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. 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.
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.
Host selection
FIBA opened the bidding process on 10 January 2008 and all the letters of intent were submitted on 30 April 2008. Nine countries showed interest in hosting the event, as in order, they were Spain, France, Denmark, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Italy, Greece, and China.
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.
Venues
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. 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. 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.
Qualification
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. 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
Qualified teams
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. 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.
On 1 February 2014, FIBA announced that it had allocated the wild cards to , , and .
Suspension of Senegal
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." 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. 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.