2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup

2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup

Copa Mundial de la FIBA España 2014
Tournament details
Host country	Spain
Dates	30 August – 14 September
Officially opened by	Felipe VI
Teams	24 (from 5 confederations)
Venue(s)	6 (in 6 host cities)
Final positions
Champions	United States (5th title)
Runners-up	Serbia
Third place	France
Fourth place	Lithuania
Tournament statistics
Games played	76
Attendance	645,135 (8,489 per game)
MVP	Kyrie Irving
Top scorer	J. J. Barea (22.0 points per game)
← 2010 2019 →

The 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup was the 17th edition of the FIBA Basketball World Cup, the tournament previously known as the FIBA World Championship.^[1] The tournament was held from 30 August to 14 September 2014. Hosted by Spain, it was the last tournament to be held on the then-current four-year cycle. The next FIBA World Cup was held five years later, in 2019, to reset the four-year-cycle on a different year than the FIFA World Cup.^[2]

The United States won their fifth world championship, after beating silver medal-winning Serbia in the Final. France claimed the third place, while Lithuania finished fourth in the tournament.

FIBA opened the bidding process on 10 January 2008 and all the letters of intent were submitted on 30 April 2008.^[3] Nine countries showed interest in hosting the event, as in order, they were Spain,^[4] France,^[5] Denmark,^[6] Russia,^[7] Saudi Arabia,^[8] Qatar,^[9] Italy,^[10] Greece,^[11] and China.^[12]

Among the nine, only three were shortlisted by FIBA: China which would have hosted the 2009 FIBA Asia Championship later that year, Italy which last hosted a FIBA tournament in EuroBasket Women 2007, and FIBA EuroBasket 2007 host Spain.

On 23 May 2009, after voting by the FIBA Central Board in Geneva in which the Chinese and Spanish representatives abstained, China was the first to be eliminated in the first round of voting. In the final round, Arvydas Sabonis and Saša Djordjević announced that Spain won the hosting rights with eleven votes as opposed to Italy's eight.^[13]

2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup bidding results
(final round)

Nation	Votes
Spain	11
Italy	8
China	Eliminated

The Palacio de Deportes de la Comunidad de Madrid was the main venue, hosting the final and half of the matches in the final round. While no arenas from the 1986 FIBA World Championship were reused, the current Madrid arena was built on the site of the original venue that was destroyed by fire in 2001, which was a venue used in 1986. Amongst venues used in FIBA EuroBasket 2007, the arenas in Granada, Seville and Madrid were reused. One arena, the Gran Canaria Arena, was the only new venue, being built after the tournament was awarded to Spain. The other cities hosted a group.

On 17 April 2010, Barcelona was added to the list of cities to hold games, bringing the total venues to six.^[14] This was Barcelona's first time being part of a major international event in basketball since the 1997 EuroBasket, in which the Palau Sant Jordi hosted the final stages.^[14] Barcelona will host half of the games in the knockout stage, including a semifinal.

Below is a list of the confirmed venues which were used to host games during the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup. Connor Floor was the official supplier of the basketball courts for each of the six sites.^[15][16]

Iberian Peninsula		Madrid	Barcelona	Granada
Madrid Barcelona Bilbao Seville Granada		Palacio de Deportes de la Comunidad de Madrid Capacity: 13,700	Palau Sant Jordi Capacity: 15,700	Palacio Municipal de Deportes de Granada Capacity: 9,507
		Bilbao	Seville	Las Palmas
		Bizkaia Arena Capacity: 16,200	Palacio Municipal de Deportes San Pablo Capacity: 7,200	Gran Canaria Arena Capacity: 9,700
Canary Islands
	Las Palmas

There were 24 teams taking part in the 2014 World Cup of Basketball. After the 2012 Olympics, the continental allocation for FIBA Americas was reduced by one when the United States won the Olympic tournament, automatically qualifying them for the 2014 World Cup.^[17]

