By Michael Angelo S. Murillo
The FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 started to take form on Friday after the sport’s world governing body unveiled the logo for the quadrennial hoops event where the Philippines is one of the hosts.
Revealed as part of FIBA’s new #DontMissABeat campaign, the World Cup logo is touted as a “milestone,” marking the landmark hosting which also has Japan and Indonesia involved.
“This is a very exciting milestone. The distinctive FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 logo symbolizes our love for the game, which is shared by the organizing committees and FIBA, and it also represents the vision and passion of the event that brings together, for the first time, three host countries,” said FIBA Secretary-General Andreas Zagklis in a statement.
The concept for the newly unveiled logo, FIBA said, takes root from three key elements, namely, a heart, the Naismith Trophy and the year 2023.
The sideways heart symbolizes the passion for the game, while the Naismith Trophy is the dream for all participating teams in the World Cup. The “23” represents the year during which the spotlight will shine across three host countries.
FIBA went on to highlight the host countries’ strong passion for basketball, bringing together millions of fans, with millions of hearts beating as one.
“We Filipinos are all proud to be a part of this important milestone in basketball, together with Japan and Indonesia,” said Manuel V. Pangilinan, Chairman Emeritus of Samahang Basketbol Ng Pilipinas and FIBA Central Board Member.
Adding, “The Philippines looks forward to extending our brand of hospitality to the participating teams, to the world congress delegates, and to the many visitors expected to come – true to the essence of the logo we are launching today – a heart, the puso of the Filipino.”
“The official logo launch is the first exciting step of many for all three host nations, for FIBA and basketball fans worldwide. The logo certainly represents all three host nations’ spirit of uniting and working together with the same heartbeat to deliver the best basketball experiences that fans could ever have,” Danny Kosasih, President of Indonesian Basketball Association, for his part, said.
The FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 is scheduled to take place from Aug. 25 to Sept. 10 with the Group Phase taking place in all three host countries, and the Final Phase of the tournament happening in the Philippines.
Thirty-two national teams are set to compete in the high-profile tournament. Qualification for the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 will take place from November 2021 to February 2023, with 80 national teams competing for a spot. The first window of qualification will be played from Nov. 22-30, 2021.
In winning the hosting job, Philippines-Japan-Indonesia won over the joint bid of Argentina and Uruguay in 2017.
Meanwhile, the #DontMissABeat campaign of FIBA aims to encourage all fans to have fun with music beats linked to basketball on social media channels such as a dribbling contest, among other highlights. National team players from the Philippines, Japan and Indonesia will be part of the campaign over the next coming weeks.
The #DontMissABeat will be seen across all of FIBA’s social media channels including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, Weibo and WeChat.