The first edition of the FIBA World Cup tips off Aug. 30 in arenas across Spain, with many of the world’s greatest players taking part in the tournament. The re-branded World Championship features 24 national teams from six different continents, and gives fans an early dose of hoops before the 2014-15 NBA season begins.
FIBA World Cup 2014: Full schedule, results, format and more
The basketball world convenes in Spain for a few weeks to crown the first champion of the re-branded FIBA World Cup. Here’s a breakdown of the format, schedule and more.
Stephen R. Sylvanie-USA TODAY Sports
Team USA will again be one of the major favorites for the event, which offers an automatic bid to the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro to the gold medal winner. That prize gives every country greater incentive to win, though, which could mean an especially competitive tournament for all involved.
With so many games on the docket and a need to watch basketball hitting fever pitch after months off, let’s take a look at how the FIBA World Cup works.
Format
The FIBA World Cup features 24 national teams from around the world that qualified through various channels. Most teams get their bids by performing well in regional tournaments such as Eurobasket and the FIBA Americas Championship, but there are other ways to get in.
FIBA World Cup
USA got its bid as a result of winning the 2012 Summer Olympic tournament, for example, while Spain got its bid by virtue of being the host country. Four other teams also earned “wild card” invitations from FIBA, which were announced back in February.
The 24-team field is divided into four groups of six teams apiece, with every team playing each other once. After those five games, the top four teams from each group advance to the elimination stage, which follows a more traditional single-elimination bracket format.
Teams from Group A will face teams from Group B to begin the Round of 16, so teams from Group A and Group C technically can’t meet until the title game, which is scheduled to take place in Madrid on Sept. 14. That means the highly-anticipated Spain-USA rematch can only happen in the final and only if both teams make it there. The winner of the tournament receives an automatic bid to the 2016 Olympics, while the remaining teams will need to play a qualifying tournament next summer to earn invitations.
Group Stage Schedule
There are a lot of games going on in the first few days of the World Cup. Here’s a breakdown of the matchups in each group. Each Team USA game will be televised on either ESPN or ESPN2, while all other games can be found on ESPN3. All times Eastern.
Group A
Aug. 30
Aug. 31
Sept. 1
Sept. 3
Sept. 4
9:30 a.m.: Brazil vs. Egypt
Noon: Iran vs. France
4 p.m.: Serbia vs. Spain
Group B
Aug. 30
Aug. 31
Sept. 1
Sept. 3
Sept. 4
Philippines 81, Senegal 79
Noon: Croatia vs. Puerto Rico
4 p.m.: Argentina vs. Greece
Group C
Aug. 30
Aug. 31
Sept. 3
Sept. 4
9 a.m.: Finland vs. New Zealand
11:30 a.m.: Ukraine vs. United States (ESPN2)
3:30 p.m.: Turkey vs. Dominican Republic
Group D
Aug. 30
Aug. 31
Sept. 3
Sept. 4
Angola 91, Australia 83
11:30 a.m.: South Korea vs. Mexico
3:30 p.m.: Lithuania vs. Slovenia
Team USA
The Elimination Bracket
After the dust settles from the group stage on Sept. 4, the first games in the Round of 16 begin on Sept. 6. While group stage games will be played across Spain in a number of cities, all games starting with the Round of 16 are played Madrid and Barcelona.
The quarterfinals will be played Sept. 9-10, while the semifinals go on Sept. 11-12. The tournament’s championship game is scheduled for Sept. 14 at Barclaycard Arena in Madrid, three days after the third-place game. Here’s a general look at how that schedule breaks down.
Every Team USA game will be on ESPN or ESPN2, as well as all semifinal games and select quarterfinal matches. The rest will be on ESPN3.
Round of 16
Sept. 6
TBD: Group A No. 1 vs. Group B No. 4
TBD: Group B No. 2 vs. Group A No. 3
TBD: Group C No. 1 vs. Group D No. 4
TBD: Group D No. 2 vs. Group C No. 3
Sept. 7
TBD: Group B No. 1 vs. Group A No. 4
TBD: Group A No. 2 vs. Group B No. 3
TBD: Group D No. 1 vs. Group C No. 4
TBD: Group C No. 2 vs. Group D No. 3
Quarterfinals
Sept. 9
TBD: Group A No. 1/Group B No. 4 vs. Group B No. 2/Group A No. 3
TBD: Group C No. 1/Group D No. 4 vs. Group D No. 2/Group C No. 3
Sept. 10
TBD: Group B No. 1/Group A No. 4 vs Group A No. 2/Group B No. 3
TBD: Group D No. 1/Group C No. 4 vs. Group C No. 2/Group D No. 3
Semifinals
Sept. 11
3 p.m.: Semifinal 1 (ESPN)
Sept. 12
4 p.m.: Semifinal 2 (ESPN)
Championship
Sept. 13
Noon: Third Place Game (ESPN2)
Sept. 14
3 p.m.: Gold Medal Game (ESPN2)
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