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Basketball World Cup: Facts and Records

The Basketball World Cup since 1950: champions, MVPs, records and the most surprising results.

1950 The first World Championship was played in Buenos Aires in 1950, and hosts Argentina won it.

1957 After a military coup, Argentina's 1950 world champions were declared professionals and banned from basketball in 1957. The evidence: cars they had been given as rewards.

1950 After his basketball ban, Óscar Furlong, MVP of the 1950 World Championship, took up tennis and later coached Argentina's Davis Cup team.

1954 The Philippines won bronze at the 1954 World Championship in Brazil, still the best result by an Asian men's team by 2025.

1959 At the 1959 World Championship the Soviet Union refused to play Taiwan and was dropped to sixth place. Brazil took the title.

1963 Brazil won the World Championship in 1959 and defended it at home in Rio de Janeiro in 1963, the first country to win it twice in a row.

41 Brazil's Ubiratan Pereira Maciel played 41 World Cup games at five tournaments from 1963 to 1978, a record.

1967 The World Cup trophy is named after the inventor of basketball: the Naismith Trophy has been awarded since 1967.

1970 Yugoslavia won its first world title at home, in Ljubljana in 1970.

105-94 In 1974 the Soviet Union, Yugoslavia and the USA finished level at the World Championship. The Soviets had to beat the USA by at least four in the last game, and won 105-94.

92 The biggest win in World Cup history: in 1974 the Soviet Union beat the Central African Republic 140-48, a 92-point margin.

82-81 Yugoslavia won the 1978 World Championship final in Manila 82-81 over the Soviet Union, after overtime.

251 The highest-scoring World Cup game came in 1978, when Brazil beat China 154-97: 251 points in all.

95-94 The Soviet Union won the 1982 World Championship final in Cali, Colombia, beating the USA by a single point, 95-94.

1982 Panama's Rolando Frazer was MVP of the 1982 World Championship, the tournament's only MVP from Central America.

87-85 A US team of college players, with David Robinson, beat the Soviet Union 87-85 in the 1986 world final in Madrid.

1990 Toni Kukoč was MVP of the 1990 World Championship in Argentina, the last World Championship Yugoslavia played before breaking apart.

54 The World Cup single-game scoring record belongs to South Korea's Hur Jae, who scored 54 points against Egypt in 1990.

137-91 Dream Team II crushed Russia 137-91 in the 1994 world final in Toronto, and Shaquille O'Neal was named MVP.

64-62 With NBA players locked out, Yugoslavia beat Russia 64-62 in the 1998 world final in Athens. Dejan Bodiroga was named MVP.

2002 Yugoslavia won the 2002 World Championship in Indianapolis, while the host USA finished only sixth.

2002 Dirk Nowitzki was MVP and top scorer of the 2002 World Championship with 24 points a game, and Germany took bronze.

101-95 Greece beat a USA team with LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Carmelo Anthony 101-95 in the 2006 World Championship semi-final.

81-64 Kevin Durant was MVP of the 2010 World Championship as the USA beat hosts Turkey 81-64 in the Istanbul final.

2019 Until 2010 the tournament was called the World Championship, and from 2014 the World Cup. The men's event then moved to 2019 to avoid clashing with football's World Cup.

0.5 In the 2010 World Championship semi-final Kerem Tunceri's layup with half a second left gave Turkey an 83-82 win over Serbia.

2016 Serbia lost three major finals in four years: the 2014 World Cup, the 2016 Olympics and EuroBasket 2017.

32 The 2019 World Cup in China was the first with 32 teams.

7 Under Gregg Popovich, the USA finished seventh at the 2019 World Cup in China, the worst result in the country's World Cup history.

40 Angola's Eduardo Mingas played at the 2019 World Cup aged 40, the oldest player in the tournament's history.

41 Luis Scola reached the 2019 World Cup final with Argentina at 39 and played at the Tokyo Olympics at 41.

5 Latvia played their first ever World Cup in 2023 and finished fifth.

98:88 Japan, with NBA forward Yuta Watanabe, came back from 18 points down to beat Finland 98-88 at the 2023 World Cup. It was their first ever World Cup win over a European team.

38,115 On the opening day of the 2023 World Cup, 38,115 fans at the Philippine Arena watched the Philippines play the Dominican Republic, a World Cup record.

127-118 In 2023 Canada won its first World Cup medal, beating the USA 127-118 in overtime in the bronze game.

2 Brothers Franz and Moritz Wagner both won the 2023 World Cup with Germany.

2024 Japan were the best Asian team at the 2023 World Cup, which earned them a ticket to the Paris Olympics.

83-77 In the 2023 World Cup final in Manila Germany beat Serbia 83-77 to become world champions for the first time.

2027 The 2027 World Cup will be held in Qatar, the first men's World Cup in the Arab world.

2006 Spain became world champions in Japan, and Pau Gasol was named MVP even though a broken foot kept him out of the final.

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