The FIBA Intercontinental Cup, also commonly referred to as the FIBA World Cup for Champion Clubs, or the FIBA Club World Cup, is a professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

clubs competition that is endorsed by

FIBA The International Basketball Federation (FIBA ; French: ) is an association of national organizations which governs the sport of basketball worldwide. Originally known as the (hence FIBA), in 1989 it dropped the word ''amateur'' from its nam ...

and the NBA. Historically, its purpose has been to gather the premier basketball

clubs Club may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Club'' (magazine) * Club, a ''Yie Ar Kung-Fu'' character * Clubs (suit), a suit of playing cards * Club music * "Club", by Kelsea Ballerini from the album '' kelsea'' Brands and enterprises ...

from each of the world's geographical zones, and to officially decide the best basketball club of the world, which is officially crowned as the world club champion. The World Cup for Clubs has been contended mainly by the champions of the continents and/or world geographical regions that are of the highest basketball levels. The league champions of the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball sports league, league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues i ...

(NBA), which is widely considered the most prestigious basketball league in the world, currently decline participation. The North American spot is instead allocated to the champions of the NBA's developmental league, the

G League The NBA G League, or simply the G League, is the National Basketball Association's (NBA) official minor league basketball organization. The league was known as the National Basketball Development League (NBDL) from 2001 to 2005, and the NBA Dev ...

. The league champions of the EuroLeague, which is considered Europe's most prestigious club competition, are not currently permitted to participate in the competition due to the league's dispute with FIBA. In place of the EuroLeague champions,

FIBA Europe FIBA Europe is the administrative body for basketball in Europe, within the International Basketball Federation (FIBA), which includes all 50 national European basketball federations. In reaction to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, FIBA Euro ...

instead sends the champions of their main club competition, the

Basketball Champions League The Basketball Champions League (BCL) is an annual professional basketball competition for European clubs, organised by FIBA. It is the top-level competition organised by FIBA Europe, therefore the champion participates in the FIBA Interconti ...

(BCL). The champions of the Basketball Africa League (since 2022) and the FIBA Asia Champions Cup (since 2023) also receive a place in the tournament. FIBA has in the past announced plans to expand the tournament to possibly include the champion teams from the Australian National Basketball League (NBL), and possibly the NBA, at some point in the future.

Format

From the 2013 edition of the tournament through to the 2015 edition, the competition was played in either an aggregate score two-legged series, or in a single-game final format between two teams, that determined the official club world champions. Those two teams were the champions of Europe's most prestigious competition, the EuroLeague, and the champions of Latin America's premier competition, the FIBA Americas League. For the 2016 edition and 2017 edition, the champions of the FIBA Americas League played against the champions of

's main club competition (now second-tier),

FIBA Europe Cup The FIBA Europe Cup (FEC) is an annual professional club basketball competition organised by FIBA for eligible European clubs. It is FIBA's European-wide second level. Clubs mainly qualify for the competition based on their performance in natio ...

( 2016) and FIBA Europe's new top competition, the

( 2017), as EuroLeague clubs were no longer allowed to participate by

due to its dispute with Euroleague Basketball. For the 2019 edition of the tournament, FIBA expanded the competition to include the

NBA G League The NBA G League, or simply the G League, is the National Basketball Association's (NBA) official minor league basketball organization. The league was known as the National Basketball Development League (NBDL) from 2001 to 2005, and the NBA D ...

's champions and a tournament host club. Thus, the tournament format was also changed to a final four format involving four teams.

History

The FIBA Intercontinental Cup competition was originally organized between the years 1966 and 1987. The tournament had its origins with a friendly test game in

São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for ' Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the GaW ...

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

, in 1965. The test game was contested by the winners of the South American Championship of Champions Clubs, the Brazilian club

S.C. Corinthians Paulista Sport Club Corinthians Paulista () is a Brazilian sports club based in the Tatuapé district of São Paulo. Although competing in a number of different sports, Corinthians is mostly known for its professional association football team that play ...

, and the FIBA European Champions Cup (now the EuroLeague) champions, the Spanish club

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid. Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...

. S.C. Corinthians Paulista won the test game, by a score of 118 to 109. After the success of the test tournament, the first official tournament took place in the year 1966. In 1973, the competition adopted the name FIBA Intercontinental Cup William Jones, to honour the secretary general of

, William Jones. FIBA tried to rebirth the competition in 1996, by reorganizing the Intercontinental Cup into a

best-of-three playoff There are a number of formats used in various levels of competition in sports and games to determine an overall champion. Some of the most common are the ''single elimination'', the ''best-of-'' series, the ''total points series'' more commonly kn ...

tournament between the winners of the Euroleague and the winners of the

FIBA South American League The International Basketball Federation (FIBA ; French: ) is an association of national organizations which governs the sport of basketball worldwide. Originally known as the (hence FIBA), in 1989 it dropped the word ''amateur'' from its na ...

