The 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup qualification began in earnest at the 2011 Caribbean Championships, a qualifier to the 2012 Centrobasket, which was in itself a qualifier to the 2013 FIBA Americas Championship. The winners of the 2012 Olympic basketball tournament, the United States, qualified outright. The USA joined the host nation Spain, which was earlier elected to host the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup in July 2009.

Qualification would be via each of FIBA's zones, with each zone allocated at least two berths, with additional berths given according to the strengths of the teams within each zone. In this setup, FIBA Europe got six berths, FIBA Americas had 4, FIBA Africa and FIBA Asia, 3 teams each, and FIBA Oceania, 2 berths.[1]

The continental championships in each FIBA zone doubled as a qualifying tournament. The top teams in each tournament qualified to the Basketball World Cup.

In addition, after the continental championships were done, four more wild cards berths were awarded by FIBA to complete the 24-team tournament.[1]

This was the final set of qualification tournaments under this method. FIBA announced that the next edition of the World Cup would be held in 2019, the number of participating teams raised from 24 to 32, FIBA Asia and FIBA Oceania combined into one region for purposes of qualifying for the World Cup, and that qualifying will be done in a home and away format.[2]

Method

Final status of national teams that participated in any stage of qualifying for the 2014 Basketball World Cup.
  Qualified
  Eliminated
  Did not enter
  Disqualified and suspended by FIBA
  Not a member of FIBA

Each FIBA zone has a default number of berths, generally following the strengths of the national teams there. These berths, plus four wild cards and the host total in 24. However, a berth is subtracted from the FIBA zone of the Olympic champion; in this case, the United States' gold medal in 2012 reduced FIBA Americas' number of berths from five to four, with the United States qualifying as a result of their 2012 Olympic gold medal.

FIBA zoneQualifying tournamentsWorld Cup berths
Automatic Teams entered Total berths Automatic After the 2012 Olympics Berth as the host nation Total berths
2012 Olympic gold medalist——120+101
FIBA Africa423163003
FIBA Americas69105−104
FIBA Asia225153003
FIBA Europe831246017
FIBA Oceania2—22002
Wild card——154004
Total2288—230124

A total of 117 national teams participated in qualifying. This number included teams that participated but were later suspended (Lebanon and Panama), and excluded hosts Spain, which still participated in qualifying matches, and the United States, which qualified automatically and no longer participated in qualifying matches.

While the different FIBA zones employed any method in qualifying, all conducted their continental championships as qualifying tournaments. Therefore, these continental championships, along with the qualifying for these championships, serve as qualifying matches. In total, 606 qualifying matches were played to determine the qualified teams; excluding the Olympics, 568 matches were played.

List

These were listed by order of qualification.

Team Qualification Appearance Best performance FIBA World Ranking
As Date Last Total Streak
 SpainHost23 May 20092010119Champions (2006) / Final2
 United StatesGold medalist at the 2012 Summer Olympics12 August 201220101717Champions (1954, 1986, 1994, 2010) / Final round (1954), Final (1986, 1994, 2010)1
 IranTop 3 at the 2013 FIBA Asia Championship10 August 201320102219th place (2010) / Classification round20
 Philippines10 August 20131978513rd place (1954) / Final round34
 South Korea11 August 201319987111th place (1970) / Preliminary round31
 AustraliaTop 2 at the 2013 FIBA Oceania Championship18 August 201320101135th place (1982, 1994) / Final round (1982), Second round (1994)9
 New Zealand18 August 20132010544th place (2002) / Third place playoff19
 AngolaTop 3 at the 2013 FIBA Africa Championship30 August 20132010749th place (2006) / Round of 1615
 Egypt30 August 20131994615th place (1950) / Final round46
 Senegal31 August 201320064114th place (1978) / Preliminary round41
 Puerto RicoTop 4 at the 2013 FIBA Americas Championship7 September 201320101284th place (1990) / Third place playoff17
 Dominican Republic8 September 201319782112th place (1978) / Preliminary round26
 Argentina8 September 20132010138Champions (1950) / Final round3
 Mexico8 September 20131974518th place (1967) / Preliminary round24
 FranceTop 6 (excluding Spain) at the EuroBasket 201318 September 20132010634th place (1954) / Final round8
 Slovenia*19 September 20132010338th place (2010) / Quarterfinals13
 Croatia*19 September 20132010323rd place (1994) / Third place playoff16
 Lithuania**19 September 20132010433rd place (2010) / Third place playoff4
 Ukraine**20 September 2013—11Debut45
 Serbia21 September 20132010224th (2010)11
 BrazilWild card selection1 February 201420101717Champions (1959, 1953) / Final round10
 Finland1 February 2014—11Debut39
 Greece1 February 20142010632nd place (2006) / Final5
 Turkey1 February 20142010442nd place (2010) / Final7

*Previously a part of Yugoslavia that had 11 appearances, and won in 1970, 1978 and 1990.
**Previously a part of the Soviet Union that had 9 appearances, and won in 1967, 1974 and 1982.

