Gilas Pilipinas banking on home crowd support in Fiba qualifiers

FILE– Gilas Pilipinas during a  Fiba OQT game. –FIBA PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas hopes to have a full house when Gilas Pilipinas hosts two games in the second window of the 2025 Fiba Asia Cup Qualifiers.

According to SBP Executive Director Erika Dy, ticket sales are soaring less than a week before the national team takes on New Zealand on November 21 at Mall of Asia Arena.

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“The ticket sales are doing very well, specifically in the New Zealand game where the tickets are about 80-90 percent sold out already. We are reserving 80 percent of our general admission tickets to be sold on game day itself to make way for walk-ins,” said Dy in a presser on Wednesday.

Gilas Pilipinas then takes one Hong Kong on November 24 at the same venue, looking to bank on strong homecrowd support in hopes of sweeping the second round of the qualifiers.

“We realized in the past windows that this is a big market for our Gilas fans. For the Hong Kong game, we’re around 60 percent so we can still do better and we wish the public can really support us,” Dy also said.

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SBP President Al Panlilio said he expects the ticket sales to translate in real-time once the Gilas games roll on.

He also urged the Gilas faithful to wear Blue in support of the national squad.

“Wear Blue, according to ED Erika. We’re asking for their support, it’s really a part of our plan to join bigger tournaments in the future and this is an important step for us,” said Panlilio.

“The fans being the sixth man of the team… Everybody will cheer on our national team so I’m inviting everybody to be there,” he added.