France will host the FIBA Basketball World Cup for the first time in its history, the International Basketball Federation announced on Wednesday 22 April. The tournament will take place across three cities, Lille, Lyon and Paris, from 29 August to 14 September 2031, with the final phase held in the capital.
FIBA also confirmed that Japan will host the Women’s Basketball World Cup in 2030, with matches in Tokyo running from 26 November to 8 December. The federation highlighted both countries as “leading organisers of major international events”, pointing to the Paris 2024 Olympics and the Tokyo 2020 Games as evidence of their hosting credentials.
The 2031 tournament will mark the first time a FIBA Basketball World Cup has been held in Europe since Spain hosted the event in 2014, ending a gap of 17 years for the continent. Subsequent editions were staged in China in 2019, across the Philippines, Japan and Indonesia in 2023, and the next men’s tournament is scheduled for Qatar in 2027.
“The FIBA Central Board decided that the bids by both the Japanese Basketball Association and the French Basketball Federation meet the high requirements we have from a FIBA World Cup host, and has entrusted them with this big responsibility,” FIBA said in its official announcement. “Japan and France are two basketball-loving nations, two destinations extremely popular with our fans, players and partners.”
France has a strong recent history of staging major FIBA events. Lille hosted EuroBasket 2015, Strasbourg co-hosted the Women’s EuroBasket 2021, and Lyon-Villeurbanne staged a Women’s Basketball World Cup 2026 qualifying tournament. The country’s basketball infrastructure and transport networks were cited as key factors in the decision.
“There has never been a Basketball World Cup in France. There are quite a few things that are aligning. We are coming off the Olympic Games which were euphoric, basketball ticket sales represented 10% of Olympic ticket sales, 1.1 million spectators, it’s pharaonic,” said Jean-Pierre Hunckler, President of the French Basketball Federation, in October 2025, when he outlined the case for a solo French bid.
France’s best results at the men’s World Cup are two third-place finishes, achieved in 2014 and 2019. The country’s men’s team won silver at the Paris 2024 Olympics, adding further momentum to domestic interest in the sport ahead of the home tournament. Japan’s women’s team also won silver at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, a result that strengthened the case for its 2030 bid.
The 2030 Women’s World Cup in Tokyo will carry additional significance as it coincides with the 100-year anniversary of the Japanese Basketball Association. Japan previously hosted the men’s World Cup in 2006 and one group phase of the 2023 edition in Okinawa, but the 2030 tournament will be its first time staging the women’s competition.
