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FIBA Asia Cup

Current season, competition or edition: 2025 FIBA Asia Cup qualification
Formerly	FIBA Asia Championship ABC Championship
Sport	Basketball
Founded	1960; 64 years ago (1960)
First season	1960
No. of teams	16
Country	Asia and Oceania
Continent	FIBA Asia FIBA Oceania
Most recent champion(s)	Australia (2nd title)
Most titles	China (16 titles)
Related competitions	FIBA Women's Asia Cup
Official website	FIBA Asia

The FIBA Asia Cup (formerly the FIBA Asia Championship and ABC Championship) is an international basketball tournament which takes place every four years between the men's national teams of Asia and Oceania.

Through the 2015 edition, the tournament took place every two years and was also a qualifying tournament for the FIBA World Cup and the Olympic basketball tournament. However, since 2017, the tournament was renamed the FIBA Asia Cup and now includes teams from FIBA Oceania. Also, it was the first to be played on a new four-year cycle, and is no longer a part of the qualifying process for the World Cup or the Olympics.

History

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Beginnings: Philippines/Japan dominance

The Asian Basketball Confederation (ABC) Championship was inaugurated in Manila in 1960. The championship was held to find Asia's best team and for qualification to the World Championship and the Olympics. On the next four tournaments, the Philippines won 3 with the Japanese beating the Filipinos in 1965. Korea, Japan and the Philippines split the next 3 championships until China debuted in 1975 at Bangkok with the championship, where they have dominated for 40 years.

Chinese dominance

Right after the Philippines had started sending amateur players when the Philippine Basketball Association was established in 1975 as the first professional basketball league in Asia and therefore not allowed to lend the country's best players, China emerged as the new dominant country in Asian basketball.

From 1975 to 2007, there were only two instances where China did not win the championship. In 1985, the Philippines defeated a full-strength Chinese team, which were by then five-time defending champions, in the championship round. The Chinese then won every game in the championship until 1997, where they to lost to South Korea in the semi-finals where they complained about the climate in Riyadh. The Koreans beat the Japanese in the final, but the Chinese would then start a championship streak of four tournaments, led by Yao Ming.

Renaming

By 2005, the tournament had been renamed as the FIBA Asia Championship; in that year's tournament in Doha, the Chinese easily won against the Lebanese in the final. During the 2007 championship, the Chinese did not send their "A" team since they had already qualified to the Olympics by virtue of hosting it. In this championship, West Asian teams started to compete with the traditional East Asian powers, as evidenced of an all-West Asian final when Iran defeated Lebanon. In 2009, Iran defeated the Chinese team A in the 2009 final to become only the 3rd team to successfully defend the championship. The 2009 championship started a streak of finals contested between a team from the Middle East and a team from the Far East; in 2011, Iran was eliminated by Jordan in the quarterfinals, which would then lose to hosts China by one point in the final. The 2013 championship would be the first to be hosted outside East Asia since 2005 in the Philippines, the hosts, emerged as finalists; China had been eliminated by Chinese Taipei in the quarterfinals, which were then defeated by the Iranians, who then beat the Filipinos in the Final.

Removal of qualification status

As FIBA implemented a new cycle and tournament format, the 2013 FIBA Asia Championship held in Manila and the 2015 FIBA Asia Championship held in Changsha were the last Asian Championships to serve as qualification to either the FIBA Basketball World Cup and the Olympic Games, respectively. The 2017 FIBA Asia Championship marked firsts and lasts for the Asian Championship, as it was the first Asian Championship as a standalone tournament, meaning it did not serve as the qualifier for either the Basketball World Cup or the Olympic Games. The 2017 tournament was the last Asian Championships to be ever held under a 2-year cycle. After 2017, the Asian Championships and the FIBA Oceania Championship merged into a tournament to be known as the FIBA Asia Cup. It was held every 4 years like the EuroBasket, AfroBasket and AmeriCup, which are held 2 years before/after the FIBA World Cup.

Qualification

Qualification is via the different FIBA Asia subzones. The East, Gulf, Southeast and West subzones receive two berths each, while the Central and South zones get one each. The host and the champion from the preceding FIBA Asia Cup also get a berth each. Each subzone conducts a qualification tournament up to a year before the championship to determine the qualifying teams. The other four berths are distributed to the subzones in reference to their performance in the previous year's FIBA Asia Cup, with the subzone receiving an extra berth for each team in the top four excluding the champion and the host.

