National team appearances in the FIBA Basketball World Cup
A total of 56 countries have made or will make at least one appearance in the FIBA Basketball World Cup in basketball.
African, European and teams from the Americas composed the first World Championship – Asian and Oceanian teams did not want to make a long trip to Argentina, the venue of the tournament. Egypt finished fifth in the inaugural world championship, the best finish by a team from Africa. An Asian team, the Philippines, made their debut on the second tournament, where they finished third, the best finish by an Asian team.
Australia was the first team from Oceania to participate in the tournament, in 1970. New Zealand was defeated in the 2002 bronze medal game, earning them a fourth-place finish – the best finish by a team from Oceania.
European and teams from the Americas dominated the tournament, with teams from either confederation disputing the gold medal. Since 1986, there have been three all-European and four Europe-Americas finals. The worst finish by a European team since 1963 was second; for a team from the Americas, the worst all-time was third.
The tournament formats prior to the 1978 tournament were two round robin phases – teams were first divided into several groups, with the top teams from the group stage qualifying for the Final Group, where they play each other once. The team with the best record after the Final Group wins the gold medal, with ties broken by games played between tied teams. All tournaments after the 1978 tournament determined the world champion via a playoff – in 1978 and 1982, the top two teams from the final group squared off for the championship; since 1986, a single-elimination tournament has been used.
The national team with the most wins is the USA, with four. Although teams bearing the name of "Yugoslavia" have won five titles, FIBA used to consider the championships to have been won by two separate national teams. The first three were won by the team that represented the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. The other two were won by a team representing the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, which FIBA treats as the predecessor of the current Serbia national team. Furthermore, a Yugoslav team was able to finish at least third from 1963 to 2002. Recently, FIBA allotted all of Yugoslavia's wins to Serbia, while the team has yet to place third or higher by that name.
The USA is the current World Champion, winning the gold medal game against Serbia at the 2014 FIBA World Championship.
Debut of teams
A total of 56 national teams have appeared in at least one FIBA Basketball World Cup in the history of the tournament through the 2014 competition. Each successive Basketball World Cup has had at least one team appearing for the first time. Countries competing in their first Basketball World Cup are listed below by year.
Year | Debutants | Number |
---|---|---|
1950 | Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, Egypt, France, Peru, Spain, United States, Yugoslavia[1] | 10 |
1954 | Canada, Formosa[2] Israel, Paraguay, Philippines, Uruguay | 6 |
1959 | Bulgaria, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Soviet Union[3] | 4 |
1963 | Italy, Japan | 2 |
1967 | Poland | 1 |
1970 | Australia, Cuba, Czechoslovakia,[4] South Korea, Panama | 5 |
1974 | Central African Republic | 1 |
1978 | China, Dominican Republic, Senegal | 3 |
1982 | Colombia, Ivory Coast | 2 |
1986 | Angola, Greece, Malaysia, Netherlands, New Zealand, West Germany[5] | 6 |
1990 | Venezuela | 1 |
1994 | Croatia, Russia | 2 |
1998 | Lithuania, Nigeria, Serbia[1] | 3 |
2002 | Algeria, Lebanon, Turkey | 3 |
2006 | Qatar, Slovenia | 2 |
2010 | Iran, Jordan, Tunisia | 3 |
2014 | Finland, Ukraine | 2 |
Total | 56 |
With 56 national teams to have participated, the FIBA Basketball World Cup is the third most participated men's world championship, behind the FIFA World Cup (77) and the FIVB Volleyball Men's World Championship (64), and ahead of the World Men's Handball Championship (48), the Rugby World Cup (25), the Cricket World Cup (20) and the World Baseball Classic (18).
