BEIRUT (Lebanon)- The year that went by – 2025 saw basketball action in Asia reach unprecedented heights – in terms of competitive excellence on court as well as novelties in promotion off it. That leaves the 2026 as a year with lots to look forward to.
There will be no marque events – for either men or women – this year. The FIBA Asia Cup is scheduled for 2029 and the FIBA Women’s Asia Cup – hosted by Philippines only for 2027.
But the pathway to participation in both those events is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2026.
Let’s quickly breeze through what basketball fans in Asia can look forward to in 2026.
Clubs
The 2025-26 FIBA WASL Sub Zone leagues are already underway – with both 2025-26 FIBA WASL West Asia League and 2025-26 FIBA WASL Gulf League having headed into the New Year break with positions of many teams well poised.
Seven berths are up for grabs to advance to the FIBA WASL Final 8 2026 and it is anybody’s guess as to which seven will progress, where they will be joined by the champion team from South Asia.
FIBA WASL Final 8, BCLA-East
The FIBA WASL Final 8 of course, along with crowning the champions of this enormously popular regional club competition, will also qualify the top two teams to the Basketball Champions League Asia 2026.
Another FIBA owned regional club competition that will qualify two teams to the Basketball Champions League Asia will be the BCLA-East 2026, comprising clubs from National Federations falling under the East Asia and South East Asia sub-zones.
BCL Asia, WBL Asia
These four teams then will head to the BCL Asia 2026 to join the champion clubs from the leagues of China, Japan, Korea and Philippines to crown the champion club of Asia, who in turn will represent the continent in FIBA Intercontinental Cup.
The year will also witness the FIBA WBL Asia 2026, which in the last two years has not only grown in the number of teams participating but also increased in the representation across the continent.
Plans are afoot to set up a qualifying path way for more teams to participate in this year’s edition of the FIBA WBL Asia.
And before the year ends, the FIBA WASL would have begun action for its 2026-27 season!
Youth competitions
The year 2026 is also the year that will see breakaway talents taking firm steps towards transforming their potential towards stardom – at the FIBA U18 Asia Cup 2026 and FIBA U18 Women’s Asia Cup 2026
With many rosters likely to feature players who already displayed their wares at the FIBA U16 Asia Cup 2025 and the FIBA U16 Women’s Asia Cup 2025, the two youth events of the year will act as a ready reckoner for the progress achieved by the youngsters who showed prodigy.
FIBA U18 Asia Cup 2026
The FIBA U18 Asia Cup 2026 will feature teams that come through the rigors of the Sub-Zone competitions. With the number of teams vying to make the grade easily outnumbering the number of qualifying slots available in most of the six FIBA Asia Sub-Zones, the stage is already being decked for a superlative show of youth talent.
FIBA U18 Women’s Asia Cup 2026
The six Asian teams that will play the FIBA U18 Women’s Asia Cup 2026 are already locked – based on the rankings from the previous edition – but make no mistake to assume the complacency for this age group competition.
The topic of FIBA U18 Women’s Asia Cup 2026 remains interesting even in Division B with Sub-Zone organising competitions to identify the teams that will form the six-team Asian representation in this qualifying competition, from where the top team heads to the elite Division for the 2028 edition.
FIBA Asia Cup 2029 Pre-Qualifiers
Two rounds of competition are scheduled during the International Windows of August-September and November-December respectively for the FIBA Asia Cup 2029 Pre-Qualifiers to determine the eight teams that will make the cut to the FIBA Asia Cup 2029 Qualifiers (where they will join the sixteen teams that played the FIBA Asia Cup 2025).
Sub-Zone qualifiers for FIBA Women’s Asia Cup 2027 Division B
And on the women’s side, the Sub-Zone qualifying competitions to identify the teams that will play the FIBA Women’s Asia Cup 2027 Division B is also scheduled to be concluded before the year ends.
The year 2026, thus holds enormous action in Asia that should cater to the needs of the fans and pundits alike.
The complete and official calendar of events with confirmed dates and venues will be announced soon. Watch this space!
FIBA