• Host nation: 1 berth
• 2012 Summer Olympics: 12 teams competing for 1 berth, removed from that country's FIBA zone
• FIBA Asia: 15 teams competing for 3 berths
• FIBA Oceania: 2 teams competing for 2 berths
• FIBA Africa: 16 teams competing for 3 berths
• FIBA Americas: 10 teams competing for 4 berths
• FIBA Europe: 24 teams competing for 6 berths
• Wild card: 4 berths

As of 21 September 2013, twenty teams had already qualified for the final tournament in 2014. To complete the 24-team tournament, FIBA would announce the four wild cards after a meeting in Barcelona on 1–2 February 2014; they could have announced an initial list of teams that would be considered after a Buenos Aires meeting on 23–24 November 2013.^[18] But later the FIBA Central Board decided not to trim the list of wild card applicants on their Buenos Aires meeting, making all 15 teams eligible to be selected on the February meeting at Barcelona.^[19]

On 1 February 2014, FIBA announced that it had allocated the wild cards to Brazil, Finland, Greece and Turkey.^[20]

Event	Date	Location	Berths	Qualified
Host nation	23 May 2009	Geneva	1	Spain
2012 Olympics	29 July–12 August 2012	London	1	United States
2013 FIBA Africa Championship	20–31 August 2013	Abidjan	3	Angola  Egypt  Senegal
2013 FIBA Americas Championship	30 August–11 September 2013	Caracas	4	Mexico  Puerto Rico  Argentina  Dominican Republic
2013 FIBA Asia Championship	1–11 August 2013	Manila	3	Iran  Philippines  South Korea
FIBA EuroBasket 2013	4–22 September 2013	Slovenia	6	France  Lithuania  Croatia  Slovenia  Ukraine  Serbia
2013 FIBA Oceania Championship	14–18 August 2013	Auckland Canberra	2	Australia  New Zealand
Wild cards	1 February 2014	Barcelona	4	Brazil  Finland  Greece  Turkey
TOTAL			24

On the FIBA Central Board meeting in Buenos Aires, FIBA suspended the basketball federations of Guatemala, Morocco and Senegal indefinitely "due to their inability to properly function as the governing body for basketball in their respective countries."^[21] The Senegalese federation was suspended reportedly due to age fabrication in the 2013 FIBA Under-19 World Championship for Men and for Women; the Senegalese federation was dissolved as a result.^[22] On 2 February, FIBA lifted the suspension on the Senegalese federation after they complied with all of the requirements imposed by the FIBA, clearing the way for the participation of its national team in the tournament.^[20]

This was the first time the NBA-style 4.90m rectangular free throw lane, the 1.25m restricted arc, and extended three point line (6.6 m [21' 8"] from the basket at the corners; 6.75 m [22' 1.75"] elsewhere) took effect in the tournament.

The final round was held in two arenas: in the Palacio de Deportes de la Comunidad de Madrid and Palau Sant Jordi, as opposed to a singular arena in 2010. Also, the arrangement of the round of 16 match-ups in the bracket were changed. In 2010, a team from Group A or B can meet a team from Group C or D as early in the quarterfinals, and cannot meet their groupmates until the semifinals. In 2014, teams from Groups A and B were in one half of the bracket played in Madrid, while teams from Groups C and D were in the other half and played in Barcelona; teams from Groups A and B could not meet teams from Group C or D until the final or third-place playoff, and could meet their groupmates as early as the quarterfinals.

In 2010, the round of 16 games were held in a span of four days, or two matches per day; in 2014, there would be four games per day, and the round of 16 will be done in two days. From the semifinals onward, unlike in 2010 where the semifinals were held in one day, and the third-place playoff and the final on the next day, the semifinals in 2014 were held on two days, followed by the third-place playoff the next day, and the final on the day after, or one game per day. Finally, the classification round for 5th place was also eliminated.

The draw was held on 3 February 2014 at 19:00 CET at the Palau de la Música Catalana, Barcelona.^[23] On 2 February, FIBA released the pots on how the teams would be drawn. "Pot 1" included the top 4 teams in the FIBA World Rankings, while the other pots were grouped on geographical and sporting criteria.