(the champions of South America). After that tournament, however, the competition was not held until the 2013 edition. In August 2013, an agreement reached between Euroleague Basketball Company, FIBA Americas, and FIBA World, allowed for the World Cup for Champion Clubs to be relaunched, and to be played between the Euroleague champion and the FIBA Americas League champion. In 2016, the tournament again changed format, with the EuroLeague champions no longer being allowed to compete in the tournament due to the EuroLeague's dispute with FIBA. In place of the EuroLeague champions,

began to send the champions of their club competition, originally the

and later the FIBA Champions League, instead. For the 2019 tournament, FIBA increased the competition's number of teams to four, by adding the

's champions, and also a tournament host club. The tournament was also reconfigured into a final four format. FIBA has also considered plans to expand the tournament at some point in the future, with plans to add the champion teams from the

FIBA AfroLeague The FIBA Africa Basketball League (formerly named the FIBA Africa Clubs Champions Cup) was the highest caliber men's professional basketball competition for clubs until 2020, organized by the FIBA Africa and played by the champions of the league ...

, the FIBA Asia Champions Cup, the Australian NBL, and possibly the NBA. In the 2022 tournament, the league expanded to include the winner of the Basketball Africa League (BAL). From the 2023 tournament, the winners of the FIBA Asia Champions Cup will also be included in the tournament.

Names of the competition

*FIBA Intercontinental Cup (or FIBA World Cup for Champion Clubs): (1966–1980) *FIBA Club World Cup: (1981) *FIBA Intercontinental Cup (or FIBA World Cup for Champion Clubs): (1982–1984) *FIBA Club World Cup: (1985–1987) *FIBA Intercontinental Cup (or FIBA World Cup for Champion Clubs): (2013–present) **Since 1973, the tournament has also been named in Honor of

Renato William Jones Renato William Jones (5 October 1906 – 22 April 1981), also known as R. William, or simply William Jones, was a British basketball executive and popularizer of basketball in Europe and in Asia. He held an honorary doctorate from Springfield C ...

, so the tournament's full official names would be either ''FIBA Intercontinental Cup "William Jones"'', or ''FIBA Club World Cup "William Jones"''. **The tournament is also referred to as the ''FIBA Intercontinental Cup of Clubs'', in order to avoid confusion with the

1972 FIBA Intercontinental Cup of National Teams The 1972 FIBA Intercontinental Cup of National Teams was a special edition tournament of the FIBA Intercontinental Cup, and the 6th edition of the tournament overall. It took place at Ginásio do Ibirapuera, São Paulo, Brazil. Participants ...

1965 test tournament

The FIBA Intercontinental Cup unofficially began with the friendly competition of the

1965 FIBA Intercontinental Cup Test The 1965 FIBA Intercontinental Cup Test Tournament was the test edition of the FIBA Intercontinental Cup. The game was contested by S.C. Corinthians Paulista, and the 1965 FIBA European Champions Cup ( EuroLeague) champions, Real Madrid. The 196 ...

, in 1965. The game was played by the defending champions of the South American Club Championship,

, and the defending champions of the FIBA European Champions Cup ( EuroLeague),

. It was held at the Ginásio Poliesportivo Parque São Jorge. Corinthians won the game 118 to 109, with Wlamir Marques of S.C. Corinthians scoring 40 points in the game. Due to the test tournament's great success (attendance for the game was 10,000), the FIBA Intercontinental Cup was made an official annual tournament by

. The first official FIBA Intercontinental Cup tournament was then held the following year.

1972 special version

In 1972,

held a 4 team tournament, featuring the Soviet Union national basketball team, the Polish national basketball team, the Brazilian national basketball team, and the NABL All-Stars Team, which participated in the place of Team USA. Although this tournament is not a part of the actual Club World Cup, it is still listed in the event's history as a special version of the tournament and counts as one of the editions, while the actual club competition was on hiatus between the years of 1970 and 1973.

Results

* ''Unofficial'' – the 1965 edition of the tournament was a test edition.
* ''National teams'' – the 1972 edition of the tournament was contested by national teams rather than professional clubs.

Statistics

Performance by club

* The 1965 test tournament and the 1972 tournament for national teams are not included.

Performance by country

* The 1965 test tournament and the 1972 tournament for national teams are not included.

MVP awards

Finals top scorers

*Player nationality shown by national team. * ''Unofficial'' – the 1965 edition of the tournament was a test edition.
* ''National teams'' – the 1972 edition of the tournament was contested by national teams, rather than clubs.

Broadcasters

All four games are streamed through

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

channel for free in the USA and the unsold markets with highlights available in all territories. The tournament is also streamed for free through both FIBA's

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dust ...

and

's Twitch channel, as well as the FIBA- DAZN's subscription streaming service Livebasketball.TV.

References

External links

FIBA official website

FIBA Intercontinental Cup official website

FIBA Intercontinental Cup History

Basquetepinheirense FIBA World Cup

FIBA World Cup of Clubs
{{NBA vs FIBA International club basketball competitions Basketball competitions in Europe Basketball competitions in the Americas World championships in basketball Multi-national professional sports leagues