FIBA World Cup 2023: Who are in group B?

After the 2022-23 offseason, now all the fans are waiting for the basketball festival to happen, the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup. The tournament commences once in four years and will be starting from 25 August to 10 September.

This is the first time that multiple nations are hosting the prestigious tournament together, the Philippines, Japan, and Indonesia. This shows the shared passion for basketball by the Asian countries together and their effort to promote the sport on a global scale.

Also, this is the second straight year when the world cup is taking place in Asia, the first being in China in 2019.

Currently, team USA is the fan favorite because American basketball is considered the best all around the globe. Coach Steve Kerr has finalized the line-up for the World Cup, this time Team USA is represented by brand new players including Austin Reaves, Jalen Brunson, Brandon Ingram etc.

Different NBA players will be representing their country thus, the tournament will be a battle to become a World Champion. It is gonna be an entertaining and pleasant experience.

What are the teams in the Group B of the FIBA Basketball World Cup?

The matches for the first phase in Group B will start from 26 August to 30 August and include South Sudan, Serbia, China, and Puerto Rico.

Group B is one of the eight groups in the FIBA Basketball World Cup. Each group contains four teams, which will play one match with each team in the pool which means a total of six matches will be played. The teams that will grab the top two positions in the standings will advance to the second round of the tournament and the remaining two teams will play for the classification matches to determine the 17th-32nd ranking.

The format for the game will be the same as the 2019 edition the tournament is split into three stages, the group stage, the second round, and the final phase. In the group stage, the top two teams will be selected means a total of 16 teams will compete in the second round and the process will remain the same, the top two teams will advance and the bottom two will be eliminated hence after the second round, only 8 teams will survive and that begins the start of the final phase i.e the start of quarter-finals.

Their current FIBA rankings are as follows:

China (FIBA ranking -27)

China has been a regular participant in the FIBA World Cup, they have played almost every Basketball World Cup. The notable performances from the team came up in 1994 and 2019 where they finished in the top 8.

The team has also established itself as one of the top teams in Asia and won several FIBA Asia championships, therefore, qualified for the FIBA World Cup multiple times.

Serbia (FIBA ranking - 6)

Firstly, Serbia was part of Yugoslavia and the team Yugoslavia has a very rich basketball history as they dominated the basketball world by winning the FIBA World Cup five, highest by any nation. Later on, Serbia breakup of Yugoslavia and established itself as an independent nation. In the 2014 World Cup, the team finished fourth and grabbed the silver medal in the 2016 Summer Olympics.

South Sudan (FIBA ranking - 62)

Sudan is just starting their FIBA journey, this year will be their debut for FIBA. The team participated in the AfroBasket League of Africa, showing their dominance and thus, qualified for the 2023 FIBA World Cup.

Puerto Rico (FIBA ranking- 20 )

Puerto Rico has been a very old member of FIBA and has appeared in several FIBA World Cups and Olympics games. The most unforgettable moment was in the 2004 Athens Olympics when Puerto Rico eliminated the most strong and hyped Team USA in the primary stages of the tournament. As for now, the team has only reached the quarter-finals of the FIBA but is well-known for its competitive spirit and physicality.

Group B Games and Timings

The venue will be the same for all the first-round matches i.e, Araneta Coliseum, Quezon City, Philippines.