3×3 Basketball: U23 World Cup Preview

2024 has been a busy year for 3×3 basketball. First, we had the Asia Cup in March (winners: Australia in men’s and women’s events), followed by the 2024 Paris Olympics (winners: the Netherlands in the men’s event, and Germany in the women’s event), and Europe Cup (winners: Austria in the men’s event, and Spain in the women’s event).

Now, comes the FIBA 3×3 U23 World Cup 2024, which will host some of the best young talents in the world. This major youth tournament is scheduled to run from September 11–15 in Ulaanbaatar, the capital city of Mongolia.

The 3×3 basketball is a fairly recent format and has only three players on each side, instead of five. This game is played on a half-court with a 10-minute game clock and a 12-second shot clock. It is pretty fast-paced as the game is condensed to only 10 minutes of play. While in the regular basketball games, players either dribble, pass, or shoot. But in the 3×3 game, every player needs to know all these three moves.

In just over a decade, it has made its way from the streets to the Olympics. It made its debut at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

This will be the fifth edition of the World Cup, with 20 women’s and men’s teams competing. These teams are divided into four groups, each consisting of five countries. Each team qualified based on their ranking in the 2024 FIBA 3×3 U23 Nations League, held earlier this year. Mongolia, being the hosting National Federation received automatic qualification, along with the reigning champions USA (men’s event) and Netherlands (women’s event).

Mongolia has always been a hot destination for 3×3 Basketball tournaments. In 2023, the country hosted FIBA 3×3 Women’s Series Final 2023 and the FIBA 3×3 Nations League 2023. In the past, Mongolia was the venue for the FIBA 3×3 Asia Cup in 2017 and the FIBA 3×3 U18 World Cup in 2019.

On June 24, 2022, the city of Ulaanbaatar in Mongolia received the right to host the 3×3 Basketball U23 World Cup. The matches will take place at the Sukhbaatar Square in Ulaanbaatar. The live streaming of all the matches will be available on the YouTube channel FIBA3x3.

Below, we give you the 3×3 basketball: U23 World Cup preview.

3×3 U23 Basketball: Men’s Standings

The United States is the defending champion in the men’s tournament. They had seven wins and zero losses last year, at the 3×3 Basketball U23 World Cup held in Lublin, Poland. Trey McGowens was the top scorer for his team and won the Most Valuable Player award for scoring 54 points. He also featured alongside Israel’s Omer Sadeh and Germany’s Leon Fertig in the Team of the Tournament.

Israel finished second with six wins and one loss in the tournament. That loss came in the finals, where they were defeated by the USA 21-3.

Germany came third with five wins and two losses.

This year, France has received the top seed in the tournament, as it had the highest points in the qualifying rounds.

The men’s team has been divided into four pools:

Pool A: France (ranking points: 1,765,285) Egypt (ranking points: 735,413), Spain (ranking points: 725,316), Ukraine (ranking points: 621,850), and Algeria (ranking points: 465,300)

Pool B: China (ranking points: 1,158,786), Netherlands (ranking points: 759,823), Mongolia (ranking points: 688,966), Japan (ranking points: 636,802), and Benin (ranking points: 373,798)

Pool C: Germany (ranking points: 1,080,635), Israel (ranking points: 859,861), Italy (ranking points: 672,009), New Zealand (ranking points: 644,201), and Argentina (ranking points: 342,977)

Pool D: United States (ranking points: 653,030), Lithuania (ranking points: 953,538), Latvia (ranking points: 952,421), Chile (ranking points: 664,160), and Kenya (ranking points: 229,822).

As the ranking points show, all Pools have tough competition as the teams are ranked closely together. Defending champion USA is pitted against European powers Lithuania and Latvia in Pool D. Meanwhile, last year’s runners-up, Germany and Israel, are clubbed together in Pool C.

Men’s Matches Schedule

3×3 U23 Basketball: Women’s Standings

The Netherlands won last year’s women’s 3×3 U23 basketball World Cup with six wins and one loss. It was the Dutch side’s first title after winning the bronze medal in 2022. Zoë Slagter of the Netherlands finished second in the points scored. Her 55 points in seven matches helped her win the award of Most Valuable Player. She featured in the team of the tournament alongside Poland’s Aleksandra Ziemborska and Lithuania’s Egle Zabotkaite. Ming Zheng of China finished as the top scorer with 56 points in seven games. 

Host Poland came second with five wins and two losses. They lost the final match to the Netherlands 17-19 in overtime. 

Lithuania finished third after losing to the Netherlands in the semi-finals. They had five wins and two losses in the tournament.

This year, China has received the top seed at the tournament. Last year, the Chinese team made it to the semi-final, where they lost to Poland (15-17).

The women’s team is also divided into four pools:

Pool A: China (ranking points: 829,037), Hungary (ranking points: 370,898), Ukraine (ranking points: 351,179), Austria (ranking points: 241,598), and Benin (ranking points: 228,626)

Pool B: United States (ranking points: 796,339), Japan (ranking points: 375,940), Spain (ranking points: 313,726), Italy (ranking points: 256,049), and New Zealand (ranking points: 178,512)

Pool C: Germany (ranking points: 709,589), Mongolia (ranking points: 410,662), Poland (ranking points: 309,853), Israel (ranking points: 272,868), and Kenya (ranking points: 134,191)

Pool D: France (ranking points: 532,567), the Netherlands (ranking points: 286,720), Egypt (ranking points: 420,151), Chile (ranking points: 278,135), and Uganda (ranking points: 80,523)

Women’s Match Schedule

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