MONTEVIDEO (Uruguay) - The South American Basketball Championship, first staged in 1930 in Montevideo, Uruguay, holds a unique place in history. It is the oldest officially recognized international basketball competition under FIBA, inspired by football’s Copa América of 1916.
In 1938, Peru’s President, Major General Óscar R. Benavides, gifted the tournament with a monumental prize: a towering brass trophy measuring 1.90 meters in height and weighing over 60 kilograms. Known as the Copa América, it quickly became one of the most iconic and awe-inspiring symbols in continental basketball.
The cup is both a work of art and a sporting prize. Its 50 cm-wide top rests on a central column with four curved supports, anchored to a wooden base. At the base, four laced basketballs serve as legs, while two oversized handles frame the piece, majestic, though impractical for travel.
The lid is its most striking feature: three human figures, labelled Argentina, Uruguay, and Peru, lifting a laced basketball. It recalls the Titans of Greek mythology condemned to bear the weight of the world. The symbolism was deliberate. Peru was both host and donor; Argentina and Uruguay, the powerhouses of the time, each held two titles.
The result was a trophy that embodied majesty, mythology, and meaning — a reflection of how deeply victory and glory resonated in the sporting culture of the era.
In basketball’s early years, massive trophies were not unusual. Champions kept them until the next edition, often struggling to haul them onto small airplanes with limited cargo space.
Peru’s triumph in 1938 meant the cup travelled to Brazil in 1939 and then back to Montevideo in 1940. After that, the journey ended. Borrowing from football tradition, an unwritten rule held that the first team to win three titles would keep the trophy permanently. Uruguay, champions in 1930, 1932, and 1940, claimed it as their own.
Over the decades, inscriptions were added to preserve the championship’s legacy: A plaque recording the participants and final standings of the 1930–1935 editions.
Plates etched with the names of champions in 1937 and 1938, a tradition continued until 1955. Later, only Uruguay’s 1969 and 1981 victories were added. To complete the history, two more plaques are missing: the final triumphs of Uruguay in 1995 and 1997 before the competition’s discontinuation in 2016.
A memorial plaque for James Naismith, inventor of basketball, who passed away in late 1939, just two months before the 1940 championship.
For over 80 years, the trophy remained in Uruguay under the care of the National Federation. Recently, the Federación Uruguaya de Basketball (FUBB) entrusted it to the FIBA Museum. With the help of FIBA’s Official Global Logistics Supplier Kuehne+Nagel, the massive artefact was safely transported to Madrid for a meticulous restoration led by Spanish Joyeros Alegre, a third-generation family firm renowned in the sporting world.
The process required dismantling the trophy piece by piece, correcting deformations with reverse embossing, applying chemical stripping, deep cleaning, and finally silver-plating every component.
Detached plaques were reorganized in historical order, and missing elements were carefully reproduced to restore the trophy’s integrity.
Today, the Copa América stands proudly in the FIBA Museum in Switzerland, a majestic reminder of South American basketball’s origins. More than just metal and wood, it is a legacy for future generations: the Holy Grail of basketball trophies.
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About the FIBA Foundation The FIBA Foundation is the social and legacy arm of FIBA that addresses the role of sports, particularly basketball, in society, preserving and promoting basketball’s values and its cultural heritage.
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