The FIBA Central Board announced in Berlin that Japan will host the FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup 2030, and France will host the FIBA Basketball World Cup in 2031.
Tokyo will host games in 2030 from November 26 to December 8, a time in late fall when trees often change colors to spectacular hues of yellow and red. The Tokyo area has previously hosted the FIBA men’s final in 2006 in the suburban Saitama Super Arena, as well as the FIFA World Cup final in Yokohama in 2002, and the Olympic Summer Games in both 1964 and 2021, when Japanese women won the silver medal.
Japan also hosted FIBA men’s World Cup group matches in Okinawa in 2023 before Manila hosted the final. The Japanese Basketball Association (JBA) will celebrate their 100th anniversary in 2030, according to FIBA’s press release.
The French cities of Paris, Lille and Lyon will host men’s games in 2031 from August 29 to September 14 after the peak heat of summer. Those cities recently hosted Olympic basketball matches in 2024. France lost the final to the USA. France has hosted many FIBA events recently. FIBA staged the EuroBasket 2015 in Lille; the Women’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament 2020 in Bourges; the FIBA Women’s EuroBasket 2021 in Strasbourg; and one of the Women’s Basketball World Cup 2026 Qualifying Tournaments in Lyon-Villeurbanne. France has produced NBA talent such as Tony Parker, Nicolas Batum, Rudy Gobert and Victor Wembanyama.
“The FIBA World Cups have become synonymous with success in large part because selecting the appropriate host each time is the cornerstone of our mission to make basketball the most popular sports community,” commented FIBA Secretary General Andreas Zagklis. “The FIBA Central Board decided that the bids by both the Japanese Basketball Association (JBA) and the French Basketball Federation (FFBB) meet the high requirements we have from a FIBA World Cup host, and has entrusted them with this big responsibility.
“Japan and France are two basketball-loving nations, two destinations extremely popular with our fans, players and partners,” he added. “But what makes us more excited for both 2030 and 2031 is that really rare quality that Japan and France possess, of adding their local, unique touch of excellence and flavor to make the events truly unforgettable in time.”
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