The 2018 IWBF World Championships schedule for men’s and women’s wheelchair basketball has been announced. The World Championships will take place from August 16-26 at the Wilhelmsburger Inselparkarena in Hamburg, Germany, which marks the first time Germany will host the event. There will be 16 men’s teams and 12 women’s teams that will compete for the World Championship title.

In the men’s tournament Pool A, the host country, Germany, was placed with Canada, Iran and Morocco, the African champions. Because they will be hosting the World Championships, Germany was given the opportunity to choose which pool they wanted to compete in after each pool had three of their teams drawn.

The U.S. men’s team will face Poland, Great Britain and South Korea in Pool B.

Turkey, the European champions, will headline Pool C, which features Brazil, Japan and Italy.

Australia, the reigning World Champions, will face Argentina, The Netherlands and Spain, who were the Silver medalists from the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games, in Pool D.

In the women's tournament, Canada, the reigning World Champions, will headline Pool A. They will face Australia, Brazil, Great Britain, Spain and The Netherlands, who are the reigning Bronze medalists from the 2014 World Championships and Rio 2016 Paralympic Games in Pool A.

In Pool B, The United States will face France, Algeria, Germany, who are the reigning silver medalists from the 2014 World Championships and Rio 2016 Paralympic Games, China and Argentina.

To open the tournament, the women’s teams of China and Argentina will face off on Aug. 16 at 9:00 a.m. local time. Then, later that day at 4:00 p.m., the opening ceremony of the World Championships will commence.

The defending men’s world champions, Australia, will open their tournament with a game against Argentina. The defending women’s world champions, Canada, will start their tournament against Great Britain.

The U.S. women’s team, who are the reigning Gold medalists from the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games, will face France on the opening day of the tournament at 1:30 p.m. on Aug. 16. The following day, they will play against Algeria at 5:30 p.m. on Aug. 17. The U.S. women’s team will then face Germany, the reigning silver medalists from the 2014 World Championships and Rio 2016 Paralympic Games, at 11:45 a.m. on Aug. 19. After that, they face China at 6:00 p.m. on 8/20. To round out their pool division games, they will play Argentina at 10:00 a.m. on Aug. 22.

The U.S. men’s team will not play until the third day of the tournament, when they face Poland at 11:45 a.m. on Aug. 18. The next day, they will face Great Britain, who were the bronze medalists from the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games, at 8:15 p.m. on Aug. 19. To round out their pool play, they will face South Korea at 2:30 p.m. on Aug. 20.

The men’s pool phase will conclude on August 20, deciding the crossovers for the final 16. The women’s pool phase will take the top four from pool A and pool B to make up the quarter-finals set to take place on August 26.

Following the pool play rounds, single-elimination games will begin. The U.S. men’s team will face teams from Pool A depending on their rank beginnings on Aug. 21. For example, if the U.S. ranks first in their pool, they will play the fourth ranked team in Pool A. If they rank second in their pool, they will face the third ranked team in Pool A and so on.

When the pool division tournament is completed for the women’s teams on Aug. 22, the single-elimination round begins on the next day. If the U.S. women’s team ranks in the top four of their pool, they will face one of the top four teams in Pool A. Like in the men’s division, first place in Pool B will play fourth place in Pool A, second place in Pool B will face third place in Pool A and so on.    

2018 Wheelchair Basketball World Championship Pools

Men's pools

Group A: Canada, Germany, Iran, Morocco

Group B: Great Britain, Poland, South Korea, USA

Group C: Brazil, Italy, Japan, Turkey

Group D: Argentina, Australia, Spain, The Netherlands

Women's pools

Group A: Australia, Brazil, Canada, Great Britain, Spain, The Netherlands

Group B: Algeria, Argentina, China, France, Germany, USA

To see the full schedule of games for the 2018 IWBF World Championships, click the link below.