Tournament format

There had been a variety of tournament formats used before. Most were similar to the format of two group stages and a knockout stage. The current format, as first applied in 2017, is a multistage tournament. The 16 teams are grouped in four groups in the preliminary round. The teams play against each other once; the top team will directly advance to the quarterfinals, and the second placed teams will play an elimination game between the third placed team of another group. The four winning teams of the elimination games will advance to the quarterfinals. After the elimination games, the knock-out phase will follow.

The classification games will be conducted as follows:

1. 13–16th place games are for the teams eliminated from the group phase.
2. The 9th to 12th place games are for the losing teams of the elimination games.
3. The 5–8th place games are for the eliminated teams in the quarterfinals.

Summary

Year	Host		Final				Third place Game
			Champion	Score	Second place		Third place	Score	Fourth place
1960 Details	Manila		Philippines	No playoffs	Republic of China		Japan	No playoffs	South Korea
1963 Details	Taipei		Philippines	91–77	Republic of China		South Korea	No playoffs	Thailand
1965 Details	Kuala Lumpur		Japan	No playoffs	Philippines		South Korea	No playoffs	Thailand
1967 Details	Seoul		Philippines	No playoffs	South Korea		Japan	No playoffs	Indonesia
1969 Details	Bangkok		South Korea	No playoffs	Japan		Philippines	No playoffs	Republic of China
1971 Details	Tokyo		Japan	No playoffs	Philippines		South Korea	No playoffs	Republic of China
1973 Details	Manila		Philippines	No playoffs	South Korea		Republic of China	No playoffs	Japan
1975 Details	Bangkok		China	No playoffs	Japan		South Korea	No playoffs	India
1977 Details	Kuala Lumpur		China	No playoffs	South Korea		Japan	No playoffs	Malaysia
1979 Details	Nagoya		China	No playoffs	Japan		South Korea	No playoffs	Philippines
1981 Details	Kolkata		China	No playoffs	South Korea		Japan	No playoffs	Philippines
1983 Details	Hong Kong		China	95–71	Japan		South Korea	83–60	Kuwait
1985 Details	Kuala Lumpur		Philippines	No playoffs	South Korea		China	No playoffs	Malaysia
1987 Details	Bangkok		China	86–79 OT	South Korea		Japan	89–75	Philippines
1989 Details	Beijing		China	102–72	South Korea		Chinese Taipei	69–58	Japan
1991 Details	Kobe		China	104–88	South Korea		Japan	63–60	Chinese Taipei
1993 Details	Jakarta		China	93–72	North Korea		South Korea	86–70	Iran
1995 Details	Seoul		China	87–78	South Korea		Japan	69–63	Chinese Taipei
1997 Details	Riyadh		South Korea	78–76	Japan		China	94–68	Saudi Arabia
1999 Details	Fukuoka		China	63–45	South Korea		Saudi Arabia	93–67	Chinese Taipei
2001 Details	Shanghai		China	97–63	Lebanon		South Korea	95–94 OT	Syria
2003 Details	Harbin		China	106–96	South Korea		Qatar	77–67	Lebanon
2005 Details	Doha		China	77–61	Lebanon		Qatar	89–77	South Korea
2007 Details	Tokushima		Iran	74–69	Lebanon		South Korea	80–76	Kazakhstan
2009 Details	Tianjin		Iran	70–52	China		Jordan	80–66	Lebanon
2011 Details	Wuhan		China	70–69	Jordan		South Korea	70–68	Philippines
2013 Details	Manila		Iran	85–71	Philippines		South Korea	75–57	Chinese Taipei
2015 Details	Changsha		China	78–67	Philippines		Iran	68–63	Japan
2017 Details	Zouk Mikael		Australia	79–56	Iran		South Korea	80–71	New Zealand
2022 Details	Jakarta		Australia	75–73	Lebanon		New Zealand	83–75	Jordan
2025 Details	Jeddah

