FIBA World Club Championship

FIBA World Club Championship
Sport Basketball
No. of teams 8–10 (proposed)
Country FIBA members
Continent FIBA (International)
Official website FIBA

The FIBA World Club Championship is a proposed annual professional basketball competition that would be contested by the FIBA World (Fédération Internationale de Basketball) men's senior club tournament winners. It would be an official world club championship, contested in order to determine an official world basketball club champion. The proposed tournament would take place over 5 days in October, and would include eight teams: the FIBA club tournament champions of the FIBA Africa Clubs Champions Cup, the FIBA Americas League, the FIBA Asia Champions Cup, the FIBA EuroChallenge, the National Basketball League, the runners-up from the FIBA Americas League and the FIBA EuroChallenge, and the champion team from the national domestic league of the host country of each tournament.[1] A prize of one million USD has been proposed for the tournament's winning team.[2]

As it currently is proposed, the FIBA World Club Championship would not be considered a true top-tier world club championship, as it would lack representation from the top teams of Europe. The FIBA EuroChallenge is the third-tier continental-wide club championship in Europe, behind the Euroleague and the Eurocup, but it is the only one of the three competitions that is run entirely by FIBA Europe. The top two European club competitions are controlled by a separate body, called the Euroleague Basketball Company. However, Euroleague Basketball Company has been invited to join the tournament, with the champions of its two leagues, the Euroleague and Eurocup, being proposed as replacement teams in place of the FIBA EuroChallenge finalists. Also missing would be the National Basketball Association champions, although the NBA has been invited to participate in the proposed tournament, and the Chinese Basketball Association champions, as the CBA does not currently participate in the FIBA Asia Champions Cup. However, the CBA has also been invited to participate in the proposed tournament.

Due to the long time that the FIBA World Club Championship has stayed in the proposal stage, in August 2013, an agreement reached between Euroleague Basketball Company, FIBA Americas, and FIBA World, allowed for the old FIBA Intercontinental Cup to be relaunched, to be played between the Euroleague champion and the FIBA Americas League champion.[3][4]

Format

The proposed format of the tournament would be for the winning teams of the five FIBA continental club tournaments to meet the runners-up of the FIBA Americas and FIBA Europe zones, and the champion from the national domestic league of the host country. Although specifics of the playing format haven't been released at this point, FIBA has indicated that the tournament would consist of 10 games, suggesting that it would not be decided by a simple single-elimination format, which would only last seven games.

FIBA spokesman, Marcos Beltrá, indicated that FIBA intends to invite the National Basketball Association champions to participate in the proposed tournament. The unofficial McDonald's Championship, also consisted of the continental club winners, and an invited team from the NBA—and was won by the NBA team each of the nine years it ran.[1]

Qualifying Tournaments

Two teams each:


One team each:

Invited:

See also

Notes and references

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "New club basketball championship to debut in 2010". Associated Press via ESPN. 2008-12-09. Retrieved 2007-05-07.
  2. ↑ "Meeting of the FIBA Central Board in Geneva". FIBA.com. 2008-12-08. Retrieved 2009-06-01.
  3. ↑ FIBA - Intercontinental Cup of Clubs re-launched; FIBA, 5 August 2013
  4. ↑ Euroleague.net Intercontinental Cup of clubs re-launched.

External links