For the first time since 1986, the World Championship was contested by 24 nations, eight more than in 2002. As a result, group rounds were conducted in four cities, with the knockout rounds being hosted by Saitama City.
Spain won the tournament by beating Greece 70–47 in the championship final. Spain won all nine games they played. Spain's gold medal in this tournament was the first medal Spain had ever won in a FIBA World Championship. Pau Gasol also became the first Spaniard to win the MVP award. It was the first time a country has won all nine of its games since 1994 when the United States won all nine games and took the gold medal home. The bronze medal was won by the United States, who defeated Argentina, 96–81, in the third place game, after a semi-finals loss to Greece. Up to 2019, including the 2014 tournament, it has been the only tournament where neither Yugoslavia or the USA have reached the final. The 2006 tournament marked the final appearance of Serbia and Montenegro as they broke up into the independent nations of Serbia and Montenegro after a successful independence referendum in Montenegro in May.
Seventeen years after the 2006 edition, Japan once again hosted the FIBA World Championships, now called the World Cup in 2023 in Okinawa along with the Philippines and Indonesia.
At the start of tournament, all 24 participating countries had 12 players on their roster.
Competing nations
The following national teams competed:
Teams that entered qualification tournaments; Asia (purple), Africa (orange), Americas (green), Europe (blue) and Oceania (yellow) and automatic qualifiers (aqua)
Japan qualified as the host country, and Italy, Puerto Rico, Serbia and Montenegro, and Turkey gained FIBA wild-card invitations.[1] Argentina qualified as the champion of the 2004 Olympics. The remaining 18 countries qualified through their continents' qualifying tournaments (six from Europe, four from the Americas, three from each of Asia and Africa and two from Oceania).
The draw for the 2006 World Championship was held in Tokyo on 15 January 2006. In the preliminary rounds, Group A played at Sendai, Group B at Hiroshima, Group C at Hamamatsu and Group D at Sapporo. The Medal Rounds were played at Saitama.
Saitama Super Arena, Saitama Attendance: 18,500 Referees: Carl Jungebrand (FIN), Terry Moore (USA), Pablo Alberto Estévez (ARG)
Scene from the finalSpain's Gold Medal ceremony
Since the inaugural competition in 1950 the five competing countries for the title had always been two of Argentina, United States, Soviet Union, Brazil and Yugoslavia, one of which always being either United States or Yugoslavia. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Russia took its place in the finals of 1994 and 1998, and after the breakup of Yugoslavia, FR Yugoslavia took its place in the finals of 1998 and 2002. The 2006 final was the first and only one in which none of these five teams competed.
The final was an unexpectedly one-sided affair, with Spain dominating from the beginning and limiting Greece to just 47 points, fewer than the Greeks had scored in any single game in the tournament, and less than half what Greece had scored against the US in the semifinals. Spain won despite having lost power forwardPau Gasol, who was ultimately named the tournament's most valuable player, to injury in a semifinal match against Argentina.
Final standings
2006 FIBA World Championship final rankings.
Teams that were eliminated at the round of 16 are officially tied for 9th.
Teams that were 5th at their preliminary rounds are officially tied for 17th.
Teams that were 6th at their preliminary rounds are officially tied for 21st.
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