Former Spanish international Juan Antonio San Epifanio, Croatia's Dino Rađa, José Ortiz of Puerto Rico and Angolan Jean-Jacques Conceição assisted in the draw.^[24]

Group A, which included European champions France, hosts Spain, and traditional powerhouse Serbia has been labeled as the "group of death".^[25] The Americans, meanwhile, avoided the "bracket of death" of Groups A and B by landing in Group C, setting up a rematch of the 2010 final against Turkey, which were selected as wild cards, and a possible late knockout match-up against European runners-up Lithuania.^[26]

Pot 1	Pot 2	Pot 3	Pot 4	Pot 5	Pot 6
United States (1)  Spain (2)  Argentina (3)  Lithuania (4)	Angola (15)  Finland (39)  Senegal (41)  Egypt (46)	New Zealand (19)  Iran (20)  South Korea (31)  Philippines (34)	Serbia (11)  Slovenia (13)  Croatia (16)  Ukraine (45)	Brazil (10)  Puerto Rico (17)  Mexico (24)  Dominican Republic (26)	Greece (5)  Turkey (7)  France (8)  Australia (9)

Each team had a roster of 12 players; a team could opt to have one naturalized player from its roster. The final rosters had to be finalized at the team managers' meeting at the night prior to the first game. The final roster of 12 players per team must have been taken from a list of at most 24 players submitted to FIBA two months before the beginning of the championship.

The 2014 South American Basketball Championship in Isla Margarita, Venezuela was a qualifying tournament for the 2015 FIBA Americas Championship and for the 2015 Pan-American Games. Venezuela defeated World Cup participants Argentina (who played with its "B" team) to win the title; the other team in the World Cup, Brazil (who also played with its "B" team), finished in third place defeating Uruguay. All four teams qualified to the 2015 FIBA Americas Championship while only the top three teams qualified to the 2015 Pan-American Games.

The 2014 FIBA Asia Cup in Wuhan, China was a qualifying tournament for the 2015 FIBA Asia Championship in China. Iran defeated Chinese Taipei to win the title and qualify outright; the other team in the World Cup, the Philippines, defeated China in the third place playoff.

The 2014 Centrobasket in Tepic, Mexico is a qualifying tournament for the 2015 FIBA Americas Championship and for the 2015 Pan-American Games. The three teams in the World Cup occupied the top three places. Mexico defeated Puerto Rico in the final, while Dominican Republic finished third place defeating Cuba. All four teams qualified to the 2015 FIBA Americas Championship while only the top three teams qualified to the 2015 Pan-American Games.

The 2014 William Jones Cup was a friendly tournament in New Taipei, Taiwan. Egypt is the only World Cup team participated; they finished third. Iran sent their "B-team", while South Korea sent in a Korean Basketball League team.

Australia won this friendly tournament in Antibes, France organized by Fédération Française de Basket-Ball. The Philippines, France, and Ukraine were the other teams that participated.

How teams are ranked:

1. Highest number of points earned, with each game result having a corresponding point:
   • Win: 2 points
   • Loss: 1 point
   • Loss by default: 1 point, with a final score of 2–0 for the opponents of the defaulting team if the latter team is not trailing or if the score is tied, or the score at the time of stoppage if they are trailing.
   • Loss by forfeit: 0 points, with a final score of 20–0 for the opponents of the forfeiting team.
2. Head-to-head record via points system above
3. Goal average on games among tied teams
4. Goal average on all group games
5. Drawing of lots

Qualified to the final round

Venue: Palacio Municipal de Deportes de Granada, Granada

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification
1	Spain (H)	5	5	0	440	314	+126	10	Round of 16
2	Brazil	5	4	1	416	333	+83	9
3	France	5	3	2	376	357	+19	8
4	Serbia	5	2	3	387	378	+9	7
5	Iran	5	1	4	344	406	−62	6
6	Egypt	5	0	5	311	486	−175	5

30 August 2014
Egypt		64–85		Serbia
France		63–65		Brazil
Iran		60–90		Spain
31 August 2014
Serbia		73–74		France
Brazil		79–50		Iran
Spain		91–54		Egypt
1 September 2014
Iran		70–83		Serbia
France		94–55		Egypt
Brazil		63–82		Spain
3 September 2014
Egypt		73–88		Iran
Serbia		73–81		Brazil
Spain		88–64		France
4 September 2014
Brazil		128–65		Egypt
Iran		76–81		France
Serbia		73–89		Spain

