GILAS Pilipinas faces the prospects of being drawn with either Australia, Japan, New Zealand, or China in the upcoming FIBA Basketball World Cup 2027 Asian qualifiers.
The Philippines will be in either Group A or Group B in the first round qualifiers after being assigned to Pot 5 together with Korea in the draw ceremony to be held on May 13 in Doha, Qatar.
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Under the draw principles, the teams under Pots 1, 3, 5, and 7, determined through the FIBA world ranking as well as geographical location, will be allocated to either Group A or B. During the draw ceremony, one team from each pot will be picked to determine the groupings.
Australia and Japan are in Pot 1, while New Zealand along with China are in Pot 3, therefore making it possible that one team from each pot will be grouped with the Philippines in the World Cup qualifiers.
One team in Pot 7 will also be with the Philippines in the group stage of the World Cup qualifiers in Chinese Taipei and Guam.
The World Cup Asian qualifiers will be played across six windows, each of which will have two games under a home-and-away format.
The first round of games will be held in November 2025, February 2026, and July 2026, with the top three teams moving to the second round.
The second round will be held on November 2026, February 2027, and July 2027. The tournament will be down to two groups with the top three teams in each bracket clinching a berth in the World Cup.
The Philippines has history with its potential opponents in the World Cup qualifiers, some of which are highly-rated.
No. 7 in the world, Australia had already matched up against the Philippines in past World Cup qualifiers, most notably on July 2, 2018 where a brawl occurred at the Philippine Arena.
Group of death?
New Zealand, on the other hand, has become a regular Gilas opponent particularly in the FIBA Asia Cup qualifiers where they split their two games. Gilas will meet the No. 22-ranked team again in the FIBA Asia Cup proper in August in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Based on the draw procedures, there is a chance that Gilas will be grouped with Australia and New Zealand, a potential 'group of death' in the Asian qualifiers.
China, meanwhile, lost to the Philippines the last time they met during the semifinals of the Hangzhou Asian Games, where Gilas went on to win the gold medal.
Pot 2 has Iran and Lebanon, Pot 4 has Jordan and Saudi Arabia, Pot 6 has Syria and India, and Pot 8 has Qatar and Iraq, and they will be fed to either Group C or D.
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