Gilas Pilipinas faces Australia, New Zealand, Guam in FIBA qualifiers

Gilas Pilipinas has been drawn against formidable opponents Australia, New Zealand, and Guam in Group A of the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2027 Asian Qualifiers which will start this November.

Head coach Tim Cone expressed that he does not make a big deal about the groupings for the qualifiers after Gilas Pilipinas was paired with world No. 7 Australia and No. 22 New Zealand, emphasizing the team's focus on advancing to the World Cup for the fourth consecutive time.

The qualifiers begin with a home-and-away double round-robin format across six windows from November 2025 to March 2027, with the top three teams in each group advancing to the second round.

In the second round, twelve teams will be divided into two groups and the top three teams plus the best fourth-placed team will advance to the World Cup.

Gilas Pilipinas aims for its fourth consecutive qualification to the FIBA World Cup following appearances in 2014, 2019, and 2023.