All Lined Up for Fiba Americas Championship

FIBA Americas is divided into 3 zones which consist of the United States and Canada in the North Area, Caribbean and Central America in the Central American area and the Caribbean region and the South American Zone comprising of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Equator, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela.

For 2008 / 2009, several events have been scheduled to take place in this championship, which include the South American League for Men's Club on 1 February, South American Championship for Women on 1 March, South American Championship for Men on 1 June, FIBA Americas U16 Championship for Women (Argentina) from 10 - 14 June 2009, FIBA Americas U16 Championship for Men (Argentina) from 24 to 28 June 2009, Marchand Continental Cup to be held from 14 to 16 August 2009, FIBA Americas Championship for Women (Brazil) from 23 to 27 September 2009 as well as the South American League for Women's Clubs scheduled for 1 Nov 2009.

FIBA Americas championship also holds several tournaments for the under 16 basketball teams, which include Centrobasket U16 Championship for Men and Centrobasket U16 Championship for women, both to take place from 1 May to 31 May 2009, along with COCABA Championship for Men from 20 May to 24 May 2009 and COCABA Championship for Women from 27 May to 31 May 2009.

CBC Championship for Men is also scheduled from 1 June to 30 June 2009, along with CBC Championship for Women and South American U18 Championship for Women on the same dates. The championship also includes several more events like FIBA Americas U16 Championship for Women from 10 June to 14 June 2009, FIBA Americas U16 Championship for Men from 24 June to 28 June 2009, Centrobasket U18 Championship for Women from 7 July to 11 July 2009 and Centrobasket U18 Championship for Men from 14 July to 18 July 2009.

This year, FIBA Americas also introduced a new system to better accommodate the national and international competition schedules. The new system divided the 16 teams in two different groups in the South and North regions of Americas which would play two four-team series. The winners of these four set series would qualify for the "Final Fours" which is to be played from February 6 - 8, 2009. The countries that are already confirmed to represent themselves in the FIBA Americas 2008-2009 series are Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Uruguay from South America and Costa Rica, Mexico, Puerto Rico and Dominican Republic from Central American and the Caribbean region. This competition between 16 teams is scheduled to end in the first week of February 2009, which will consist of first edition and second edition. The group stages will have their own winners, who will play in the final Four Stage.