2006 FIBA World Championship

2006 FIBA World Championship
FIBA バスケットボール世界選手権 2006
FIBA Basukettobōru Sekai Senshuken 2006
Tournament details
Host countryJapan
Dates19 August – 3 September
Officially opened byAkihito
Teams24 (from 5 confederations)
Venue(s)5 (in 5 host cities)
Final positions
Champions Spain (1st title)
Runners-up Greece
Third place United States
Fourth place Argentina
Tournament statistics
Games played80
MVPSpain Pau Gasol
Top scorerChina Yao Ming
(25.3 points per game)
2002
2010

The 2006 FIBA World Championship was the 15th FIBA World Championship, the international basketball world championship for men's national teams. The tournament was hosted by Japan and held from 19 August to 3 September 2006. It was co-organised by the International Basketball Federation (FIBA), Japan Basketball Association (JABBA) and the 2006 Organising Committee.

For the first time since 1986, the World Championship was contested by 24 nations, eight more than in 2002. As a result, group rounds were conducted in four cities, with the knockout rounds being hosted by Saitama City.

Spain won the tournament by beating Greece 70–47 in the championship final. Spain won all nine games they played. Spain's gold medal in this tournament was the first medal Spain had ever won in a FIBA World Championship. Pau Gasol also became the first Spaniard to win the MVP award. It was the first time a country has won all nine of its games since 1994 when the United States won all nine games and took the gold medal home. The bronze medal was won by the United States, who defeated Argentina, 96–81, in the third place game, after a semi-finals loss to Greece. Up to 2019, including the 2014 tournament, it has been the only tournament where neither Yugoslavia or the USA have reached the final. The 2006 tournament marked the final appearance of Serbia and Montenegro as they broke up into the independent nations of Serbia and Montenegro after a successful independence referendum in Montenegro in May.

Seventeen years after the 2006 edition, Japan once again hosted the FIBA World Championships, now called the World Cup in 2023 in Okinawa along with the Philippines and Indonesia.


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