World Champions to host in 2014

[dave nz]

Spain has been chosen to host the 2014 men's basketball World Championship after a vote on in Geneva Saturday. Spain prevailed after a vote by the FIBA Central Board in a hotly contested race with Italy and China.

The 24-team tournament will be held in Madrid along with Bilbao, Granada, Seville, and Las Palmas on the Canary Islands from 30th August to 14th September 2014. Organizers in Spain say they need to spend 314 million euros building three or four arenas for the event. But FIBA Secretary General Patrick Baumann is confident the event will be a big success.

FIBA Secretary General Patrick Baumann said, "The Spanish national team has proved to be a great team, being currently world champions, being a silver medallist at the Olympics, and I think this has probably given a bit of an edge to them. They have this credibility on the court and they will be strong in 2014 as well."