Basketball World Cup Champions: FIBA Basketball World Cup, The Basketball World Championship or Basketball World Cup was created by the International Basketball Federation (FIBA). It is held every four years between Olympic Games and was first held in Argentina in 1950. Until 2002, the top sixteen national basketball teams were part of every World Cup, but in Japan 2006 the number of participating nations was increased to 24 and in China 2019 to 32.
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Basketball World Cup Champions
| Country | Champion | Runner Up | 3rd Place | Championship years |
| USA | 5 | 3 | 4 | 2014 – 2010 – 1994 – 1986 – 1954 |
| USSR | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1982 – 1974 – 1967 |
| Yugoslavia | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1990 – 1978 – 1970 |
| Brazil | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1963 – 1959 |
| Serbia | 2 | 1 | – | 2002 – 1998 |
| Spain | 2 | – | – | 2019 – 2006 |
| Argentina | 1 | 2 | – | 1950 |
| Russia | – | 2 | – | |
| Greece | – | 1 | – | |
| Turkey | – | 1 | – | |
| France | – | – | 2 | |
| Chile | – | – | 2 | |
| Croatia | – | – | 1 | |
| Germany | – | – | 1 | |
| Lithuania | – | – | 1 | |
| Philippines | – | – | 1 |
The tournament structure is similar, but not identical, to that of the FIFA World Cup; both of these international competitions were played in the same year 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.
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From 1986 through 2014, the men’s and women’s championships were held in the same year, though in different countries. The current format of the tournament involves 32 teams competing for the title at venues within the host nation. The winning team receives the Naismith Trophy, first awarded in 1967. The current champions are Spain, who defeated Argentina in the final of the 2019 tournament Basketball World Cup Champions.
In order to avoid clashing with the FIFA World Cup, the men’s World Cup was set on a new four-year cycle after the 2014 FIBA championships for men and women.
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In 2019, the year following the FIFA World Cup, the men’s World Cup was held. After its 2014 edition, the women’s tournament underwent a name change from “FIBA World Championship for Women” to “FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup,” however it will continue to run on the same four-year cycle as the FIFA World Cup/Basketball World Cup Champions.
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 also 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 as fully professional level tournaments Basketball World Cup Champions.
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