Venue: Palacio Municipal de Deportes San Pablo, Seville

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification
1	Greece	5	5	0	414	349	+65	10	Round of 16
2	Croatia	5	3	2	414	398	+16	8[a]
3	Argentina	5	3	2	420	371	+49	8[a]
4	Senegal	5	2	3	348	399	−51	7
5	Puerto Rico	5	1	4	388	446	−58	6[b]
6	Philippines	5	1	4	383	404	−21	6[b]

30 August 2014
Croatia		81–78	OT	Philippines
Puerto Rico		75–98		Argentina
Greece		87–64		Senegal
31 August 2014
Argentina		85–90		Croatia
Senegal		82–75		Puerto Rico
Philippines		70–82		Greece
1 September 2014
Croatia		75–77		Senegal
Argentina		85–81		Philippines
Puerto Rico		79–90		Greece
3 September 2014
Philippines		73–77		Puerto Rico
Senegal		46–81		Argentina
Greece		76–65		Croatia
4 September 2014
Senegal		79–81	OT	Philippines
Croatia		103–82		Puerto Rico
Argentina		71–79		Greece

Venue: Bizkaia Arena, Barakaldo

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification
1	United States	5	5	0	511	345	+166	10	Round of 16
2	Turkey	5	3	2	365	372	−7	8
3	Dominican Republic	5	2	3	347	386	−39	7[a]
4	New Zealand	5	2	3	347	376	−29	7[a]
5	Ukraine	5	2	3	344	369	−25	7[a]
6	Finland	5	1	4	342	408	−66	6

30 August 2014
Ukraine		72–62		Dominican Republic
New Zealand		73–76		Turkey
United States		114–55		Finland
31 August 2014
Dominican Republic		76–63		New Zealand
Finland		81–76		Ukraine
Turkey		77–98		United States
2 September 2014
Ukraine		64–58		Turkey
United States		98–71		New Zealand
Finland		68–74		Dominican Republic
3 September 2014
New Zealand		73–61		Ukraine
Turkey		77–73	OT	Finland
Dominican Republic		71–106		United States
4 September 2014
Finland		65–67		New Zealand
Ukraine		71–95		United States
Turkey		77–64		Dominican Republic

Venue: Gran Canaria Arena, Las Palmas

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification
1	Lithuania	5	4	1	383	331	+52	9[a]	Round of 16
2	Slovenia	5	4	1	425	374	+51	9[a]
3	Australia	5	3	2	404	373	+31	8
4	Mexico	5	2	3	370	372	−2	7[b]
5	Angola	5	2	3	375	399	−24	7[b]
6	South Korea	5	0	5	316	424	−108	5

30 August 2014
Angola		80–69		South Korea
Australia		80–90		Slovenia
Mexico		74–87		Lithuania
31 August 2014
South Korea		55–89		Australia
Slovenia		89–68		Mexico
Lithuania		75–62		Angola
2 September 2014
Angola		55–79		Mexico
Australia		82–75		Lithuania
South Korea		72–89		Slovenia
3 September 2014
Mexico		62–70		Australia
Slovenia		93–87		Angola
Lithuania		79–49		South Korea
4 September 2014
Australia		83–91		Angola
South Korea		71–87		Mexico
Lithuania		67–64		Slovenia

