2014 Basketball World Cup: Brazil, Finland, Greece, Turkey Get Wild Cards

*Nigeria's male team in action

FIBA's Central Board decided at a meeting here on Saturday to award the four wild cards for the 2014 Basketball World Cup to Brazil, Finland, Greece and Turkey.
Considering the fact that the officials in charge of the Senegalese Basketball Federation have complied with past disciplinary sanctions imposed by FIBA and have agreed to a clear road map for the complete re-organization of the national federation, FIBA's Central Board has accepted to lift the ban imposed on the Senegalese national team and allow it to take part in the World Cup.
As a result, the field is now complete for FIBA's flagship event. The 24 teams are: Angola, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Croatia, Dominican Republic, Egypt, Finland, France, Greece, Iran, South Korea, Lithuania, Mexico, New Zealand, Philippines, Puerto Rico, Senegal, Serbia, Slovenia, Spain, Turkey, Ukraine and the United States.
The wild cards are made to ensure that FIBA has the teams which enable it to have the best possible FIBA Basketball World Cup, as FIBA Secretary General and International Olympic Committee (IOC) Member Patrick Baumann highlighted.
"Since 2006, 11 of the 12 teams that have been granted wild cards were always inside the top 24 of the FIBA Ranking Men," he said. "This proves that FIBA's Central Board is determined to make the FIBA Basketball World Cup as competitive as possible.
Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Canada, China, Finland, Germany, Greece, Israel, Italy, Nigeria, Poland, Qatar, Russia, Turkey and Venezuela were the 15 national teams that submitted applications for the wild cards. Italy and Germany subsequently withdrew their bids and China followed suit on Saturday morning.