Comprehensive team results
Team | 1950 (10) |
1954 (12) |
1959 (13) |
1963 (13) |
1967 (13) |
1970 (13) |
1974 (14) |
1978 (14) |
1982 (13) |
1986 (24) |
1990 (16) |
1994 (16) |
1998 (16) |
2002 (16) |
2006 (24) |
2010 (24) |
2014 (24) |
Total |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Algeria | 15th | 1 | ||||||||||||||||
Angola | 13th | 13th | 16th | 11th | 9th | 15th | 17th | 7 | ||||||||||
Argentina | 1st | 10th | 8th | 6th | 11th | 12th | 8th | 9th | 8th | 2nd | 4th | 5th | 11th | 13 | ||||
Australia | 12th | 12th | 7th | 5th | 13th | 7th | 5th | 9th | 9th | 10th | 12th | 11 | ||||||
Brazil | 4th | 2nd | 1st | 1st | 3rd | 2nd | 6th | 3rd | 8th | 4th | 5th | 11th | 10th | 8th | 17th | 9th | 6th | 17 |
Bulgaria | 7th | 1 | ||||||||||||||||
Canada | 7th | 12th | 11th | 10th | 8th | 6th | 6th | 8th | 12th | 7th | 12th | 13th | 22nd | 13 | ||||
Central African Republic | 14th | 1 | ||||||||||||||||
Chile | 3rd | 10th | 3rd | 3 | ||||||||||||||
China | 11th | 12th | 9th | 14th | 8th | 12th | 9th | 16th | 8 | |||||||||
Chinese Taipei[2] | 5th | 4th | 2 | |||||||||||||||
Colombia | 7th | 1 | ||||||||||||||||
Ivory Coast | 13th | 13th | 21st | 3 | ||||||||||||||
Croatia | 3rd | 14th | 10th | 3 | ||||||||||||||
Cuba | 8th | 4th | 11th | 15th | 4 | |||||||||||||
Czechoslovakia[4] | 6th | 10th | 9th | 10th | 4 | |||||||||||||
Dominican Republic | 12th | 13th | 2 | |||||||||||||||
Ecuador | 8th | 1 | ||||||||||||||||
Egypt | 5th | 11th | 13th | 16th | 14th | 24th | 6 | |||||||||||
Team | 1950 (10) |
1954 (12) |
1959 (13) |
1963 (13) |
1967 (13) |
1970 (13) |
1974 (14) |
1978 (14) |
1982 (13) |
1986 (24) |
1990 (16) |
1994 (16) |
1998 (16) |
2002 (16) |
2006 (24) |
2010 (24) |
2014 (24) |
Total |
Finland | 22nd | 1 | ||||||||||||||||
France | 6th | 4th | 5th | 13th | 5th | 13th | 3rd | 7 | ||||||||||
Germany[5] | 13th | 12th | 3rd | 8th | 17th | 5 | ||||||||||||
Greece | 10th | 6th | 4th | 4th | 2nd | 11th | 9th | 7 | ||||||||||
Iran | 19th | 20th | 2 | |||||||||||||||
Israel | 8th | 7th | 2 | |||||||||||||||
Italy | 7th | 9th | 4th | 4th | 6th | 9th | 6th | 9th | 8 | |||||||||
Japan | 13th | 11th | 14th | 17th | 4 | |||||||||||||
Jordan | 23rd | 1 | ||||||||||||||||
Lebanon | 16th | 17th | 20th | 3 | ||||||||||||||
Lithuania | 7th | 7th | 3rd | 4th | 4 | |||||||||||||
Malaysia | 13th | 1 | ||||||||||||||||
Mexico | 13th | 9th | 8th | 9th | 14th | 5 | ||||||||||||
Netherlands | 13th | 1 | ||||||||||||||||
New Zealand | 13th | 4th | 9th | 12th | 15th | 5 | ||||||||||||
Nigeria | 13th | 9th | 2 | |||||||||||||||
Panama | 9th | 9th | 13th | 21st | 4 | |||||||||||||
Team | 1950 (10) |
1954 (12) |
1959 (13) |
1963 (13) |
1967 (13) |
1970 (13) |
1974 (14) |
1978 (14) |
1982 (13) |
1986 (24) |
1990 (16) |
1994 (16) |
1998 (16) |
2002 (16) |
2006 (24) |
2010 (24) |
2014 (24) |
Total |
Paraguay | 9th | 13th | 2 | |||||||||||||||
Peru | 7th | 12th | 12th | 10th | 4 | |||||||||||||
Philippines | 3rd | 8th | 13th | 8th | 21st | 5 | ||||||||||||
Poland | 5th | 1 | ||||||||||||||||
Puerto Rico | 5th | 6th | 12th | 7th | 10th | 13th | 4th | 6th | 11th | 7th | 17th | 18th | 19th | 13 | ||||
Qatar | 21st | 1 | ||||||||||||||||
Russia | 2nd | 2nd | 10th | 7th | 4 | |||||||||||||
Senegal | 14th | 15th | 21st | 16th | 4 | |||||||||||||
Serbia Yugoslavia/Serbia and Montenegro | 1st | 1st | 9th | 4th | 2nd | 5 | ||||||||||||
Slovenia | 9th | 8th | 7th | 3 | ||||||||||||||
South Korea | 11th | 13th | 13th | 15th | 13th | 16th | 23rd | 7 | ||||||||||
Soviet Union | 6th | 3rd | 1st | 3rd | 1st | 2nd | 1st | 2nd | 2nd | 9 | ||||||||
Spain | 9th | 5th | 4th | 5th | 10th | 10th | 5th | 5th | 1st | 6th | 5th | 11 | ||||||
Tunisia | 24th | 1 | ||||||||||||||||
Turkey | 9th | 6th | 2nd | 8th | 4 | |||||||||||||
Ukraine | 18th | 1 | ||||||||||||||||
Uruguay | 6th | 9th | 10th | 7th | 7th | 11th | 13th | 7 | ||||||||||
United States | 2nd | 1st | 2nd | 4th | 4th | 5th | 3rd | 5th | 2nd | 1st | 3rd | 1st | 3rd | 6th | 3rd | 1st | 1st | 17 |
Venezuela | 11th | 14th | 21st | 3 | ||||||||||||||
Yugoslavia[1] | 10th | 11th | 2nd | 2nd | 1st | 2nd | 1st | 3rd | 3rd | 1st | 10 |
Notes:
- Teams that failed to qualify to the semifinal round at the 1986 championship were ranked tied for 13th.