Automatic qualifiers

Advanced to the World Cup outright
Already in the World Cup, but still participated in qualification
Advanced to the World Cup as a wild card
Advanced to the continental championship outright
Already in the continental championship, but still participated in qualification
Advanced to the continental championship as a wild card
Advanced to next round of qualifying
Disqualified and suspended by FIBA
Automatic qualifiers
Team
Host  Spain
2012 Olympics gold medalists  United States

2012 Summer Olympics

The United States defeated Spain in a rematch of the 2008 gold medal game. The United States qualified automatically to the World Cup, taking one of FIBA Americas' five berths.

RankTeam
1st  United States
2nd  Spain
3rd  Russia
4th  Argentina
5th  Brazil
6th  France
7th  Australia
8th  Lithuania
9th  Great Britain
10th  Nigeria
11th  Tunisia
12th  China

FIBA Africa

The 2013 FIBA Africa Championship in the Ivory Coast served as the qualifying tournament. With three outright berths, the top three teams qualified. This meant the finalists and the winner of the third-place playoff progressed.

FIBA Africa Championship qualifying

Automatic qualifiers
Team
Host  Ivory Coast
Top 3 in 2011 FIBA Africa Championship  Tunisia
 Angola
 Nigeria

FIBA Africa Championship

Egypt, which qualified after making their last appearance in 1994, and perennial qualifiers Angola got the first two berths for FIBA Africa after advancing to the final of the 2013 FIBA Africa Championship. Senegal defeated host team Ivory Coast on the third-place playoff via a last-second four-point play to take Africa's last outright berth.

RankTeam
1st  Angola
2nd  Egypt
3rd  Senegal
4th  Ivory Coast
5th  Cameroon
6th  Cape Verde
7th  Nigeria
8th  Morocco
9th  Tunisia
10th  Rwanda
11th  Mozambique
12th  Algeria
13th  Central African Republic
14th  Congo
15th  Mali
16th  Burkina Faso

FIBA Americas

The 2013 FIBA Americas Championship in Venezuela served as the qualifying tournament. With four outright berths, the top four teams qualified. This meant the semifinalists progressed.

FIBA Americas Championship qualifying

Automatic qualifiers
Team
Host  Venezuela
North American Zone  Canada
Caribbean
RankTeam
1st  Virgin Islands
2nd  Bahamas
3rd  Jamaica
4th  British Virgin Islands
5th  Bermuda
6th  Antigua and Barbuda
7th  Guyana
8th  Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
9th  Cayman Islands

FIBA Americas Championship

On 7 September 2013, Puerto Rico secured their classification to the World Cup after defeating hosts Venezuela 86–85 after extra time in the 2013 FIBA Americas Championship. The next day, the Dominican Republic eliminated Uruguay to qualify; this is the first appearance of the Dominicans in the World Cup since 1978. In the next game, Argentina's victory over Canada ensured that they and Mexico, the 2013 FIBA Americas Champions, qualify, thereby eliminating the Canadians and host Venezuela; the Mexicans returned to the World Cup after their last appearance in 1974. Brazil was chosen as a wild card for the World Cup after having previously lost all three games against Canada, Puerto Rico and Jamaica.

RankTeam
1st  Mexico
2nd  Puerto Rico
3rd  Argentina
4th  Dominican Republic
5th  Venezuela
6th  Canada
7th  Uruguay
8th  Jamaica
9th  Brazil
10th  Paraguay

FIBA Asia

The 2013 FIBA Asia Championship in the Philippines served as the qualifying tournament. With three outright berths, the top three teams qualified. This meant the finalists and the winner of the third-place playoff progressed.

FIBA Asia Championship qualifying

Automatic qualifiers
Team
Host  Philippines
2012 FIBA Asia Cup champion  Iran
2012 FIBA Asia Cup
RankTeam
1st  Iran
2nd  Japan
3rd  Qatar
4th  Philippines
5th  China
6th  Chinese Taipei
7th  Lebanon
8th  Uzbekistan
9th  India
 Macau

FIBA Asia Championship

Iran and the Philippines became the first teams to qualify via the 2013 FIBA Asia Championship in Manila by advancing to the final. Iran made their second consecutive appearance while the Philippines qualified for the World Cup after 35 years of missing the tournament, their last appearance being in 1978 when they hosted the event. Korea, whose last appearance was in 1998, took the third and last automatic Asian berth after winning third place in the said tournament.

