KARLOVY VARY, Czech Republic (FIBA World Championship for Women) - With less than a year to go until the 2010 FIBA World Championship for Women in the Czech Republic, it is finally time to discover who will meet who in the early stages of the Championship.

The draw will be held:
at the Grand Hotel Pupp in Karlovy Vary
on Tuesday, 24th November 2009
at 11:30AM CET.

Follow the draw live here !

A number of players, coaches and national federation representatives will be present. Also attending the event are, of course, FIBA and Local Organizing Committee officials, representatives from the host cities and several former Czechoslovakia World Championship medal winners.

This event will see the 16 teams divided into 4 groups of 4 for the First Round. In the hat for the draw are Argentina, Australia, Belarus, Brazil, Canada, China, the Czech Republic, France, Greece, Japan, Korea, Mali, Russia, Senegal, Spain and the USA.

The tournament will be played in the Czech Republic in the cities of Karlovy Vary (Final Round), Ostrava and Brno (First and Second Rounds) between 23rd September and 3rd October 2010.

All media representatives are cordially invited to attend. In case of interest please contact Romana Masatova at rmasatova@cbf.cz.

The draw can be seen live on www.fiba.com and will also be broadcast on Czech Television (CT4). On the occasion of the draw, the official event website czechrepublic2010.fiba.com will be launched.

Competition Format

The First Round will see a total of 24 games, in which each team faces the other three teams in its respective group. The three top placed teams will advance to the Eighth Final Round, consisting of 2 groups of 6 teams. The top 4 teams of those two groups will advance to the Quarter Final Round that will be played in a standard knock out format.

Quick Facts about the FIBA World Championship for Women

Held every 4 years, the FIBA World Championship for Women determines the world's top nation in women's basketball. The first edition was played in 1953 in Santiago de Chile. The 2010 tournament will be the Championship's sixteenth version.

First time winners Australia are the reigning champions. Brazil, who also have one gold medal are the only other nation besides the USA (7 gold
medals) and the Soviet Union (6 gold medals) to have won the Championship.

The 2010 FIBA World Champion will automatically qualify for the 2012 Olympic Basketball Tournament for Women in London.

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