Round of 16

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

Final

6 September – Madrid

Spain

89

10 September – Madrid

Senegal

56

Spain

52

6 September – Madrid

France

65

Croatia

64

12 September – Madrid

France

69

France

85

7 September – Madrid

Serbia

90

Greece

72

10 September – Madrid

Serbia

90

Serbia

84

7 September – Madrid

Brazil

56

Brazil

85

14 September – Madrid

Argentina

65

Serbia

92

6 September – Barcelona

United States

129

United States

86

9 September – Barcelona

Mexico

63

United States

119

6 September – Barcelona

Slovenia

76

Slovenia

71

11 September – Barcelona

Dominican Republic

61

United States

96

7 September – Barcelona

Lithuania

68

Third place

Lithuania

76

9 September – Barcelona

13 September – Madrid

New Zealand

71

Lithuania

73

France

95

7 September – Barcelona

Turkey

61

Lithuania

93

Turkey

65

Australia

64

Efficiency

#	Player	Pld	MPG	PPG	RPG	Eff	EffPG
1	Andray Blatche	5	33.8	24.2	13.8	112	22.4
2	Pau Gasol	7	26.5	20.0	5.9	152	21.7
3	Hamed Haddadi	5	29.4	18.8	11.4	101	20.2
	Yanick Moreira	5	20.4	17.8	8.2	101	20.2
5	Jonas Valančiūnas	9	24.8	14.4	8.4	178	19.8
6	Gorgui Dieng	6	36.3	16.0	10.7	117	19.5
7	Gustavo Ayón	5	32.2	17.6	7.6	96	19.2
	Luis Scola	6	32.4	19.5	8.5	115	19.2
9	Ioannis Bourousis	6	26.5	11.5	9.2	114	19.0
10	Francisco García	5	28.2	17.6	3.2	91	18.2

Tournament game highs

Statistic	Player	Total	Opponent (Date)	Team	Total	Opponent (Date)
Points	Yanick Moreira	38	Australia (4 Sep)	United States	129	Serbia (14 Sep)
Offensive Rebounds	Yanick Moreira	10	Australia (4 Sep)	Angola United States	24 24	Mexico (2 Sep)  Slovenia (9 Sep)
Defensive Rebounds	Andray Blatche	14	Greece (31 Aug)	Brazil  France	36 36	Egypt (4 Sep)  Egypt (1 Sep)
Rebounds	Ömer Aşık	20	Ukraine (2 Sep)	United States	54	Slovenia (9 Sep)
Assists	Xane D'Almeida Raulzinho Neto Pablo Prigioni Nikos Zisis	14 (OT) 10 10 10	Philippines (4 Sep)  Egypt (4 Sep)  Puerto Rico (30 Aug)  Croatia (3 Sep)	Brazil	35	Egypt (4 Sep)
Steals	Ricky Rubio	7	Serbia (4 Sep)	United States	18	Finland (30 Aug)
Blocks	Anthony Davis	5	Dominican Republic (3 Sep)	Spain	13	Senegal (6 Sep)

Method of breaking ties:^[27]

• Ranked 17th–24th:
  1. Place in preliminary round group (5th placed teams ranked 17th–20th; 6th placed teams ranked 21st–24th)
  2. Win–loss record in preliminary round group
  3. Goal average in preliminary round group
• Ranked 5th–16th:
  1. Furthest round eliminated
  2. Win–loss record in preliminary round group
  3. Place in preliminary round group
  4. Goal average in preliminary round group
• Ranked 1st–4th:
  1. Result of final and third-place playoff

