The history of the FIBA Basketball World Cup began in 1950, with the first FIBA Basketball World Cup, which was the 1950 FIBA World Championship. The FIBA Basketball World Cup is an international basketball competition contested by the men's national teams of the members of the International Basketball Federation (FIBA), the sport's global governing body. The championship has been held every four years since the inaugural tournament in 1950 (the 1958 tournament was postponed to 1959 and did not get back on its current schedule until the 1970 tournament was held three years after the 1967 tournament).
The tournament was conceived during the 1948 Summer Olympics when FIBA leaders, seeing how successful the Olympic basketball tournament had become, wanted to hold a Championship every four years between Olympiads. The first tournament was held in 1950 in Argentina and was won by the hosts. The tournament was later dominated from 1963 through 1998 by Brazil, the Soviet Union (and later Russia), the United States, and Yugoslavia (and later Croatia and Serbia and Montenegro), as those four teams won every medal in that era. Since 2002, however, parity has seen new teams claim medals as basketball continues to grow throughout the world.
The tournament was restricted to European and South American professional players for the first forty years of its existence. In 1989, FIBA made the decision to allow NBA players for future tournaments. Starting in 1994, NBA players have played in each Basketball World Cup.
Background The first international basketball tournament took place in South America in 1930, some forty years after Dr. James Naismith invented the game.
The International Amateur Basketball Federation (better known by its French acronym FIBA) was founded two years later with founding members Argentina, Czechoslovakia, Greece, Italy, Latvia, Portugal, Romania, and Switzerland. In 1935, Europe held its first continental championship; based on the success of the event, basketball was introduced as an outdoor game for the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin.
The 1936 tournament was largely a success, drawing 21 teams from five continents (excluding Spain and Hungary, who withdrew just prior to the competition), the largest of any team competition. The United States, Canada, and Mexico took the three podium spots. The tournament was not without its faults, as FIBA attempted to impose two last-minute rules. The first, that no player could be taller than was rejected after the United States (the only team with players over that stature) objected because half of their team would have been ineligible. The second, that only seven players could suit up for each game, was passed. Players also complained about the basketball, which was lighter than most players were used to and tended to get tossed about in the wind. Finally, the final turned into a sloppy affair held in a driving rainstorm on a clay tennis court; the United States won over Canada 19–8 in what was the lowest scoring game of the tournament (future events were moved indoors because of the disastrous weather). Despite the storm and the lack of any seating, 1,000 fans showed up for the final, and basketball was kept on the Olympic program for future years.
Although the European Basketball Championship was put on hold between 1939 and 1946 because of World War II, the South American Basketball Championship was held every year between 1937 and 1945. Following the war years, basketball continued to grow in popularity; the 1947 European Basketball Championship drew a record fourteen teams. Basketball was again part of the Olympics in 1948. Despite the continued dominance of the gold medal-winning American team, the tournament was a resounding success, drawing 23 nations that were evenly disbursed around the world (eight from Europe, five from South America, five from Asia, four from North America, and one from Africa), though defending European champions Soviet Union did not take part in the event.
With the successful Olympic tournament taking place in the background, the FIBA Congress met in London in 1948. At the urging of FIBA Secretary-General Renato William Jones, FIBA decided to organize a World Championship tournament every four years between the Olympics. The first tournament was to be held in 1950. Argentina was nominated to host for three major reasons – first, European countries were still recovering from the War and none had expressed interest in hosting; second, Argentina had a positive image in the international basketball community and were a founding member of FIBA; finally, and probably most importantly, they were willing to take on the unenviable task of hosting the first World Championship. FIBA decided to invite ten teams – the hosts Argentina, the medalists from the 1948 Olympics (the United States, France, and Brazil), plus two teams each from South America, Europe, and Asia.
