MIES (Switzerland) - Today marks the 75th anniversary of FIBA's flagship event, the FIBA Basketball World Cup.
With the first window of Qualifying Games coming up in November for the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2027 in Qatar, a look back at the humble origins of the event shows just how far international basketball has come.
The first FIBA Basketball World Cup was not the first international hoops event with countries from different continents. That initial international men's basketball tournament was held at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin.
Because of World War II, another major international basketball event was not staged again until 1948, at the Olympics in London.
The decision to have a basketball World Cup (called the World Championship at the time) every four years between the Olympics was made at the FIBA World Congress.
The awarding of the first World Cup to Argentina was influenced not only by the fact that in the post-war years no European country could take on such a project with all of the work and expenses required, but also by Argentina’s status as a founding member of FIBA in 1932, and its strong relationship with Secretary General William Jones.
Argentina President Juan Domingo Perón's government also sought to mobilize the country around the organization of a major sporting event that could rival the FIFA World Cup, which was set to take place in Brazil in 1950.
Officially, Argentina announced that the tournament marked the centenary of the death of General José de San Martín - a mythical figure in Latin American independence and a key architect of Argentina’s nationhood. In fact, the trophy awarded bore his name.
At the first World Cup in Buenos Aires, 10 teams took part.
USA, France and Brazil reached the podium at the 1948 Olympics and therefore had places in the World Cup. Uruguay and Chile locked up places as the top two sides from the 1949 South American Championship. Egypt, which had no AfroBasket to play at the time, in 1949 not only hosted the EuroBasket but won it to clinch a World Cup place. Coincidentally, Egypt hosted the first AfroBasket in 1962.
Korea was also in the original tournament field, along with hosts Argentina. Spain and Italy claimed spots in the World Cup with strong showings at a qualifying tournament in Nice.
This list of countries taking part changed, however. Italy, owing to difficulties, withdrew so Yugoslavia, who had finished third in the Nice qualifier, took their place. Korea also withdrew.
Uruguay pulled out as well, when Argentina did not grant some of their radio journalists entry to the country. The journalists were denied because their radio stations had aired programs critical of the Perón government. In their place, Argentina invited Peru. As the host country, Argentina had another invitation to extend and they gave it to Ecuador.
As for the 1950 tournament itself, the passion for national team basketball was on full display, with fans cheering wildly as players represented their countries.
In the opening game, Nebojsa Popovic of Yugoslavia scored the first points in World Cup history. But Peru defeated Yugoslavia, 33-27.
Twenty-nine games and almost two weeks later, before a rip-roaring crowd at Luna Park in Buenos Aires, Argentina overcame the USA, 64-50, to win the event.
After the final buzzer, fans stormed the court and celebrations carried on into the night in Buenos Aires. People set newspapers alight, marking the start of the Argentinian tradition of "Night of the Torches".
The preliminary rounds were double-elimination to determine the six teams in the final round. The four countries that didn't advance played in a classification round. After Argentina and USA won their first four games of the phase, they played in what effectively was a championship showdown.
The order of finish after Argentina, USA and Chile, who claimed third after winning a tie-breaker, was Brazil, Egypt, France, Peru, Ecuador, Spain and Yugoslavia.
Oscar Furlong was international basketball's first superstar after being named MVP of the event.
He led Argentina in scoring at 11.2 points per game and was fourth overall in the tournament. Teammate Ricardo Gonzalez, John Stanich of USA, Rufino Bernedo of Chile and Alvaro Salvador from Spain joined Furlong in the tournament's All-Star Five. Salvador led the tournament in scoring at 13.6 points per game.
Furlong and Gonzalez, who guided the hosts to six wins in as many games, are in the FIBA Hall of Fame. The coach of that Argentina team, Jorge Canavesi, is also in the FIBA Hall of Fame.
Going into the tournament, Argentina were not viewed as favorites after finishing 15th among 23 teams at the 1948 Olympics. Yet no one beat them in Buenos Aires.
More than 20,000 people flocked to the Luna Park complex for the title decider between Argentina and USA, with many unable to enter the packed arena and forced instead to remain outside.
The intensity of the game was off the charts. Argentina led 34-24 at half-time and though USA closed the deficit to 40-37 in the second, they got no closer the rest of the way.
Furlong finished with 20 points - including 8-of-10 at the free-throw line - while Hugo Del Vecchio weighed in with 14 points. John Stanich had 11 points for USA. The Americans had seven players foul out (players could only commit four fouls at the time). The USA played the last couple minutes with just four players on the court.
FIBA