National team appearances in the FIBA World Championship

Map of countries' best results

Graph of the best performances of each confederation on each tournament.

A total of 51 countries have made at least one appearance in the FIBA World Championship in basketball.

African, European and teams from the Americas composed the first World Championship - Asian and Oceanian teams did not want to make a long trip to Argentina, the venue of the tournament. An Asian team, the Philippines, made their debut on the second tournament, where they finished third, the best finish by an Asian team.

Australia was the first team from Oceania to participate in the tournament, on 1970. New Zealand was defeated in the 2002 bronze medal game, earning them a fourth place finish - the best finish by a team from Oceania.

European and teams from the Americas dominated the tournament, with teams from either confederations disputing the gold medal. Since 1986, there have been three all-European and four Europe-Americas finals.

The tournament formats prior to the 1978 tournament were two round robin phases - teams were first divided into several groups, with the top teams from the group stage qualifying for the Final Group, where they play each other once. The team with the best record after the Final Group wins the gold medal, with ties broken by games played between tied teams. All tournaments after the 1978 tournament determined the world champion via a playoff - in 1978 and 1982, the top two teams from the final group squared off for the championship; since 1986, a single-elimination tournament has been used.

The national team with the most wins is the USA, with four. Although teams bearing the name of "Yugoslavia" have won five titles, FIBA considers the championships to have been won by two separate national teams. The first three were won by the team that represented the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. The other two were won by a team representing the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, which FIBA treats as the predecessor of the current Serbia national team. Furthermore, a Yugoslav team was able to finish at least third from 1963 to 2002.

The USA is the current World Champion, winning the gold medal game against Turkey at the 2010 FIBA World Championship.

Debut of teams

A total of 54 national teams have appeared in at least one FIBA World Championship in the history of the tournament through the 2010 competition. Each successive World Championship has had at least one team appearing for the first time. Countries competing in their first World Championship are listed below by year.

Year	Debutants	Number
1950	Argentina  Brazil  Chile  Ecuador  Egypt  France  Peru  Spain  United States  Yugoslavia[1]	10
1954	Canada  Formosa[2]  Israel  Paraguay_ Paraguay  Philippines  Uruguay	6
1959	Bulgaria  Mexico  Puerto Rico  Soviet Union[3]	4
1963	Italy  Japan	2
1967	Poland	1
1970	Australia  Cuba  Czechoslovakia[4]  Korea  Panama	5
1974	Central African Republic	1
1978	China  Dominican Republic  Senegal	3
1982	Colombia  Ivory Coast	2
1986	Angola  Greece  Malaysia  Netherlands  New Zealand  West Germany[5]	6
1990	Venezuela	1
1994	Croatia  Russia	2
1998	Lithuania  Nigeria  FR Yugoslavia[1]	3
2002	Algeria  Lebanon  Turkey	3
2006	Qatar  Slovenia	2
2010	Iran  Jordan  Tunisia	3