RankTeam
1st  Iran
2nd  Philippines
3rd  South Korea
4th  Chinese Taipei
5th  China
6th  Qatar
7th  Jordan
8th  Kazakhstan
9th  Japan
10th  Hong Kong
11th  India
12th  Bahrain
13th  Saudi Arabia
14th  Thailand
15th  Malaysia

FIBA Europe

The EuroBasket 2013 in Slovenia served as the qualifying tournament. With six outright berths, the top six teams qualified. This meant the semifinalists and the participants in the fifth-place playoff progressed. Spain, which has qualified already, participated, finishing within the top six. With this, the seventh-placed team took its place.

FIBA EuroBasket qualifying

Automatic qualifiers
Team
Host  Slovenia
2012 Olympics participants  France
 Great Britain
 Lithuania
 Russia
 Spain
2012 Olympic qualifying tournament participants  Greece
 North Macedonia

FIBA EuroBasket

On 18 September 2013, France secured their third consecutive qualification to the World Cup after beating hosts Slovenia in the EuroBasket 2013 quarterfinals. On the next day, Slovenia qualified after beating Serbia in the 5th–8th Semifinals, while Croatia defeated Ukraine, and Lithuania defeated Italy to both grab tickets to the final tournament. On 20 September 2013, Ukraine qualified for the first time ever after defeating Italy. On the next day, Serbia bounced back from two consecutive losses to win against Italy that led them to the FIBA World Cup after snatching the last outright remaining berth at the EuroBasket 2013. Finland, Greece and Turkey were selected as wild cards for the World Cup berth on 1 February, with Finland, along with newcomers Ukraine, marking their FIBA World Cup debut.

RankTeam
1st  France
2nd  Lithuania
3rd  Spain
4th  Croatia
5th  Slovenia
6th  Ukraine
7th  Serbia
8th  Italy
9th  Belgium
 Finland
11th  Greece
 Latvia
13th  Bosnia and Herzegovina
 Czech Republic
 Great Britain
 Sweden
17th  Georgia
 Germany
 Montenegro
 Turkey
21st  Israel
 North Macedonia
 Poland
 Russia

FIBA Oceania

The 2013 FIBA Oceania Championship was a two-legged tie between Australia and New Zealand. Since FIBA Oceania had two outright berths, this meant both teams were already qualified in the 2014 Basketball World Cup provided a team didn't forfeit a match.

RankTeam
1st  Australia
2nd  New Zealand

Wild card

FIBA selected four wild cards after all of the continental championships were done. FIBA was prohibited from selecting more than three teams from the same continental zone and from selecting teams that did not participate in qualifying either through choice or FIBA-mandated suspension.

On 31 October, FIBA announced that fifteen teams submitted wild card applications. These were:[3]

Of those fifteen, Italy and Germany withdrew before the meeting in Barcelona on 3 February, citing financial reasons. Germany indicated that it was willing to pay up to 300,000 euros for a place but that the sum required by FIBA to receive a place at the World Cup was more in the range of 1 million euros. Gianni Petrucci, chairman of the Italian federation stated that to make an offer in excess of 800,000 euros for a spot would be unethical.[4] On 30 January, a report from Spanish sports newspaper El Mundo Deportivo said that China and Russia also withdrew from wild card contention. There had been no official confirmation from either FIBA or the Chinese or Russian federations on the reported withdrawal.[5] A day later, it was confirmed that the Chinese indeed withdrew from the wild card race, as they could not form a viable team.[6]

On 1 February, FIBA announced that its Central Board awarded the wild cards to Brazil, Finland, Greece and Turkey.[7]

References

  1. 1 2 "How to Qualify?". FIBA.com. Archived from the original on 7 June 2013. Retrieved 15 June 2013.
  2. ↑ "PR N°20 – Central Board gives green light to new format and calendar of competition". FIBA.com. 11 November 2012. Archived from the original on 21 November 2012. Retrieved 15 June 2013.
  3. ↑ "FIBA – Fifteen national teams submit applications for Spain 2014 wild cards". FIBA.com. 31 October 2013. Retrieved 31 October 2013.
  4. ↑ "DBB steigt aus Poker um WM-Wildcard aus". kicker Sportmagazin (in German). 28 January 2014. Retrieved 29 January 2014.
  5. ↑ "China renuncia a pedir invitación y se borra del Mundial de España". El Mundo Deportivo (in Spanish). 30 January 2014. Retrieved 1 February 2014.
  6. ↑ Wolstat, Ryan (30 January 2014). "Worlds dream not dead yet for Canadian hoopsters". Toronto Sun. Retrieved 1 February 2014.
  7. ↑ "PR N°4 – Brazil, Finland, Greece and Turkey awarded wild cards for Spain 2014". FIBA.com. 1 February 2014. Archived from the original on 2 February 2014. Retrieved 1 February 2014.
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