BEIRUT (Lebanon)- The FIBA Regional Office-Asia on Thursday, May 28, 2026, announced the deferment of FIBA WASL Final 8 2026 to September 25 to October 1 this year, in order to facilitate the completion of the domestic leagues and the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2027 Qualifiers windows.
The domestic leagues had to be suspended due to the current situation in the Gulf and West Asia regions and have since resumed action following the return to normalcy in the region.
The FIBA Basketball World Cup 2027 upcoming Qualifiers will see National Teams feature in two Windows scheduled to be held in the first week of July 2026 and then the final week of August 2026.
The deferment of FIBA WASL Final 2026 to September facilitates the completion of the domestic leagues and also helps players prepare for their National Team participations in the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2027 Qualifiers.
The top two teams from FIBA WASL Final 8 2026 will qualify for the BCL Asia 2026, where they will be joined by South China AA (HKG) and Taoyuan Pauian Pilots (TPE), who finished as the top two teams from the recently concluded BCL Asia-East 2026, along with the top teams from China, Japan, Korea and Philippines leagues.
The BCL Asia 2026 will follow the FIBA WASL Final 8 2026 soon after and is scheduled to be played in the first two weeks of October 2026.
Al Riyadi (LBN), BC Astana (KAZ), Shahrdari Gorgan (IRI) and Sagesse BC (LBN) in the FIBA WASL West Asia League and Kuwait SC (KUW), Al Ula (KSA), Ittihad Club (KSA) and Al Arabi SC (QAT) in the FIBA WASL Gulf League were all set to start action in the Final Phase of the FIBA WASL Sub-Zone Leagues, when the entire league had to be deferred due to the situation in the region past March.
FIBA