Comprehensive team results

Team	1950 (10)	1954 (12)	1959 (13)	1963 (13)	1967 (13)	1970 (13)	1974 (14)	1978 (14)	1982 (13)	1986 (24)	1990 (16)	1994 (16)	1998 (16)	2002 (16)	2006 (24)	2010 (24)	Total
Algeria														15th			1
Angola										20th	13th	16th		11th	9th	15th	6
Argentina	1st		10th	8th	6th		11th			12th	8th	9th	8th	2nd	4th	5th	12
Australia						12th	12th	7th	5th	17th	7th	5th	9th		13th	10th	10
Brazil	4th	2nd	1st	1st	3rd	2nd	6th	3rd	8th	4th	5th	11th	10th	8th	17th	9th	16
Bulgaria			7th														1
Canada		7th	12th	11th		10th	8th	6th	6th	8th	11th	7th	12th	13th		22nd	13
Central African Republic							14th										1
Chile	3rd	10th	3rd														3
China								11th	12th	9th	14th	8th		12th	9th	16th	8
Chinese Taipei[2]		5th	4th														2
Colombia									7th								1
Côte d'Ivoire									13th	23rd						21st	3
Croatia												3rd				14th	2
Cuba						8th	4th			11th		15th					4
Czechoslovakia[4]						6th	10th	9th	10th								4
Dominican Republic								12th									1
Ecuador	8th																1
Team	1950 (10)	1954 (12)	1959 (13)	1963 (13)	1967 (13)	1970 (13)	1974 (14)	1978 (14)	1982 (13)	1986 (24)	1990 (16)	1994 (16)	1998 (16)	2002 (16)	2006 (24)	2010 (24)	Total
Egypt	5th		11th			13th					16th	14th					5
France	6th	4th		5th						13th					5th	13th	6
Germany[5]										16th		12th		3rd	8th	17th	5
Greece										10th	6th	4th	4th		2nd	11th	6
Iran																19th	1
Israel		8th								7th							2
Italy				7th	9th	4th		4th		6th	9th		6th		9th		8
Japan				13th	11th								14th		17th		4
Jordan																23rd	1
Korea						11th		13th		22nd	15th	13th	16th				6
Lebanon														16th	17th	20th	3
Lithuania													7th		7th	3rd	3
Malaysia										24th							1
Mexico			13th	9th	8th		9th										4
Netherlands										14th							1
New Zealand										21st				4th	9th	12th	4
Nigeria													13th		9th		2
Panama						9th			9th	19th					21st		4
Team	1950 (10)	1954 (12)	1959 (13)	1963 (13)	1967 (13)	1970 (13)	1974 (14)	1978 (14)	1982 (13)	1986 (24)	1990 (16)	1994 (16)	1998 (16)	2002 (16)	2006 (24)	2010 (24)	Total
Paraguay		9th			13th												2
Peru	7th	12th		12th	10th												4
Philippines		3rd	8th				13th	8th									4
Poland					5th												1
Puerto Rico			5th	6th	12th		7th	10th		15th	4th	6th	11th	7th	17th	18th	12
Qatar															21st		1
Russia												2nd	2nd	10th		7th	4
Senegal								14th					15th		21st		3
Serbia[1]													1st	1st	9th	4th	4
Slovenia															9th	8th	2
Soviet Union[3]			6th	3rd	1st	3rd	1st	2nd	1st	2nd	2nd						9
Spain	9th						5th		4th	5th	10th	10th	5th	5th	1st	6th	10
Tunisia																24th	1
Turkey														9th	6th	2nd	3
Uruguay		6th	9th	10th	7th	7th			11th	18th							7
United States	2nd	1st	2nd	4th	4th	5th	3rd	5th	2nd	1st	3rd	1st	3rd	6th	3rd	1st	16
Venezuela											11th			14th	21st		3
Yugoslavia[1]	10th	11th		2nd	2nd	1st	2nd	1st	3rd	3rd	1st						10

Notes:

• Teams that failed to qualify to the semifinal round at the 1986 championship were ranked tied for 13th.
• In 2006, when the tournament expanded to 24 teams (four preliminary round groups of six teams each), teams that finished 5th in their preliminary round groups were ranked tied for 17th, while teams that finished 6th in their preliminary round groups were ranked tied for 21st.

Ranking of teams by number of appearances

Shown below are the twelve national teams with the most appearances.

Team	Number of appearances	Record streak	First appearance	Most recent appearance	Best result
Brazil	16	16	1950	2010	Champions (1959, 1963)
United States	16	16	1950	2010	Champions (1954, 1986, 1994, 2010)
Argentina	12	7	1950	2010	Champions (1950)
Canada	12	9	1954	2010	6th place (1978, 1982)
Puerto Rico	12	7	1959	2010	4th place (1990)
Australia	10	8	1970	2010	5th place (1982, 1994)
Spain	10	8	1950	2010	Champions (2006)
Yugoslavia	10	8	1950	1990	Champions (1970, 1978, 1990)
Soviet Union	9	9	1959	1990	Champions (1967, 1974, 1982)
China	8	5	1978	2010	8th place (1994)
Italy	8	3	1963	2006	4th place (1970)
Uruguay	7	5	1954	1986	6th place (1954)

Performance of host nations

With only three wins in 16 occasions, the success rate of host nations winning the tournament is rather low at 19%, compared to the respective percentage in the FIFA World Cup which stands at 32% (6 out of 19). Yugoslavia was the last host to win, in 1970; the only other host to medal since then has been Turkey, silver medalist in 2010. Greece has been the only other host nation to have reached the semifinals since 1970. From 1959 to 1982, the host qualified directly to the final round of the tournament, bypassing the preliminary round (group stage). The host's final rank in these years could not be worse than the number of teams in the final round (between six to eight). However, beginning in 1986, the host has competed in the preliminary round.

