EuroBasket 2013 draw ceremony

Draw ceremony in Postojna Cave

Postojna Cave - a unique stage for the EuroBasket 2013 draw ceremony

18 November

A distinctive tourist attraction, the Postojna Cave, a famous 20,570 metre long Karst cave system near the Slovenian city by the same name, has been chosen by the Local Organising Committee to host the EuroBasket 2013 Draw ceremony. The cave was first described in the 17th century and has seen more than 34 million visitors in the last 200 years, making it the most visited cave in Europe and Slovenia's biggest tourist attraction.

In the cool environment of 8°-10° C, the delegates of the 24 participating teams and invited guests took the underground train to the spectacular concert hall.


The Eurobasket 2013 draw in Postojna Cave decided the groups for the 2013 European Basketball Championships, which will be held in Slovenia in September 2013. Slovenia will play in group C together with Spain, Croatia, Poland, Georgia and the Czech Republic.

The teams were divided into six pots and were then drawn into four groups of six which were allocated to the venues Jesenice, Koper, Celje and Ljubljana.

Slovenia will thus play its preliminaries in Celje. Their first game will be on 4 September against the Czech Republic, which will be followed by a game against Spain (5 September), Georgia (7 September), Croatia (8 September) and Poland (9 September).

The balls were pulled out by three Slovenian championship ambassadors Rašo Nesterović, Ivo Daneu and Peter Vilfan, as well as Aljoša Žorga, Alexander Volkov, Ibrahim Kutluay and Jorge Garbajosa.

The event played host to some 600 guests, including the mayors of the four cities to host the championship (Ljubljana, Celje, Jesenice, Koper), Sport Minister Žiga Turk and top FIBA officials.

Above are the groups decided by the draw

Text by: KZS and STA