BERLIN – International Basketball Federation (FIBA) announced landmark hosting decisions this Wednesday, granting France the right to stage the 2031 FIBA Men’s Basketball World Cup, while Japan will welcome the world’s top women’s basketball teams for the 2030 Women’s World Cup. The announcement positions emerging basketball superstar Victor Wembanyama to potentially compete for a world title on home soil in eight years’ time. In its official statement, FIBA highlighted that both nations boast a proven track record of delivering world-class international sporting events, having successfully hosted the last two Summer Olympic Games: Tokyo 2020 for Japan and Paris 2024 for France. Wembanyama, the rising San Antonio Spurs star, emerged as one of the biggest breakout names of the 2024 Paris Olympics, where he carried the French men’s national team to a silver medal finish, putting up an impressive 26-point performance in the gold medal match against the dominant United States squad. For the 2031 men’s tournament, three French cities will serve as host venues: Lyon, Lille, and Paris. The 17-day competition is scheduled to run from August 29 to September 14, with all knockout round matches and the final itself set to be held in the French capital Paris. This will mark the first time France has ever hosted the FIBA Men’s World Cup as the sole host nation. For Japan’s 2030 women’s tournament, the entire 13-day event will be centered in Tokyo, running from November 26 to December 8. Similar to France’s men’s team at Paris 2024, Japan’s women’s national team claimed a silver medal on home court at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, adding extra local excitement to their upcoming hosting role. Japan is no stranger to FIBA’s flagship events, having previously hosted the men’s world championship (the tournament’s former name) back in 2006, and served as a co-host for the 2023 Men’s World Cup alongside the Philippines and Indonesia. Looking ahead to the near future, the next edition of the Women’s World Cup is set to tip off this coming September in Berlin, Germany, while the 2027 Men’s World Cup has already been assigned to Qatar, continuing FIBA’s rotation of global hosting across different regions of the world.
France to host men’s basketball World Cup in 2031. Japan gets 2030 women’s tournament
