North American teams (Canada and the United States) automatically qualify to the championship, which will be held in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
The top four teams from the 2009 Championships qualify automatically to the 2010 FIBA World Championship in Turkey, with FIBA handling out four more wild card entries to complete the 24-team tournament.
With the United States winning the gold medal at the 2008 men's Olympic basketball tournament, another slot was opened for a Centrobasket participant, when the United States decided to skip qualification since their gold medal provided them automatic qualification to the 2010 FIBA World Championship.
The 2007 CBC Championship was held from August 6 to 12, 2007, at Caguas, Puerto Rico.
The 2008 South American Basketball Championship was held from July 1 to 6, at Puerto Montt, Chile.