Russia Contemplating Bidding for 2019 Basketball World Cup

Alexander Krasnenkov, the head of Russia’s national federation, has revealed they will consider bidding for the basketball World Cup in 2019.

“We’re looking at 2019, that’s when the World Cup is scheduled for,” federation head Alexander Krasnenkov told R-Sport.

“We’re capable of hosting the football World Cup, so why can’t we hold the basketball one too?”

Krasnenkov added the Russian Basketball Federation had originally planned to bid for Eurobasket 2017, but had been told to abandon the plans by the government because Russia is hosting several major sports events at that time, including the 2018 football World Cup.

“We talked to the Sports Ministry. The ministry asked us not to put in Russia’s candidature until 2018. The country has gathered a lot obligations for the period until 2018 and needs to host a lot of major competitions,” he said.

Russia has never hosted the tournament, although the Soviet Union won it three times and Russia won silver in 1994 and 1998.

France and Germany have signalled they may place a joint bid for the 2019 World Cup, as have the three Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Puerto Rico has also been linked with a possible bid.