The first ever 32-team edition of FIBA’s flagship competition will take place from August 31-September 15, 2019 – in China. editorial@newtimes.co.rw