Medal table

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	China	16	1	2	19
2	Philippines	5	4	1	10
3	Iran	3	1	1	5
4	South Korea	2	11	12	25
5	Japan	2	5	7	14
6	Australia	2	0	0	2
7	Lebanon	0	4	0	4
8	Chinese Taipei	0	2	2	4
9	Jordan	0	1	1	2
10	North Korea	0	1	0	1
11	Qatar	0	0	2	2
12	New Zealand	0	0	1	1
	Saudi Arabia	0	0	1	1
Totals (13 entries)		30	30	30	90

Tournament awards

Most recent award winners (2022)

Year	Winner
2022	Wael Arakji

Year	Player	Position	Team
2022	Wael Arakji	Point guard	Lebanon
	Mitch McCarron	Shooting guard	Australia
	Tohi Smith-Milner	Power forward	New Zealand
	Thon Maker	Power forward/center	Australia
	Zhou Qi	Center	China

Tournament leaders

• Minimum of five games played (GP).

All-time

Highest scoring averages

Rank	Player	Team	GP	Pts	PPG	Tournaments
1	Michael Madanly	Syria	11	314	28.5	2007, 2017
2	Sani Sakakini	Palestine	8	179	22.4	2015
3	Alkhas Zaid	Jordan	7	156	22.3	2003
4	Fadi El Khatib	Lebanon	39	860	22.1	2001, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2017
5	Jamal Abu-Shamala	Palestine	8	172	21.5	2015
6	Wael Arakji	Lebanon	10	212	21.2	2017, 2022
7	Abdullah Alsarraf	Kuwait	14	290	20.7	2003, 2005
8	A. Mohamad	Syria	7	139	19.9	2003
9	K. Satiyseelan	Malaysia	7	138	19.7	2003
10	Rasheim Wright	Jordan	26	504	19.4	2007, 2009, 2011

Cumulative top scorers

Rank	Player	Team	GP	Pts	PPG
1	Fadi El Khatib	Lebanon	39	860	22.1
2	Hamed Haddadi	Iran	60	855	14.3
3	Samad Nikkhah Bahrami	Iran	44	615	14.0
4	Yi Jianlian	China	36	551	15.3
5	Anton Ponomarev	Kazakhstan	43	548	12.7
6	Kim Joo-sung	South Korea	50	523	10.5
7	Rasheim Wright	Jordan	26	504	19.4
8	Daoud Musa Daoud	Qatar	45	487	10.8
9	Wang Zhizhi	China	34	472	13.9
10	Abdulrahman Saad	Qatar	41	467	11.4

Per tournament

Points

Year	Player	Team	GP	Pts	PPG
2007	Michael Madanly	Syria	7	232	33.1
2007	Fadi El Khatib	Lebanon	8	218	27.3
2009	Rasheim Wright	Jordan	9	186	20.7
2011	Marcus Douthit	Philippines	9	197	21.9
2013	Hamed Haddadi	Iran	9	169	18.8
2017	Fadi El Khatib	Lebanon	7	181	25.9
2015	Sani Sakakini	Palestine	8	179	22.4

Rebounds

Year	Player	Team	GP	Reb	RPG
2007	Wissam Yakoub	Syria	7	74	10.6
2009	Hamed Haddadi	Iran	9	118	13.1
2011	Marcus Douthit	Philippines	9	110	12.2
2013	Hamed Haddadi	Iran	9	90	10.0
2015	Sani Sakakini	Palestine	8	101	12.6
2017	Hamed Haddadi	Iran	6	65	10.8

Assists

Year	Player	Team	GP	Ast	APG
2007	Sambhaji Kadam	India	7	28	4.0
2009	Samad Nikkhah Bahrami	Iran	9	43	4.8
2011	Mario Wuysang	Indonesia	5	32	6.4
2013	Mehdi Kamrani	Iran	9	59	6.6
2015	Imad Qahwash	Palestine	8	48	6.0
2017	Hamed Haddadi	Iran	6	39	6.5

