FIBA 2023: Everything You Need to Know About It
The FIBA tournament is a quarterly event that happens every 4 years. Being one of the most popular tournaments, basketball lovers surely must have been following this for a long time. New players keep coming on and showing their talents in every tournament.
While hardcore basketball fans definitely know the ins and outs of FIBA, many people still do not have much knowledge about the tournament. It only makes sense that basketball fans find out everything they can about FIBA,, as it is the biggest international event in basketball The FIBA 2023 has created a lot of buzz for people globally, as it’s the first Basketball World Cup that was hosted by 3 countries: Indonesia, Japan, and the Philippines. While trying to keep up with games and the latest basketball betting odds, fans everywhere have surely given their attention to the event.
When did the FIBA Basketball World Cup begin?
The association of FIBA was originally discovered in 1932 in Geneva. The association had 8 members at the very beginning— which included the Basketball Federation of Argentina, Italy, Greece, Czechoslovakia, Latvia, Portugal, Romania, and Switzerland.
The FIBA organization saw the success of the 1948 Summer Olympics and decided to start the FIBA World Cup. The tournament was first known as the FIBA World Championship until 2010 when the name was changed to the FIBA Basketball World Cup.
The first tournament took place in Argentina; however, it was met with several hurdles from other countries. For instance, Uruguay did not want to come to Argentina after the Uruguayan Press weren’t given visas. All Asian countries were also unwilling to travel so far for the tournament.
The United States also did not take the competition quite seriously and sent factory workers instead of professional basketball players. However, Argentina worked hard and practiced a lot before the tournament, which did not go unnoticed as they won the championship.
Fast forward to 1986, when huge changes happened in the tournament. The tournament had 24 teams competing for the World Cup and expanded to various countries all over the world, such as Asia, Africa, and Australia.
Later in the FIBA 1994, NBA players were given the chance to participate in the tournament. The introduction of NBA players into the tournament meant that all championships after that were considered professional.
How Many Teams Competed in FIBA 2023?
The 2023 tournament was the 19th FIBA basketball World Cup event and initially started on August 25 and ran through September 10. There were only 10 teams in the first FIBA, but the scale has tremendously grown, with a total of 32 teams in FIBA 2023.
The United States, Brazil, Canada, Australia, Italy, and Japan are just some of the countries that qualified for this year’s tournament. The 32 countries were selected from a long selection process involving 80 teams from 2021 to 2023.
What was the Format for FIBA 2023?
32 teams were put into 8 groups of 4, where each team had to compete with the other 3 in their group. After that, 16 teams went to the second round, whereas the other 16 teams played for places 16–32.
Then, 8 teams advanced to the quarterfinals, and the 4 winning teams headed to the semifinals. Lastly, the top 2 teams played for the Basketball World Cup. This might be easier for those who also follow FIFA as the format and game schedule are quite similar between the two tournaments.
Who were the Crowd’s Favorites?
There has got to be a crowd favorite in every sport or tournament. Sometimes it’s the players, while other times, it’s the teams that win people’s hearts.
Similarly, even for FIBA 2023, there have been some teams that were among the favorites. The United States had maintained a great reputation with its team in FIBA 2023, especially after some disappointment in the last FIBA tournament.
Canada had also created a space in the crowd’s hearts with their performance throughout the entire tournament. Excellent players like Dillon Brooks and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander stunned everyone with their performances while moving their teams ahead throughout the tournament.
Australia was also not left behind in becoming the fan favorite. With some of the best players like Matisse Thybulle, Patty Mills, and Josh Giddey on the team, they blew everyone away with their performances in all their games.
Which Countries have had the most World Cups?
Throughout the years, many countries like the United States, Argentina, Brazil, the Soviet Union, Spain, and Yugoslavia have won and taken the trophy home. However, the United States and Yugoslavia have won the most World Cups, with both having 5 trophies. On the other hand, Spain and Brazil have 2 trophies, the Soviet Union has 3, and Argentina has one.
Conclusion
The FIBA World Cup has come a long way since 1950 and has now turned into an enormous event featuring several countries competing for the trophy. It is only a matter of time before we see how far FIBA goes and how much it advances in the future.
