Basketball player Manila and the smiling army

In the hearing of Philippines as the main organizer for the 2023 World Cup many would wonder and ironically call her a “basketball fan”. But the well-informed know that this is not just a country that plays and… a little basketball among other sports, but a nation that lives and breathes for sport.

Christos Robolis writes from Manila

Really, how many countries do you know in which basketball is by far the second most popular sport; In Greece there is football, in the USA the competition from other sports is great, perhaps only in Lithuania the orange ball has no rival in the hearts of the public. The Philippines also belongs to such a category. In a country with a population of about 110 million people, a 2018 survey showed that 81% of the population are basketball fansof which 50% are “fanatics”, while approximately 40 million Filipinos have declared that they play or have played basketball in the past!

And one realizes this from the first hours of stay in Manila. In all the main streets there are billboards for the big event, the local basketball players, although the majority of them are not internationally recognized, being treated as folk heroes, the organizers planned a whole reception with music and souvenirs from the country’s tradition for the missions, while at the airport none team does not go… unnoticed (as was the case, for example, in China), but countless cellphones and cameras flashed at the sight of the National team. Even if it doesn’t have world star Giannis Antetokounmpo in its ranks.

The smiling army

No exaggeration, all of it Manila is on its feet for the World Cup. You see, it is the first time that such a big event has been hosted in the country since the 1978 World Cup. And if a medal seems like a dream even with the Jordan Clarkson of the Jazz in the team composition, the hope of qualifying for the Olympic Games for the first time since 1972 in Munich is alive.

The organizers want to offer the public and the expeditions the best possible hospitality and experience. It is characteristic that only for the matches that will take place 1,107 volunteers have been recruited in Manila! Applications exceeded 13,000, and those selected on the basis of qualifications underwent intensive training on how to fully carry out their mission. And always with a smile, since from the first person you meet at the airport to the last person you see before going to sleep at the hotel, everyone has a polite smile on their lips.

For them, basketball is an outlet. After all, we are not talking about any rich country, while Manila is the most densely walled city in the world. Based on the 2023 census, the greater city territory is inhabited by 14.6 million people, with 42,857 inhabitants per square kilometer!

This means a lot of traffic on the roads, even during non-working hours. Fortunately, the National team at this point was lucky, since will play all its games, from the beginning to the end of the event at the Mall of Asiathe stadium which, in addition to groups 3 and 4, will also host the second group stage for the Greek team, as well as the knockouts, from the quarter-finals to the final.