FIBA Basketball World Cup

Season Description
The 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup was the 18th tournament of the FIBA Basketball World Cup for men's national basketball teams, held from 31 August to 15 September 2019. The tournament was hosted in China and was rescheduled from 2018 to 2019, becoming the first since 1967 that did not occur in the same year as the FIFA World Cup (which was held the previous year). The tournament expanded from 24 to 32 teams. The tournament also served as qualification for the 2020 Summer Olympics, which took the top two teams from each of the Americas and Europe, and the top team from each of Africa, Asia and Oceania, alongside the tournament's host Japan. Montenegro and the Czech Republic each made their first appearance as independent nations after previously being part of Serbia and Montenegro and Czechoslovakia respectively, while Poland marked its return to the FIBA Basketball World Cup for the first time since 1967. The defending champions, the United States, experienced their worst result at a World Cup, losing to France in the quarter-finals and Serbia in the subsequent classification game. The United States' previous worst result was sixth place in 2002. This was the first World Cup at which all three of the historically most successful teams (United States, Serbia/Yugoslavia and Russia/Soviet Union) failed to reach the semi-finals. Asian powerhouse and hosts China failed to get out of the first round, losing in shocking upsets to Poland and Venezuela. China ultimately missed the Asian qualifying spot for Tokyo, the first time in the country's history they did not qualify directly for the Olympics. Spain captured their second title after beating Argentina in the final 95–75. It was the second time Spain had reached a World Cup final, and its second win, while for Argentina it would prove to be its second defeat in three attempts. France went on to win the bronze medal for the second consecutive time after defeating Australia 67–59.

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