The FIBA Basketball World Cup is an international basketball competition between

the senior men's national teams of the members of the International Basketball
Federation (FIBA), the sport's global governing body. It takes place every four
years and is considered the flagship event of FIBA.[1]

From its inception in 1950 until 2010, the tournament was known as the FIBA World
Championship.[2][3]

The tournament structure is similar, but not identical, to that of the FIFA World
Cup; the current format of the tournament involves 32 teams competing for the title
at venues within the host nation. The FIBA Basketball World Cup and the FIFA World
Cup were played in the same year as each other from 1970 through 2014. A parallel
event for women's teams, now known as the FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup, is
also held quadrennially. From 1986 through 2014, the men's and women's
championships were held in the same year, though in different countries. Following
the 2014 FIBA championships for men and women, the men's World Cup was scheduled on
a new four-year cycle to avoid conflict with the FIFA World Cup. The men's World
Cup was held in 2019, in the year following the FIFA World Cup. The women's
championship, which was renamed from "FIBA World Championship for Women" to "FIBA
Women's Basketball World Cup" after its 2014 edition, will remain on the previous
four-year cycle, with championships in the same year as the FIFA World Cup.

The winning team receives the Naismith Trophy, first awarded in 1967. The current
champion is Germany, which defeated Serbia in the final of the 2023 tournament.

The 1994 FIBA World Championship, which was held in Canada, was the first FIBA
World Cup tournament in which currently active US NBA players that had already
played in an official NBA regular season game were allowed to participate. All FIBA
World Championship/World Cup tournaments since then are thus considered fully
professional level tournaments.

History
Main article: History of the FIBA Basketball World Cup

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World map depicting the number of times a country has hosted the World Cup. Dark
blue: twice; light blue: once.
The FIBA Basketball World Cup was conceived at a meeting of the FIBA World Congress
at the 1948 Summer Olympics in London.[4] Long-time FIBA Secretary-General Renato
William Jones urged FIBA to adopt a World Championship, similar to the FIFA World
Cup, to be held in every four years between Olympiads. The FIBA Congress, seeing
how successful the 23-team Olympic tournament was that year, agreed to the
proposal, beginning with a tournament in 1950. Argentina was selected as host,
largely because it was the only country willing to take on the task.[5] Argentina
took advantage of the host selection, winning all their games en route to becoming
the first FIBA World Champion.

The first five tournaments were held in South America, and teams from the Americas
dominated the tournament, winning eight of nine medals at the first three
tournaments. By 1963, however, teams from Eastern Europe and Southeast Europe — the
Soviet Union and Yugoslavia, in particular — began to catch up to the teams from
the American continents. Between 1963 and 1990, the tournament was dominated by the
United States, the Soviet Union, Yugoslavia, and Brazil, which together accounted
for every medal at the tournament.
The 1994 FIBA World Championship held in Toronto marked the beginning of a new era,
as currently active American NBA players participated in the tournament for the
first time (prior to that only European and South American professionals were
allowed to participate as they were still classified as amateurs),[6][7] while the
Soviet Union and Yugoslavia split into many new states. The United States dominated
that year and won gold, while former states of the USSR and Yugoslavia, Russia and
Croatia, won silver and bronze. The 1998 FIBA World Championship, held in Greece
(Athens and Piraeus), lost some of its luster when the 1998–99 NBA lockout
prevented NBA players from participating. The new Yugoslavian team, now consisting
of the former Yugoslav republics of Serbia and Montenegro, won the gold medal over
Russia, while the USA, with professional basketball players playing in Europe and
two college players, finished third.

In 2002, other nations caught up to the four powerhouse countries and their
successor states. FR Yugoslavia, led by Peja Stojaković of the Sacramento Kings and
Dejan Bodiroga of FC Barcelona, won the final game against Argentina, while Dirk
Nowitzki, who was the tournament's MVP, led Germany to the bronze, its first ever
World Championship medal. Meanwhile, the United States team, this time made up of
NBA players, struggled to a sixth-place finish. This new era of parity convinced
FIBA to expand the tournament to 24 teams for the 2006, 2010, and 2014 editions of
the tournament.[8][9]

In 2006, emerging powerhouse Spain beat Greece in the first appearance in the final
for both teams. Spain became only the seventh team (Yugoslavia and FR Yugoslavia
are counted separately in the FIBA records)[10] to capture a World Championship
gold. The USA, which lost to Greece in a semi-final, won against Argentina in the
third-place match and claimed bronze.

In the 2010 FIBA World Championship final, the USA defeated Turkey and won gold for
the first time in 16 years, while Lithuania beat Serbia and won bronze. The next
time around, the United States became the third country to defend the championship,
winning against Serbia at the 2014 edition of the tournament. France beat Lithuania
in the bronze medal game.

After the 2014 edition, FIBA instituted significant changes to the World Cup. The
final competition was expanded from 24 to 32 teams. Also, for the first time since
1967, the competition would no longer overlap with the FIFA World Cup. To
accommodate this change, the 2014 FIBA World Cup was followed by a 2019 edition in
China,[11] followed by a 2023 edition in the Philippines, Japan, and Indonesia,[12]
and the 2027 tournament in Qatar, the first World Cup to be held in the Arab world.