THE WORLD
CHAMPIONSHIPS
HISTORY
The World Basketball Championship is now 60 years old. The trajectory started
in 1948 during the London Olympic Games. It has survived numerous setbacks
ranging from the lack of infrastructure in the earlier editions to the political
problems caused by, first, the Cold War, and second the break-up of countries
from the former communist bloc.
Stadiums lacked the basic requirements, there were frequent political boycotts, the USA initially
showed very little interest in the event, one edition, that of Manila in 1962, had to be cancelled,
are just some of the problems that arose during the first half century of the competition. These
problems would have doomed the championships to failure had it not been for the perseverance
and conviction of FIBA founder and General Secretary William Jones.
The history of the World Championships is closely tied to the career of William Jones. He was the
man who ran basketball in the post-war period from his office at UNESCO in Munich, where he
held high office. Like many other visionaries he set himself a challenge: that basketball would be
one of the forces to pull society out of the depression caused by the terrible years of war.
The London Olympics was the first step in the slow recovery from the wounds of conflict.
The basketball tournament was a great success. The USA easily won the gold, there was a high
participation, and the levels of many teams was better than expected after five years of inactivity.
This success inspired Jones to organise the first World Championship and Argentina was selected
to be host country.
On 22 October 1950, in the Luna Park Stadium in Buenos Aires, there was a jump ball to start the
first ever game on the World Championships. The honour of playing this historic match fell to Peru
and Yugoslavia which finished with a Peruvian victory by 33-27. Ten teams took part in the event
that received the full support of the Argentine government of General Peron. The host team
became the first world champions and the event provided the first taste of the political problems
that were to follow when Yugoslavia refused to play against Spain.
The first editions were marked by bad organisation and frequent lack of infrastructure, political
interference and the strength of the Brazilian team. Examples of the first problem are that in
1954 the event had to be removed from Sao Paulo to Rio de Janeiro because the promised arena
had not been constructed, a similar situation arose in Chile where the event had to be postponed
until 1959 and the matches played in open-air football stadiums, there was also the freezing cold
conditions of Montevideo in 1967. The political problems that had started in the first edition with
the Yugoslav refusal to play Spain continued in Chile where the USSR and Bulgaria refused to play
Taiwan, a decision that was to cost the Soviets the world title, this saga reached its culmination in
Manila 1962 when the Filipino government refused to grant visas to the participants from the
Eastern European countries which led to the event being transferred to Brazil, a country that
dominated the early editions with two gold medals and two silvers.
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FUNDACIÓN PEDRO FERRÁNDIZ