What’s the current FIBA ranking and how often is it updated?
The most recent world ranking was published at the end of February but little movement in the top 20.
The system for ranking the world’s 164 national basketball teams was changed in October 2017 when Nike signed up to become a strategic partner with the game’s governing body, FIBA. Previously, the ranking was gauged through the results that teams gained through FIBA tournaments but for the last six years, a new, results-per-game system has been used.
Also, games which are more than eight years old are not taken into account to keep the ranking up-to-date and relevant. The changes means that the ranking can be updated more regularly - rankings are now updated after every individual game in all of the six major men’s events, including qualifiers.
👏 Japan make history! 👏#FIBAWC x #WinForJapan I #AkatsukiJapan pic.twitter.com/MflKu4skks
— FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 🏆 (@FIBAWC) August 27, 2023
The weighting system has also been modified so that wins gained in the more prestigious tournaments are worth more. For example, the level of the World Cup is much higher and games are far more competitive than in the AfroBasket, so the weights have been adjusted accordingly. Weights are also determined by region, to ensure that ratings are comparable across regions.
There are also bonuses for wins as the away team - in the home or away points (HAP) system, 0 points are awarded if the game is played at a neutral venue, +70 points are given if the away team wins and -70 points if the home team wins.
Sometimes simplicity is the ultimate sophistication 🤷♂️#FIBAWC pic.twitter.com/5JAWRoJnxG
— FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 🏆 (@FIBAWC) August 27, 2023
2023 FIBA World Ranking as of 27 February 2023
- Spain 758.3 points
- United States 757.2 points
- Australia 740.2 points
- Argentina 733.6 points
- France 715.9 points
- Serbia 710.2 points
- Slovenia 701.9 points
- Lithuania 670.4 points
- Greece 665.1 points
- Italy 650.4 points
- Germany 643.5 points
- Czech Republic 593.8 points
- Brazil 593.6 points
- Poland 591.1 points
- Canada 577.8 points
- Turkey 537.0 points
- Venezuela 523.0 points
- Montenegro 517.0 points
- Nigeria 461.4 points
- Puerto Rico 455.4 points
Dominant. 😤 Spain opens with an empathic win over Cote d'Ivoire.#FIBAWC x #WinForEspana 🇪🇸
— FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 🏆 (@FIBAWC) August 26, 2023
How is the FIBA World Ranking calculated?
Teams are awarded rating points in two stages:
- Calculate the rating points (RP) for each game to each team (eg. Team A 98-121 Team B - Team B wins by 23 points)
- Calculate the ranking according to the weighted average rating points of each team, over all games during the previous 8-year period.
- Team’s rating points allocated from each game 1,000 basis points (BP) are awarded in each game according to the following principles:
- Win by a margin of 1-9 points: team receives 600 basis points
- Win by a margin of 10-19 points: team receives 700 basis points
- Win by a margin of 20 or more points: team receives 800 basis points
- Lose by a margin of 1-9 points: team receives 400 basis points
- Lose by a margin of 10-19 points: team receives 300 basis points
- Lose by a margin of 20 or more points: team receives 200 basis points
- In the event of a game being forfeited, the winning team receives 800 points (for a victory by a margin of 20 points) and the losing team gets 0 basis points