The 2026 FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup Qualifying Tournaments determined the last eleven teams for the 2026 FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup. The tournaments were held from 11 to 17 March 2026.
Format The 24 teams, final tournament hosts Germany and 23 teams coming from the continental championships in 2025, were divided into four tournaments of six teams each, playing each other once in a single round-robin. Germany and the continental champions, all automatically qualified for the final tournament, still participated in the qualifying tournaments. With one continental champion in each tournament, three spots were contested in three tournaments, and two in the tournament containing Germany.
Qualified teams Qualification Hosts Dates Vacancies Qualified2026 FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup hosts 28 April 2023 1 2026 FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup Pre-Qualifying Tournaments Mexico City 19–25 August 2024 1 Kigali 1 EuroBasket Women 2025 Brno Hamburg Piraeus Bologna 18–29 June 2025 5 2025 FIBA Women's AmeriCup Santiago 28 June – 6 July 2025 6 2025 FIBA Women's Asia Cup Shenzhen 13–20 July 2025 6 2025 FIBA Women's AfroBasket Abidjan 26 July – 3 August 2025 4 Total 24
Host selection On 19 September 2025, FIBA announced the tournaments would be hosted by Istanbul, Turkey; Villeurbanne, France; San Juan, Puerto Rico; and Wuhan, China.
Overview of venues The Wuhan Sports Center Gymnasium in Wuhan hosted Group A. The facility previously organised the 2014 FIBA Asia Cup, 2015 FIBA Asia Championship for Women and was one of the host cities for the 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup. The José Miguel Agrelot Coliseum in San Juan will host Group B. The venue has hosted the 2019 FIBA Women's AmeriCup and one of the 2024 FIBA Men's Olympic Qualifying Tournaments It is the biggest arena in the Caribbean. The Basketball Development Center was Istanbul's venue for Group C. Built in 2024 and owned by the Turkish Basketball Federation, the venue hosted the 2024 FIBA Under-17 Basketball World Cup and 2024 FIBA Europe SuperCup Women. Galatasaray S.K. and Anadolu Efes play their games here. Group D took place at the Astroballe in Villeurbanne. Housing 5,500 seats, the arena hosted the 2023 FIBA Europe SuperCup Women and is the home venue for ASVEL Basket.
San Juan Wuhan José Miguel Agrelot Coliseum Wuhan Sports Center GymnasiumCapacity: 17,024 Capacity: 14,300 Istanbul Villeurbanne Basketball Development Center Astroballe Capacity: 10,000 Capacity: 5,500
Draw The draw was held on 7 October 2025, at the FIBA headquarters in Mies, Switzerland, conducted by German player Marie Gülich and French former player Endéné Miyem. The draw started with the four hosts being placed into their respective groups and continued with, in order, pots 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 being drawn, with each team selected then allocated into the first available group alphabetically. The position for the team within the group would then be drawn (for the purpose of the schedule). Countries in bold text means they qualified.
Seeding The seeding and principles were announced on 6 October 2025. The seeding was based on the 8 August 2025 FIBA Women's World Ranking.
In order to preserve geographic balance, the following restrictions applied in the draw:
Each of the four continental champions, who were already directly qualified for the World Cup, were drawn into one tournament. A maximum of two European teams were drawn in each tournament, including World Cup hosts Germany. One or two teams from the Americas and from Asia and Oceania were drawn in each tournament. One of the four tournaments was drawn with two teams from Africa (excluding continental champions Nigeria), with two other tournaments drawing one African team each. South Sudan could not be drawn in the Puerto Rico tournament.
+ Pot 1 Team 1 2 (H) 3 (H) 4
+ Pot 2 Team 5 6 7 8
+ Pot 3 Team 9 11 12 (H) 13
+ Pot 4 Team 14 15 (H) 16 17
+ Pot 5 Team 18 19 20 21
+ Pot 6 Team 25 27 39 55
Draw results
+ Tournament A TeamA1 A2 A3 A4 A5 A6 (H)
+ Tournament B TeamB1 B2 (H)B3 B4 B5 B6
+ Tournament C TeamC1 C2 (H)C3 C4 C5 C6
+ Tournament D TeamD1 D2 D3 D4 D5 (H)D6
Tournaments Tie-breaking criteriaThe ranking of teams in each group is determined by their points total. If two or more teams are equal on points, the following criteria are used to determine the ranking:
If at any level of these criteria one or more teams are already classified, the procedure shall be repeated from the start for all the remaining teams not classified.
The schedule was confirmed on 8 October 2025.
Tournament A The tournament was held in Wuhan, China.
All times are local (UTC+8).
Tournament B The tournament was held in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
All times are local (UTC−4).
Tournament C The tournament was held in Istanbul, Turkey.
All times are local (UTC+3).
Tournament D The tournament was held in Villeurbanne, France.
All times are local (UTC+1).
Most Valuable Player Tournament Host MVP Source Tournament A Wuhan, China Julie Allemand Tournament B San Juan, Puerto Rico Caitlin Clark Tournament C Istanbul, Turkey Sami Whitcomb Tournament DLyon-Villeurbanne, FranceJanelle Salaün
All Star Five Tournament Host SourceTournament AWuhan,ChinaJulie AllemandEmma MeessemanYang ShuyuMaimouna HaidaraEmma ČechováTournament BSan Juan, Puerto RicoMegan GustafsonCecilia ZandalasiniCaitlin ClarkKelsey PlumImani McGee-StaffordTournament CIstanbul, TurkeySami WhitcombKennedy BurkeMai YamamotoDorka JuhászAaliyah EdwardsTournament DLyon-Villeurbanne, FranceJanelle SalaünMarine JohannèsVictoria MacaulayFrieda BühnerLeeseul Kang
References
External links Official website (QT Wuhan, China) Official website (QT San Juan, Puerto Rico) Official website (QT Istanbul, Türkiye) Official website (QT Lyon-Villeurbanne, France)