Qualifying for the 2019 World Cup in China finished on February 25. The competition features 32 national teams, including two VTB United League countries: Russia and Poland.
The Russian national team defeated Finland in a must-win game (91-76) and qualified for the championships finishing second in its group. 13 League players were on Russia’s roster: Evgeny Baburin (Nizhny Novgorod), Dmitry Kulagin (Lokomotiv-Kuban), Ivan Strebkov (Nizhny Novgorod), Vitaly Fridzon (Lokomotiv-Kuban), Ivan Ukhov (CSKA), Dmitry Khvostov (Lokomotiv-Kuban), Andrey Vorontsevich (CSKA), Petr Gubanov (Khimki), Stanislav Ilnitsky (Lokomotiv-Kuban), Nikita Kurbanov (CSKA), Artem Zabelin (Avtodor), Vladimir Ivlev (Lokomotiv-Kuban), Semyon Antonov (CSKA) and Artem Klimenko (UNICS).
The Polish national team tied with Italy for second place in its group, also advancing to the 2019 World Cup. The Poles features four VTB United League players on their roster: Lukasz Koszarek, Michal Sokolowski, Adam Hrycaniuk (Zielona Gora) and Mateusz Ponitka (Lokomotiv-Kuban).
The following League players also helped their countries qualify for the World Club:
– France (Moustapha Fall, Lokomotiv-Kuban)
– Serbia (Marko Simonovic, Zenit)
– Canada (Melvin Ejim, UNICS; Philip Scrubb, Zenit)
– Senegal (Maurice Ndour, UNICS)
