ShekouDaily | February 20, 2019
SHENZHEN (China) – American best-selling singer/songwriter Jason Derulo will team up with global sporting icon Kobe Bryant to headline a star-studded show when the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 Draw, presented by Wanda, takes place on March 16 in the Chinese city of Shenzhen (18:30 local time/GMT +8).
Bryant, who was unveiled as a global ambassador of FIBA’s flagship competition in October, will carry out the Draw, while Derulo – who has sold over 50 million singles worldwide, racked up over two billion views on YouTube and 1 billion plays on Spotify – will perform his biggest hits throughout the much-anticipated event, the highlight of a week-long celebration of basketball in one of the eight host cities of the biggest FIBA World Cup to date.
The FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 Draw will take place in Shenzhen Bay Arena and, for the first time ever, the event will be open to the public. Prices range from RMB 280 to 1080. Click here for tickets.
Yao Ming – like Bryant, a World Cup global ambassador – will be among a host of stars and distinguished guests on hand to witness this important milestone on the Road to China 2019, which sets out the path for the 32 participating teams in their journey to be crowned world champions. The draw procedures will be made public in the days leading up to the event.
Prior to the Draw, the sixth and final window of the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 Qualifiers will take place from February 18-26 and finalize the 32-team field, as 26 countries battle for the final 14 places still on offer.
These final 14 sides will join the 18 participating teams that are already known:
Tournament hosts: China
Africa: Angola, Nigeria, Tunisia
Americas: Argentina, Canada, USA, Venezuela
Asia: Australia, Korea, New Zealand
Europe: Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Lithuania, Spain, Turkey