Year	Host nation	Finish
1950	Argentina	Champions
1954	Brazil	Runners-up
1959	Chile	Third place
1963	Brazil	Champions
1967	Uruguay	Seventh place
1970	Yugoslavia	Champions
1974	Puerto Rico	Seventh place
1978	Philippines	Eighth place
1982	Colombia	Seventh place
1986	Spain	Fifth place
1990	Argentina	Eighth place
1994	Canada	Seventh place
1998	Greece	Fourth place
2002	United States	Sixth place
2006	Japan	Seventeenth place
2010	Turkey	Runners-up

Performance by confederation

This is a summary of the best performances of each confederation in each tournament.

Confederation	1950 (10)	1954 (12)	1959 (13)	1963 (13)	1967 (13)	1970 (13)	1974 (14)	1978 (14)	1982 (13)	1986 (24)	1990 (16)	1994 (16)	1998 (16)	2002 (16)	2006 (24)	2010 (24)
FIBA Africa	5th	--	11th	--	--	13th	14th	14th	13th	13th	13th	14th	13th	15th	9th	15th
FIBA Americas	1st	1st	1st	1st	3rd	2nd	3rd	3rd	2nd	1st	3rd	1st	3rd	2nd	3rd	1st
FIBA Asia	--	3rd	4th	13th	11th	11th	13th	8th	12th	9th	14th	13th	14th	12th	9th	16th
FIBA Europe	6th	4th	6th	2nd	1st	1st	1st	1st	1st	2nd	1st	2nd	1st	1st	1st	2nd
FIBA Oceania	--	--	--	--	--	12th	12th	7th	5th	13th	7th	5th	9th	4th	9th	10th

Notes and references

1. ^ ^{a b c d} The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (1950–1990) qualified ten times under the name Yugoslavia prior to its breakup by the secession of many of its constituent republics in 1992. The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia qualified twice in 1998 and 2002 as Yugoslavia and in 2006 as Serbia and Montenegro after a name change in 2003. FR Yugoslavia and Serbia and Montenegro are considered the predecessors of the current Serbia team by FIBA; the latter competed for the first time as Serbia in the 2010 FIBA World Championship. These teams along with the other national teams which resulted from the breakup of the original Yugoslavia (Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and FYR Macedonia) are considered distinct entities from the Yugoslavia team of 1930–1990. Montenegro now also compete separately after independence in 2006.
2. ^ ^{a b} The national basketball team of the Republic of China, competed twice in the FIBA World Championship, both times as Formosa, but since 1960 the team had changed their name to compete as Taiwan in international competitions. Since 1985, they compete under the name Chinese Taipei.
3. ^ ^{a b} The Soviet Union qualified nine times prior to being dissolved in 1991. The 15 nations that were former Soviet Republics now compete separately. FIBA does not consider any of these nations as the successor team of the Soviet Union.
4. ^ ^{a b} Czechoslovakia qualified four times prior to being divided into the Czech Republic and Slovakia in 1993. FIBA does not consider any of these nations as the successor team of Czechoslovakia.
5. ^ ^{a b} The German Basketball Association (DBB, for Deutscher Basketball Bund) has continuously existed as a national governing body since joining FIBA in 1934, during the Nazi era in Germany, After World War II, the DBB became the governing body for West Germany, and then became the governing body for reunified Germany in 1990. During the division of Germany, East Germany fielded a team of its own before re-joining West Germany and the DBB upon reunification. Thus, FIBA considers Germany and West Germany as one entity and officially attributes all results of the DBB team since 1934 to Germany. Germany competed in their first FIBA World Championship in 1986 as West Germany and in 1994 for the first time as Germany.

External links

• FIBA official website