 | |
| Organising body | FIBA |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1965; 60 years ago (1965) |
| First season | 1965 |
| Confederation | 6 regions: FIBA Americas (Central and South America) FIBA Europe (Europe) FIBA Africa (Africa) FIBA Asia (Asia) FIBA Oceania (Oceania) NBA G League (North America) |
| Number of teams | 6 |
| Current champions |  Unicaja (2nd title) |
| Most championships | Real Madrid (5 titles) |
| Website | intercontinentalcup |
 2025 FIBA Intercontinental Cup | |
TheFIBA Intercontinental Cup, previously known as theFIBA World Cup for Champion Clubs and theFIBA Club World Cup, is an annual international men'sbasketball competition organised byFIBA, the sport's global governing body. The competition features the club champions of the five FIBA continental confederations, as well as one representative from theNBA G League.
Historically, its purpose has been to gather the premier basketballclubs 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.
Instead of theNational Basketball Association (NBA) champions, which is widely considered the most prestigious basketball league in the world, the North American spot is usually allocated to the champions of the NBA's developmental league, theG League. In place of theEuroLeague, which has long been consideredEurope's most prestigious club competition,FIBA Europe sends the champions of their main club competition, theBasketball Champions League (BCL).
The champions of theBasketball Champions League Americas (BCLA),Basketball Africa League (BAL),Basketball Champions League Asia (BCL Asia) andNational Basketball League (NBL) also receive a place in the tournament.[1][2][3]
The FIBA Intercontinental Cup competition was originally organized between the years 1966 and 1987. The tournament had its origins with afriendly test game inSão Paulo,Brazil, in 1965. The test game was contested by the winners of theSouth American Championship of Champions Clubs, the Brazilian clubS.C. Corinthians Paulista, and the FIBA European Champions Cup (now theEuroLeague) champions, the Spanish clubReal Madrid. 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.[4]
In 1973, the competition adopted the nameFIBA Intercontinental Cup William Jones, to honour the secretary general ofFIBA,William Jones. FIBA tried to rebirth the competition in 1996, by reorganizing the Intercontinental Cup into abest-of-three playoff tournament between the winners of the Euroleague and the winners of theFIBA South American League (the champions of South America). After that tournament, however, the competition was not held until the2013 edition.
In August 2013, an agreement reached betweenEuroleague Basketball Company,FIBA Americas, andFIBA World, allowed for the World Cup for Champion Clubs to be relaunched, and to be played between the Euroleague champion and theFIBA Americas League champion.[5][6]
The FIBA Intercontinental Cup unofficially began with thefriendly competition of the1965 FIBA Intercontinental Cup Test inSão Paulo,Brazil, in 1965. The game was played by the defending champions of theSouth American Club Championship,S.C. Corinthians Paulista, and the defending champions of theFIBA European Champions Cup (EuroLeague),Real Madrid. It was held at theGinásio Poliesportivo Parque São Jorge. Corinthians won the game 118 to 109, withWlamir Marques of S.C. Corinthians scoring 40 points in the game.[7] Due to the test tournament's great success (attendance for the game was 10,000),[8] the FIBA Intercontinental Cup was made an official annual tournament byFIBA. The first official FIBA Intercontinental Cup tournament was then heldthe following year.[9]
In 1972,FIBA held a 4 team tournament, featuring theSoviet Union national basketball team, thePolish national basketball team, theBrazilian national basketball team, and theNABL All-Stars Team, which participated in the place ofTeam 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.[10]
In 2016, the tournament again changed format, with the EuroLeague champions no longer being allowed to compete in the tournament due to theEuroLeague's dispute with FIBA. In place of the EuroLeague champions,FIBA Europe began to send the champions of their club competition, originally theFIBA Europe Cup and later theFIBA Champions League, instead.[11][12] For the2019 tournament, FIBA increased the competition's number of teams to four, by adding theNBA G League's champions, and also a tournament host club. The tournament was also reconfigured into afinal four format.[13]
FIBA has also considered plans to expand the tournament at some point in the future, with plans to add the champion teams from theFIBA AfroLeague, theFIBA Asia Champions Cup, theAustralian NBL, and possibly theNBA.[14][15]
In the2022 tournament, the league expanded to include the winner of theBasketball Africa League (BAL).[16] From the2023 tournament, the winners of theFIBA Asia Champions Cup will also be included in the tournament.[17]
In March 2023, the tournament format received an overhaul. The event was changed from February to September so that it adapts more efficiently to the domestic and continental leagues' calendar and the schedule of international players, and to better accommodate participating clubs.[18]
FIBA also signed a three-year deal partnership withSport Singapore to hold the competition in theSingapore Sports Hub for three years in a row (until 2025). This makes it the first time in the Intercontinental Cup's history that the event will be held in Asia. Additionally, the tournament was expanded to six teams as an Asian representative was added. For the2023 edition a team from theChinese Basketball Association (CBA) was chosen by FIBA to participate.[18]
The2024 season will feature a team from Oceania for the first time, as the winners of Australia and New Zealand'sNational Basketball League (NBL) earn direct qualification.[3] TheTasmania JackJumpers are the first representative in tournament history.[3]
From the2013 edition of the tournament through to the2015 edition, the competition was played in either anaggregate 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 ofEurope's most prestigious competition, theEuroLeague, and the champions ofLatin America's premier competition, theFIBA Americas League.