- In 2006, when the tournament expanded to 24 teams (four preliminary round groups of six teams each), teams that finished 5th in their preliminary round groups were ranked tied for 17th, while teams that finished 6th in their preliminary round groups were ranked tied for 21st. Teams eliminated in round of 16 were ranked tied for 9th.
Ranking of teams by number of appearances
Shown below are the sixteen national teams with the most appearances.
Team | Number of appearances | Record streak | First appearance | Most recent appearance | Best result |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Brazil | 17 | 17 | 1950 | 2014 | Champions (1959, 1963) |
United States | 17 | 17 | 1950 | 2014 | Champions (1954, 1986, 1994, 2010, 2014) |
Argentina | 13 | 8 | 1950 | 2014 | Champions (1950) |
Canada | 13 | 9 | 1954 | 2010 | 6th place (1978, 1982) |
Puerto Rico | 13 | 8 | 1959 | 2014 | 4th place (1990) |
Australia | 11 | 8 | 1970 | 2014 | 5th place (1982, 1994) |
Spain | 11 | 9 | 1950 | 2014 | Champions (2006) |
Yugoslavia | 10 | 8 | 1950 | 1990 | Champions (1970, 1978, 1990) |
Soviet Union | 9 | 9 | 1959 | 1990 | Champions (1967, 1974, 1982) |
China | 8 | 5 | 1978 | 2010 | 8th place (1994) |
Italy | 8 | 3 | 1963 | 2006 | 4th place (1970, 1978) |
Angola | 7 | 4 | 1986 | 2014 | 9th place (2006) |
France | 7 | 3 | 1950 | 2014 | 3rd place (2014) |
Greece | 7 | 4 | 1986 | 2014 | Runners-up (2006) |
South Korea | 7 | 4 | 1970 | 2014 | 11th place (1970) |
Uruguay | 7 | 5 | 1954 | 1986 | 6th place (1954) |
Performance of host nations
With only three wins in 16 occasions, the success rate of host nations winning the tournament is rather low at 19%, compared to the respective percentage in the FIFA World Cup which stands at 32% (6 out of 19). Yugoslavia was the last host to win, in 1970; the only other host to medal since then has been Turkey, silver medalist in 2010. Greece has been the only other host nation to finish fourth or better since 1970. From 1959 to 1982, the host qualified directly to the final round of the tournament, bypassing the preliminary round (group stage). The host's final rank in these years could not be worse than the number of teams in the final round (between six and eight). However, beginning in 1986, the host has competed in the preliminary round.
A "†" denotes that is the best performance of the team, a "‡" denotes it is the best performance of the team at the time of the competition.
Year | Host nation | Finish | Last round* |
---|---|---|---|
Argentina | Champions† | Final round | |
Brazil | Runners-up‡ | Final round | |
Chile | Third place† | Final round | |
Brazil | Champions† | Final round | |
Uruguay | Seventh place | Final round | |
Yugoslavia | Champions† | Final round | |
Puerto Rico | Seventh place | Final round | |
Philippines | Eighth place | Final round | |
Colombia | Seventh place† | Final round | |
Spain | Fifth place‡ | Final round | |
Argentina | Eighth place | Second round | |
Canada | Seventh place | Preliminary round | |
Greece | Fourth place‡ | Third place playoff | |
United States | Sixth place | Quarterfinals | |
Japan | Seventeenth place | Preliminary round | |
Turkey | Runners-up† | Final | |
Spain | Fifth place | Quarterfinals |
*excluding classification rounds.