Participating nations

20th century

Nation	1960	1963	1965	1967	1969	1971	1973	1975	1977	1979	1981	1983	1985	1987	1989	1991	1993	1995	1997	1999
Bahrain									12th	12th				13th		15th			10th	12th
Bangladesh										13th					15th		18th		15th
China								1st	1st	1st	1st	1st	3rd	1st	1st	1st	1st	1st	3rd	1st
Chinese Taipei	2nd	2nd	5th	5th	4th	4th	3rd						6th	5th	3rd	4th	5th	4th	6th	4th
Hong Kong	5th	6th	8th	9th	9th	9th	11th	9th	10th	11th	10th	7th	13th	14th	13th	11th	13th	15th	14th	13th
India			7th	6th	5th	6th	6th	4th	7th	5th	5th	6th	10th	6th	6th	13th		13th	11th
Indonesia	6th			4th			8th	10th	13th			12th	11th	12th	14th	14th	12th	18th	12th
Iran							5th				8th	5th	8th		5th	6th	4th	10th	8th
Iraq									6th	8th				9th
Japan	3rd		1st	3rd	2nd	1st	4th	2nd	3rd	2nd	3rd	2nd	5th	3rd	4th	3rd	7th	3rd	2nd	5th
Jordan												8th	9th	10th		8th	9th	17th	7th
Kazakhstan																		5th	13th
Kuwait								12th				4th				12th	10th	11th		6th
Kyrgyzstan																		8th
Lebanon																				7th
Macau												15th		15th
Malaysia	7th	5th	6th	8th	7th	5th	9th	8th	4th	7th	6th	11th	4th	7th	9th	17th	14th	14th		15th
North Korea																5th	2nd
Pakistan					8th		12th	11th	9th	6th	9th	13th	14th		10th		17th
Philippines	1st	1st	2nd	1st	3rd	2nd	1st	5th	5th	4th	4th	9th	1st	4th	8th	7th	11th	12th	9th	11th
Qatar																16th
Saudi Arabia															7th	9th	6th	6th	4th	3rd
Singapore		7th	9th	10th		8th	10th	7th	11th	10th	11th	14th	12th	11th	11th	10th	16th
South Korea	4th	3rd	3rd	2nd	1st	3rd	2nd	3rd	2nd	3rd	2nd	3rd	2nd	2nd	2nd	2nd	3rd	2nd	1st	2nd
Sri Lanka								13th	14th		12th		15th			18th		19th
Syria																				8th
Thailand		4th	4th	7th	6th	7th	7th	6th	8th	9th	7th	10th	7th	8th	12th		15th	16th		14th
United Arab Emirates																	8th	9th	5th	10th
Uzbekistan																		7th		9th
Vietnam		8th	10th
Total	7	8	10	10	9	9	12	13	14	13	12	15	15	15	15	18	18	19	15	15

21st century

Nation	2001	2003	2005	2007	2009	2011	2013	2015	2017	2022	2025	Years
Australia									1st	1st	Q	3
Bahrain						15th	12th			13th		9
Bangladesh												4
China	1st	1st	1st	10th	2nd	1st	5th	1st	5th	8th		23
Chinese Taipei	7th	11th	9th	6th	5th	8th	4th	13th	12th	10th		25
Hong Kong	11th	13th	15th	13th			10th	12th	15th			27
India	8th	8th	12th	15th	13th	14th	11th	8th	14th	16th		26
Indonesia			14th	12th	15th	13th				11th		18
Iran		5th	6th	1st	1st	5th	1st	3rd	2nd	5th		18
Iraq									11th			4
Japan	6th	6th	5th	8th	10th	7th	9th	4th	9th	7th	Q	30
Jordan		10th	7th	5th	3rd	2nd	7th	9th	8th	4th	Q	17
Kazakhstan		7th	10th	4th	9th		8th	11th	16th	15th		10
Kuwait	12th	12th	13th	14th	11th			14th				12
Kyrgyzstan												1
Lebanon	2nd	4th	2nd	2nd	4th	6th		5th	6th	2nd	Q	11
Macau												2
Malaysia		16th	16th			11th	15th	16th				24
New Zealand									4th	3rd	Q	3
North Korea												2
Pakistan												10
Palestine								10th				1
Philippines		15th		9th	8th	4th	2nd	2nd	7th	9th	Q	29
Qatar	5th	3rd	3rd	7th	6th	16th	6th	7th	13th			10
Saudi Arabia			8th				13th			14th	Q	10
Singapore	14th							15th				17
South Korea	3rd	2nd	4th	3rd	7th	3rd	3rd	6th	3rd	6th		30
Sri Lanka					16th							7
Syria	4th	9th		11th		9th			10th	12th		7
Thailand	13th						14th					19
United Arab Emirates	10th			16th	12th	10th						8
Uzbekistan	9th	14th	11th		14th	12th						7
Vietnam												2
Total	14	16	16	16	16	16	15	16	16	16	16

Debut of teams

A total of 33 national teams have appeared in at least one FIBA Asia Cup in the history of the tournament through the 2025 competition. Each successive Asia Cup has had at least one team appearing for the first time. Countries competing in their first Asia Cup are listed below by year.

