22 November, 2021
28 February, 2023

How to Qualify

Sixteen nations from the Americas are vying for the continent's seven spots in the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023. They are Argentina, Bahamas, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Puerto Rico, Uruguay, Virgin Islands, United States, Venezuela. 

How the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 Americas Qualifiers will play out

The sixteen teams will play the FIBA Basketball World Cup Americas Qualifiers during six qualifying windows. In the first round, these 16 teams will be divided into four groups with four team apiece.

Each team will face the other three national teams in their group on a home-and-away basis. Over the first three windows, two games per team being played in each window.  These windows will be played in November 2021, February 2022, and June 2022. Given the current circumstances due to the pandemic, the first qualifying window in the Americas will take place in a bubble format. 

The top three teams from each group will advance to the Second Round for their region qualifiers. Here, the group’s three advancing teams will join three other teams to create two six-team groups.  The teams will keep their results from the previous round.

In the Second Round, each team will play home-and-away against the three new teams in their group over three windows.  The Second Round windows periods are August 2022, November 2022, and February 2023 with two games per team being played in each window.

At the end of these additional six games per team, the top three teams in each group, plus the best fourth team, will qualify for the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023.

The qualification process follows the FIBA Competition System successfully used for the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019.

When will the windows take place?  

  • 1st Window: November 22 - 30, 2021
  • 2nd Window: February 21 - March 1, 2022
  • 3rd Window: June 27 - July 5, 2022
  • 4th Window: August 22 - 30, 2022
  • 5th Window: November 7 - 15, 2022
  • 6th Window: February 20 - 28, 2023

What's a window? 

The windows are where teams will play the qualifying games. Each of the six windows are nine days in length. Each team will play two games in each window, on a home-and-away basis.

Which group will advancing teams go to from the First Round to the Second Round?

At the end of the third window, the top three teams from each group progress to the Second Round. In the Second Round, the First Round Groups merge as follows to form a new six-team groups:

  • A and C => E
  • B and D => F

What happens if teams in the same group finish a Round tied?

Here's how ties will be broken if two teams are tied in classification from the same group (ranked from first tie-breaker to be used to last): 

  1. Win-Loss
  2. Goal difference of games between teams concerned
  3. Higher number of goals in the games between them
  4. Higher goal difference in all games of the group
  5. Higher number of goals in all games in the group
  6. Draw

Do teams carry over their results from the First Round to the Second Round?

Yes! A team's final record after the conclusion of the Second Round includes their win-loss record from the First Round. This helps ensure every game matters throughout the six qualifying windows. 

FIBA Competition System

For more information, go to the Official Basketball Rules and consult Art. D.1.3 (pages 75-80)

Check out the other regional World Cup Qualifier 2023 sites