Performance by confederation
This is a summary of the best performances of each confederation in each tournament. Note that most confederations did not exist until up to the 1960s, and that FIBA assigned teams to a specific continent when there were no confederations yet.
Confederation | 1950 (10) | 1954 (12) | 1959 (13) | 1963 (13) | 1967 (13) | 1970 (13) | 1974 (14) | 1978 (14) | 1982 (13) | 1986 (24) | 1990 (16) | 1994 (16) | 1998 (16) | 2002 (16) | 2006 (24) | 2010 (24) | 2014 (24) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
FIBA Africa | 5th | ― | 11th | ― | ― | 13th | 14th | 14th | 13th | 13th | 13th | 14th | 13th | 15th | 9th | 15th | 16th |
FIBA Americas | 1st | 1st | 1st | 1st | 3rd | 2nd | 3rd | 3rd | 2nd | 1st | 3rd | 1st | 3rd | 2nd | 3rd | 1st | 1st |
FIBA Asia | ― | 3rd | 4th | 13th | 11th | 11th | 13th | 8th | 12th | 9th | 14th | 13th | 14th | 12th | 9th | 16th | 20th |
FIBA Europe | 6th | 4th | 6th | 2nd | 1st | 1st | 1st | 1st | 1st | 2nd | 1st | 2nd | 1st | 1st | 1st | 2nd | 2nd |
FIBA Oceania | ― | ― | ― | ― | ― | 12th | 12th | 7th | 5th | 13th | 7th | 5th | 9th | 4th | 9th | 10th | 12th |
Number of teams by confederation
This is a summary of the total number of participating teams by confederation in each tournament. Confederation of the host federation is boldfaced.
Confederation | 1950 (10) | 1954 (12) | 1959 (13) | 1963 (13) | 1967 (13) | 1970 (13) | 1974 (14) | 1978 (14) | 1982 (13) | 1986 (24) | 1990 (16) | 1994 (16) | 1998 (16) | 2002 (16) | 2006 (24) | 2010 (24) | 2014 (24) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
FIBA Africa | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
FIBA Americas | 6 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 8 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 6 |
FIBA Asia | 0 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 3 |
FIBA Europe | 3 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 9 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 9 | 10 | 10 |
FIBA Oceania | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
Notes and references
- 1 2 3 The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (1950–1990) qualified ten times under the name Yugoslavia prior to its breakup by the secession of many of its constituent republics in 1992. The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia qualified twice in 1998 and 2002 as Yugoslavia and in 2006 as Serbia and Montenegro after a name change in 2003. FR Yugoslavia and Serbia and Montenegro are considered the predecessors of the current Serbia team by FIBA; the latter competed for the first time as Serbia in the 2010 FIBA World Championship. These teams along with the other national teams which resulted from the breakup of the original Yugoslavia (Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and FYR Macedonia) are considered distinct entities from the Yugoslavia team of 1930–1990. Montenegro now also compete separately after independence in 2006.
- 1 2 The national basketball team of the Republic of China competed twice in the FIBA World Championship, both times as Formosa, but since 1960 the team had changed their name to compete as Taiwan in international competitions. Since 1985, they have competed under the name Chinese Taipei.
- ↑ The Soviet Union qualified nine times prior to being dissolved in 1991. The 15 nations that were former Soviet Republics now compete separately. FIBA does not consider any of these nations as the successor team of the Soviet Union.
- 1 2 Czechoslovakia qualified four times prior to being divided into the Czech Republic and Slovakia in 1993. FIBA does not consider any of these nations as the successor team of Czechoslovakia.
- 1 2 The German Basketball Association (DBB, for Deutscher Basketball Bund) has continuously existed as a national governing body since joining FIBA in 1934, during the Nazi era in Germany, After World War II, the DBB became the governing body for West Germany, and then became the governing body for reunified Germany in 1990. During the division of Germany, East Germany fielded a team of its own before re-joining West Germany and the DBB upon reunification. Thus, FIBA considers Germany and West Germany as one entity and officially attributes all results of the DBB team since 1934 to Germany. Germany competed in their first FIBA World Championship in 1986 as West Germany and in 1994 for the first time as Germany.