The FIBA Basketball World Cup, known from 1950 until 2010 as the FIBA World Championship, is the flagship event of the International Basketball Federation (FIBA).
The first-ever FIBA Basketball World Cup will take place in 2014 in Spain (view host cities).
The term 'World Cup' is known by people all around the world and resonates in different languages: Copa del Mundo, Coppa del Mondo, Coupe du Monde.
The new name reflects the prestige that FIBA's tournament has as a premier international competition and allows for it to be recognised as what it truly is: one of the biggest global sporting events, along with the FIFA World Cup, the Rugby World Cup and the Cricket World Cup.
The inaugural FIBA World Championship took place in Argentina in 1950 with the host nation prevailing in the final against the USA.
Since the first staging of the tournament in Buenos Aires where six teams did battle, the field has grown exponentially to feature the 24 best teams from around the world.
Yugoslavia have won gold in five of the 16 editions of the FIBA Basketball World Cup, while the USA account for four and the Soviet Union for three.
Since 1998, the winners of the FIBA Basketball World Cup get to celebrate their crowning moment by holding aloft the Naismith Trophy, named after the inventor of basketball, Dr James Naismith.
The FIBA Basketball World Cup has been the centre stage for some of international basketball's biggest stars - from Oscar Schmidt and Nikos Galis to Pau Gasol and Kevin Durant and many in between.
