EVER since the tournament was instituted in 1950, the Fiba Basketball World Cup has had its share of upsets that has captivated its fans. Here are some of the notable reversals in the most recent history of the competition.
Upsets in the history of the FIBA Basketball World Cup
2010: SERBIA BEATS SPAIN
Coming off a title conquest in 2006 in Saitama, Japan, Spain came into the tournaments as one of the favorites. But their campaign came to a premature end in the quarterfinals in Istanbul when it lost to Serbia, 92-89, on a three-pointer by Milos Teodosic with 3.1 seconds left in the ballgame. Despite the absence of Pau Gasol and Juan Carlos Navarro, Spain was a force with the likes of Marc Gasol, Jorge Garbajosa, and Juan Carlos Navarro, so the loss was quite a shocker.
2014: FRANCE WINS OVER SPAIN
Spain suffered another early exit in 2014 when it was ousted by France, 65-52, in the quarterfinal round. Expectations were also high in this tournament as Spain was hosting the tournament. Two years prior, Spain was the silver medalist behind the Team USA. They also had Pau Gasol back for the World Cup, while France missed the services of Tony Parker.
1986: USA WINS FIBA CHAMPIONSHIP OVER USSR
The United States claimed the world championship of basketball in 1986 when it defeated the Soviet Union, 87-85, the last time an all-amateur American squad won the Fiba Basketball World Cup. Most people saw the USSR as the dominant team in international basketball during that time, having won two of the last three finals including in 1982 when it defeated the United States. It was sweet revenge for Team USA that had eventual NBA players David Robinson, Kenny Smith, and Mugsy Bogues, winning over Arvydas Sabonis, acknowledged as the best big man in international basketball at that time. After beating the Soviet Union, USA won the world title for the first time since 1954.
2002: NEW ZEALAND DEFEATS RUSSIA
The 2002 competition had a lot of shocking moments (more on that in a bit). One of which was the Cinderella run of the Tall Blacks where they ended up in fourth place, only losing to Germany for the bronze medal. Coached by Tab Baldwin, New Zealand, led by NBA player Sean Marks, current Tall Blacks coach Pero Cameron, and former PBA consultant Mark Dickel, defeated 1998 silver medalist Russia, 90-81, to open the group stage. New Zealand later stunned Puerto Rico to progress to the semifinals and earn a chance at a medal.
2006: LEBANON SHOCKS FRANCE
Outside the Philippines’ third-place finish in 1954, Asian teams had their moments in the Fiba Basketball World Cup far in between. A notable achievement was in 2006 when Lebanon upset France, 74-73, during the group stage. Boris Diaw led the NBA players that were in the France team but on this day, they were no match from Lebanese basketball legend Fadi El-Khatib, who had 29 points in one of the stunning wins of the 2006 edition (more on that later).
2019: FRANCE OUSTS USA
Prior to the 2019 competition, expectations weren’t as high for Team USA as in the past World Cup competitions with the absence of the big names. Still, the United States’ 89-79 quarterfinal loss to France still sent shockwaves throughout the tournament. USA had no answer to the performance of Rudy Gobert and Evan Fournier and saw the end of its 56-game winning streak in Fiba and Olympic tournaments.
2019: ARGENTINA TOPPLES SERBIA
Argentina was past its golden years when they competed in the 2019 Fiba Basketball World Cup. Luis Scola, already 39 years old, was the last link to the Manu Ginobili era of Argentina basketball and was one of the teams that had no active NBA player at that time. But Argentina found a way to advance to the semifinals to oust Nikola Jokic and Serbia, 97-87. Serbia was also one of the favorites during the tournament after finishing second behind USA in the 2014 Fiba Basketball World Cup and the 2016 Olympics.
2002: ARGENTINA SHOCKS USA
For the first-time ever, a USA team filled with NBA players suffered a defeat in the international scene and it happened during the 2002 Fiba World Championship in Indianapolis. In the second round, Manu Ginobili helped Argentina pull off the unthinkable, beating a USA team led by Reggie Miller and Paul Pierce, 87-80. The Americans were later ousted in their next game against eventual champion Yugoslavia in the quarterfinals.
2006: GREECE DEFEATS USA IN THE SEMIFINALS
Greece’s win over the United States in Saitama, Japan was one of the most famous victories in the Fiba competition. Team USA had a star-studded line-up led by LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, Carmelo Anthony, and Chris Paul. But Greece pulled off one of the biggest upsets in the tournament’s history with a dramatic 101-95 win to advance to the finals through the play of Theo Papaloukas and Vassilis Spanoulis, Sofoklis Schortsanitis, and Dimitris Diamantidis, earning the title of the ‘upset of all upsets’ by Fiba.com in a 2021 article.
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