Year	Debutants	Number
1960	Chinese Taipei,  Hong Kong,  Indonesia,  Japan,  Malaysia,  Philippines,  South Korea	7
1963	Singapore  Thailand,  Vietnam	10
1965	India	11
1967	None	11
1969	Pakistan	12
1971	None	12
1973	Iran	13
1975	China,  Kuwait,  Sri Lanka	16
1977	Bahrain,  Iraq	18
1979	Bangladesh	19
1981	None	19
1983	Jordan,  Macau	21
1985	None	21
1987	None	21
1989	Saudi Arabia	22
1991	North Korea,  Qatar	24
1993	United Arab Emirates	25
1995	Kazakhstan,  Kyrgyzstan,  Uzbekistan	28
1997	None	28
1999	Lebanon,  Syria	30
2001	None	30
2003	None	30
2005	None	30
2007	None	30
2009	None	30
2011	None	30
2013	None	30
2015	Palestine	31
2017	Australia,  New Zealand	33
2022	None	33
2025	TBD	33
Total		33

General statistics

All-time statistics, as of the 2022 FIBA Asia Cup.

Team	GP	Won	Lost	Pct.
Australia	12	12	0	100.00%
Bahrain	62	20	42	32.26%
Bangladesh	25	0	25	0.00%
China	179	163	16	91.06%
Chinese Taipei	192	115	77	59.90%
Hong Kong	194	53	141	27.32%
India	178	71	107	39.89%
Indonesia	120	33	87	27.50%
Iran	134	90	44	67.16%
Iraq	29	14	15	48.28%
Japan	221	146	75	66.06%
Jordan	119	63	56	52.94%
Kazakhstan	67	28	39	41.79%
Kuwait	84	29	55	34.52%
Kyrgyzstan	8	3	5	37.50%
Lebanon	79	49	30	62.03%
Macau	12	0	12	0.00%
Malaysia	175	59	116	33.71%
New Zealand	13	8	5	61.54%
North Korea	14	10	4	71.43%
Pakistan	73	21	52	28.77%
Palestine	8	4	4	50.00%
Philippines	215	141	74	65.58%
Qatar	72	36	36	50.00%
Saudi Arabia	60	29	31	48.33%
Singapore	127	36	91	28.35%
South Korea	240	185	55	77.08%
Sri Lanka	46	0	46	0.00%
Syria	43	17	26	39.53%
Thailand	145	57	88	39.31%
United Arab Emirates	56	22	34	39.29%
Uzbekistan	45	17	28	37.78%
Vietnam	17	1	16	5.88%

Notes

1. Originally scheduled for 2021, but postponed to 2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

See also

• Basketball at the Summer Olympics
• Basketball at the Asian Games
• FIBA Basketball World Cup
• FIBA Asia Challenge
• FIBA Asia Under-20 Championship
• FIBA Asia Under-18 Championship
• FIBA Asia Under-16 Championship
• FIBA Asia Women's Cup

References

1. Etchells, Daniel (2 June 2017). "Holders China learn group-stage opponents for 2017 FIBA Asia Cup". Inside the Games. Retrieved 18 August 2023.
2. Beltran, Nelson (31 May 2017). "'Stand-alone' FIBA Asia Cup crowns continental champ". The Philippine Star. Retrieved 18 August 2023.
3. "FIBA Archive", FIBA.com, 3 October 2015, archived from the original on 12 July 2011, retrieved 13 October 2015
4. "FIBA Archive: highest scoring average in FIBA Asia Championship", FIBA.com, 3 October 2015, archived from the original on 26 August 2017, retrieved 26 August 2017

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