#	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Preliminary round				FIBA World Ranking
								Grp	Rank	W–L	GA	Old	New	+/−
	United States	9	9	0	941	644	+297	C	—			1	1	0
	Serbia	9	5	4	743	720	+23	A				11	7	+4
Eliminated at the semifinals
	France	9	6	3	690	656	+34	A	—			8	5	+3
4th	Lithuania	9	6	3	693	654	+39	D				4	4	0
Eliminated at the quarterfinals
5th	Spain	7	6	1	581	435	+146	A	1st	5–0	1.4013	2	2	0
6th	Brazil	7	5	2	557	482	+75	A	2nd	4–1	1.2492	10	9	+1
7th	Slovenia	7	5	2	572	554	+18	D		4–1	1.1364	13	13	0
8th	Turkey	7	4	3	491	509	−18	C		3–2	0.9812	7	8	−1
Eliminated at the round of 16
9th	Greece	6	5	1	486	439	+47	B	1st	5–0	1.1862	5	10	−5
10th	Croatia	6	3	3	478	467	+11	B	2nd	3–2	1.0402	16	12	+4
11th	Argentina	6	3	3	485	456	+29	B	3rd	3–2	1.1321	3	3	0
12th	Australia	6	3	3	468	438	+30	D		3–2	1.0831	9	11	−2
13th	Dominican Republic	6	2	4	408	457	−49	C		2–3	0.8990	26	20	+6
14th	Mexico	6	2	4	433	458	−25	D	4th	2–3	0.9946	24	19	+5
15th	New Zealand	6	2	4	418	452	−34	C		2–3	0.9229	19	21	−2
16th	Senegal	6	2	4	404	488	−84	B		2–3	0.8722	41	30	+11
5th place in preliminary round groups
17th	Angola	5	2	3	375	399	−24	D	5th	2–3	0.9398	15	16	−1
18th	Ukraine	5	2	3	344	369	−25	C		2–3	0.9322	45	40	+5
19th	Puerto Rico	5	1	4	388	446	−58	B		1–4	0.8700	17	15	+2
20th	Iran	5	1	4	344	406	−62	A		1–4	0.8473	20	17	+3
6th place in preliminary round groups
21st	Philippines	5	1	4	383	404	−21	B	6th	1–4	0.9480	34	31	+3
22nd	Finland	5	1	4	342	408	−66	C		1–4	0.8382	39	35	+4
23rd	South Korea	5	0	5	316	424	−108	D		0–5	0.7453	31	27	+4
24th	Egypt	5	0	5	311	486	−175	A		0–5	0.6399	46	41	+5

Qualified for the 2016 Summer Olympics

2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup champion
United States 5th title

Most Valuable Player
Kyrie Irving

• Kyrie Irving – MVP
• Miloš Teodosić
• Nicolas Batum
• Kenneth Faried
• Pau Gasol

• Philippines – MVF Best Country (on Fan support throughout the tournament)^[28]

At their final group matches between Australia and Angola, Australia rested their key players towards the end of the game, allowing for Angola to win 91–83, after the Boomers led at the half by double digits. Australia fell to third place, thereby allowing them to face the United States at the semifinals instead of the quarterfinals if they finished second. This so-called "tanking" was blasted by Goran Dragić, whose Slovenian team were defeated by Lithuania in the final group match, dropping them to second place, causing them to face the Americans instead in the quarterfinals if they reach that far. Dragic implored on FIBA "to do something about" it.^[29]

Right after Australia's elimination by Turkey in the first round, FIBA announced that the Boomers were under investigation for tanking. Australia coach Andrej Lemanis rejected the accusation that they tanked, saying he rested his players for the next stage due to the heavy tournament schedule, adding that: "We always, as Australians, compete the right way".^[30]

On 26 November 2014, Australia was cleared of tanking by FIBA.^{[31][32][33][34]}

A tour of the Naismith Trophy was held to promote the event. The trophy was on display at the 2014 NBA All-Star Game in New Orleans in February 2014, then the tour visited several countries in Latin America, Europe and the Philippines from April to mid-July.^[35] It also visited South Africa during the finals of the South African Premier Basketball League in August.^[36]

Prior to this, FIBA and the Spanish Basketball Federation held a road show that ran from 2012 to 2014 visiting key Spanish cities, with some of the final stops being the host cities, and at Ljubljana, Slovenia during FIBA EuroBasket 2013.^[37]

On 30 January, FIBA revealed the official ball that would be used in the World Cup. Designed by Molten, it "will be the first time ever a custom designed basketball has been developed exclusively for an individual event".^[38]

On 31 January, FIBA revealed the mascots of the World Cup: Olé and Hop. Olé and Hop's name came from the word "alley-oop"; they are directly inspired from the 2014 World Cup logo, and will have a tour of host cities leading up to the championship.^[39]

"Sube la Copa" by Huecco was named the official theme song of the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup. The song, starting from 27 August, can be downloaded on iTunes, Spotify and Deezer, with all of the proceeds going to the FEB's Casa Espana, Huecco's Fundacion Dame Vida, and FIBA's International Basketball Foundation.^[40]

The following referees were selected for the tournament.^[41]

• 2014 FIBA World Championship for Women

• Official website
• FIBA official website
• FIBA Basketball World Cup Page