The draw took place in Istanbul, Turkey during the International Boxing Association Executive Board meeting.

This season's WSB will see the addition of four franchises bringing the total up from 12 to 16.

Teams from Morocco and Venezuela will make their debuts in the competition, while China will also have a franchise after fielding the Beijing Dragons in Seasons I and II.

A fourth unnamed franchise will be added, with the WSB set to announce the identity of the team in due course.

As a result, the regular season has been extended from 10 to 14 weeks.

Defending champions the Cuba Domadores and last season's runners-up the Azerbaijan Baku Fires have been seeded as the top teams in Groups A and B respectively.

Joining Cuba in Group A will be the team they beat 8-2 in last season's semi-finals, the Russian Boxing Team, who will renew their rivalry with neighbours Ukraine Otamans, who they despatched by the same scoreline at the quarter-final stage last time out.

The new Moroccan franchise will be involved in a neighbourly rivalry as they will take on Algeria Desert Hawks, while the Chinese franchise has also been drawn in Group A along with the Mexcio Guerreros and Team Germany.

Group B will also see a meeting of semi-final opponents from last season as Season III champions the Astan Arlans will be looking for revenge on the Baku Fires.

Quarter-finalists last time out, the USA Knockouts, are also in Group B along with Dolce & Gabbana Italia Thunder, the Argentina Condors, the Poland Hussars, the new Venezuelan outfit and the unnamed 16th franchise.

The Cuba Domadores will be the team to beat after powering to the WSB title in an impressive debut season ©WSB



Due to the expansion in the number of franchises taking part, changes have been made to the knockout format.

The top team in each group will gain automatic qualification to the semi-finals, while the next highest ranked two teams in each group will take part in two quarter-final matches to determine the remaining semi-finalists.

The quarter-final ties will take place over two consecutive nights at the home of the two second-placed teams from each group.

This same format will be applied to the semi-finals, when the top ranked teams from the regular season who qualified directly to the semi-final stage will host the winners of the quarter-finals at home.

Season V of the WSB will carry extra significance as 17 boxers will qualify directly from the competition for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games through the final WSB Individual Boxers Ranking at the end of the regular season.

Those qualifying will be the boxers ranked first and second in categories from flyweight to light heavyweight, while the boxer at the top of the rankings at light flyweight, heavyweight and super heavyweight will also secure a direct route to Rio.

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