For the2016 edition and2017 edition, the champions of the FIBA Americas League played against the champions ofFIBA Europe's main club competition (now second-tier),FIBA Europe Cup (2016) and FIBA Europe's new top competition, theBasketball Champions League (2017), as EuroLeague clubs were no longer allowed to participate byFIBA due toits dispute with Euroleague Basketball.[19][20]
For the2019 edition of the tournament, FIBA expanded the competition to include theNBA G League's champions and a tournament host club. Thus, the tournament format was also changed to afinal four format involving four teams.[21]
When the competition changed from February to September, the format was also changed. Currently, six teams play in two groups of three teams. The top team of each group will go to final. Second place will go to third-place match. Third place will go to fifth place match.[22]
Real Madrid from Spain holds the record for most victories, with a total of five titles.
| Rank | Country | League(s) | Title(s) | Runner(s)-up |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Spain | Primera División /ACB | 12 | 4 |
| 2 |  Italy | LBA | 7 | 6 |
| 3 |  Brazil | CBB /NBB | 4 | 10 |
| 4 |  United States | NABL –3 | 4 | – |
| NCAA Division I –1 | – | |||
| NBA G League | – | 2 | ||
| 5 |  Greece | GBL | 3 | – |
| 6 |  Argentina | CAC /LNB | 1 | 5 |
| 7 |  Israel | BSL | 1 | 1 |
 Venezuela | LPB | 1 | 1 | |
| 9 |  Soviet Union | Premier League | 1 | – |
| 10 |  Germany | BBL | – | 2 |
| 11 |  Czechoslovakia | CSBL | – | 1 |
 Netherlands | DBL | – | 1 | |
 Yugoslavia | FFL | – | 1 | |
| Total | 34 | 34 | ||
| Rank | Confederation | Winners | Runners-up |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | FIBA Europe | 24 | 16 |
| 2 | FIBA Americas | 6 | 16 |
| 3 | NABL | 3 | 0 |
| 4 | NCAA | 1 | 0 |
| 5 | NBA | 0 | 2 |
| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Spain | 12 | 4 | 2 | 18 |
| 2 | Italy | 7 | 6 | 3 | 16 |
| 3 | Brazil | 4 | 10 | 5 | 19 |
| 4 |  United States | 4 | 2 | 3 | 9 |
| 5 | Greece | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| 6 | Argentina | 1 | 5 | 3 | 9 |
| 7 | Israel | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| 8 | Venezuela | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 9 | Soviet Union | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 10 | Germany | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 11 | Yugoslavia | 0 | 1 | 4 | 5 |
| 12 | Czechoslovakia | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Netherlands | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| 14 |  Australia | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
 China | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
 Libya | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
 Puerto Rico | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
 Uruguay | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| Totals (18 entries) | 34 | 34 | 27 | 95 | |
Wlamir Marques holds the record for most points scored in a single game, when he scored 51 points in the 1965 test tournament.Dražen Petrović was top scorer of the tournament three times, a record. The players' nationalities in the following table are shown bynational team.[23][24]
After each tournament, FIBA awards theMost valuable player award to the player that is deemed the most important to his team during the Intercontinental Cup. The first MVP award was given toWalt Szczerbiak Sr. ofReal Madrid after he guided them to the1977 title. The last winner isDylan Osetkowski ofUnicaja in 2024.
All four games are streamed throughFIBA'sYouTube channel for free in the USA and the unsold markets with highlights available in all territories.[90] The tournament is also streamed for free through FIBA-DAZN's subscription streaming serviceCourtside 1891.
| Nation(s) | Broadcaster |
|---|---|
| Argentina | TNT Sports |
| Balkan countries | Arena Sport |
 Canada | DAZN |
| Italy | |
 Japan | |
| Spain | |
| Greece | Cosmote Sport |
 Singapore | meWatch |
| China | Zhibo8 |
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