History
South American dominance (1950-1963) Like the inaugural FIFA World Cup twenty years before, the first World Championship in 1950 experienced severe growing pains. The most prominent concern was teams' unwillingness to participate: South American champion Uruguay refused to make the short trip to Buenos Aires after Argentinian immigration officials refused to grant visas to members of the Uruguayan press. South American runner-up Brazil had already qualified by finishing third at the 1948 Olympics, so the two South American berths fell to third and fourth placed teams Chile and Peru. As no Asian team wanted to make the long trip to Argentina, FIBA invited European champion Egypt and Ecuador. None of the stronger European teams wanted to make the journey either, so Europe was represented by Yugoslavia (which had finished 13th in their only European Championship appearance in 1947) and Spain (which had not participated in a European Championship since 1935). All three Olympic medalists participated, although the United States did not take the tournament particularly seriously and sent a team of factory workers from a Denver Chevrolet plant, rather than holding tryouts. France, meanwhile, returned only two players from their Olympic silver medalist team. Two more unfortunate incidents took place on the court: First, Yugoslavia refused to stand for the anthem of Franco's Spain in the ninth place game before walking off the court, forfeiting the game and receiving a nine-month ban from FIBA for their actions. Second, a refereeing error gave Egypt a preliminary round win over France; when Egypt refused to replay the game, France appealed, threatening the schedule of the tournament. Fortunately, the French withdrew their protest and the tournament proceeded as scheduled. The 1950 tournament also had bright spots, most coming from the home team. Argentina, which had finished 15th in the previous Olympics, kept the same team together in what amounted to a two-year training camp for the team, including six-hour practices every day for the three months directly preceding the tournament. It paid off, as the Argentinians beat the top-seeded Americans in the final, the first ever loss for the United States in international competition. An overflow crowd of 25,000 fans packed into Luna Park in Buenos Aires to watch the final between Argentina and the United States.
The 1954 FIBA World Championship returned to South America, this time held in Brazil. Originally scheduled to be co-hosted by São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, the tournament was moved entirely to Rio after São Paulo's Ibirapuera Gymnasium was not completed in time to host the event at the end of October. Rio's Maracanãzinho, which was ready on time, became the venue for the competition. Once again, the majority of teams (seven of twelve) were from the Americas, though defending champion Argentina did not participate for political reasons. Also due to Cold War issues, the Soviet Union was not invited to the tournament, despite being the reigning European champion. The Brazilian Basketball Confederation, co-organizer of the event, had initially excluded both the USSR and Hungary (the European runner-up) from the list of invited teams. Later, the Brazilian government, citing the lack of diplomatic relations between the two countries, confirmed it would not grant a visa to the Soviet team, effectively barring their participation. Brazil stood firm in its decision despite protests from Soviet officials and FIBA, which warned of potential repercussions. Without USSR, Hungary and Czechoslovakia (the fourth-place team at EuroBasket 1953), Europe was represented by France (third place), Israel (fifth place), and Yugoslavia (sixth place). Asia made its first appearance in the tournament, represented by the Formosa and the Philippines. The Philippines impressed, finishing with a bronze medal, still the highest finish for any Asian team in the tournament's history. The United States took the competition more seriously this time, sending the three-time AAU champions, the Peoria Caterpillars. The Americans cruised to an undefeated 9–0 record, winning each game by an average of more than 25 points, including a 21-point victory over the previously unbeaten Brazil in the final. Once again, attendance was impressive, with a still-standing record of 35,000 spectators watching the final at Maracanãzinho.
Although the 1959 tournament in Santiago, Chile, was again dominated by teams from the Americas, the Eastern Bloc made its first appearance, with EuroBasket 1957 champion Soviet Union and runner-up Bulgaria participating for the first time. The tournament was originally scheduled for 1958, but was moved to January 1959 after delays in the construction of the Metropolitan Indoor Stadium. Funds originally allocated for the arena were instead redirected to football stadiums throughout the country after Chile was awarded the 1962 FIFA World Cup. This led to the tournament being moved outdoors to the Estadio Nacional, which was converted from a football stadium to a basketball arena for the occasion. In a precedent that would continue until the 1982 FIBA World Championship, the host team was given a bye into the final round of the tournament. The tournament was briefly threatened when the United States initially declined the invitation due to the postponement of the event, which was now scheduled in the middle of the NCAA and AAU seasons. After FIBA warned the Americans that this would undermine the competition, the U.S. relented and sent a team from the United States Air Force. The Soviet Union impressed in its matchup with the second-rate American team, dominating in a 62–37 victory witnessed by 30,000 fans, a FIBA record for non-final games. Still, the European champion Soviets were beatable, as evidenced by a preliminary round defeat to Canada. Despite this loss, the Soviet Union seemed well on their way to gold; a victory over Formosa in the final round robin game (there were no playoffs at the tournament) would have secured the gold. However, Cold War politics intervened once again, as the Soviets refused to take the court against Formosa due to their support for the People's Republic of China (Bulgaria did the same, though they were no longer in medal contention). As a result, the Soviet Union and Bulgaria were relegated to the last two places in the final round. Brazil eventually took their first gold medal, avenging their 1954 loss with an 81–67 victory over the Americans in what proved to be the deciding game. The demotions of Bulgaria and the Soviet Union pleased the home crowd, as Chile was promoted to the bronze medal position.