BERLIN (Germany) - The French Federation (FFBB) president, Jean-Pierre Hunckler, gave his immediate reaction to the FIBA Central Board decision to appoint France as the host of the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2031.
I think it is very important for FIBA, the French Basketball Federation, and basketball worldwide
The FIBA Central Board has just ended. What’s your first reaction?
It’s a great satisfaction—it represents eight months of work in collaboration with all FIBA departments. I would like to sincerely thank the President, the Board, and Secretary General Andreas Zagklis, who supported me a lot. I was appointed at the helm of the French Federation at the end of 2024, and a lot of work has been done to build relations between our federation and FIBA. I believe that today we have achieved something important, and I also think it is very important for FIBA, the French Basketball Federation, and basketball worldwide.
When did this bid come about?
The idea was born in January 2025. I come from an event management background. As president of the regional league, I organized many events in Lyon. With my predecessor, we had already worked on organizing major FIBA events like the FIBA Women's EuroBasket 2013 and FIBA EuroBasket 2015. What we were missing was a World Cup. By 2031, we will have an extraordinary team. Everything will come together, but we still have to build a project with FIBA. And I am very grateful for the work done by the international federation and for the trust they have placed in us.
Did the exceptional success of basketball at the Paris 2024 Olympics inspire this bid?
Of course. Basketball at the Games was a huge success. It also allowed us to have high-quality arenas, something we didn’t have 15 or 20 years ago. This popular success showed that basketball is one of the major sports in the world. We realized we could replicate that, which is why we decided to host the entire World Cup. It was a real gamble.
A word on the setup in Paris, Lille, and Lyon?
This configuration is linked to FIBA’s requirements, with new arenas. We wanted an environmentally friendly event. Lille is one hour from Paris by high-speed train, and Lyon is less than two hours away. We are centralizing things around the Île-de-France region, and it also makes sense because our key player, Victor Wembanyama, comes from Nanterre, his home club. Giving him the opportunity to potentially play a World Cup Final in his city could be something extraordinary.
How involved is Victor Wembanyama in this now-approved bid?
Today, we couldn’t hope for a better driving force than Victor
I went to meet him in December 2025 in the United States to present the project. We hadn’t officially launched the bid yet, but we were ready, and I really wanted to know if he wanted to be involved with us. We presented everything to him within 45 minutes. He was very attentive and immediately said: “President, I’m with you, what can I do?” He really wanted to be a part of the presentation, and I think he’ll be delighted. Today, we couldn’t hope for a better driving force than him.
How will this milestone affect the organization around the French men’s national team?
It’s still a bit early, but it will inevitably have an impact. First, we need to qualify for the FIBA World Cup 2027, then the 2028 Olympics, which are important for us. Only after that will we enter this cycle. For French basketball, this is something extraordinary. We are delighted that France can contribute to the development of basketball worldwide through FIBA.
FIBA