YUGOSLAVIA
1970
Due to the cold weather suffered in Montevideo FIBA finally decided to leave
South America and award the world championship to a European country. At
the FIBA central committee meeting held on 3 June 1967 in Montevideo the
chosen host for the final phase of the world championships was the
Yugoslavian city of Ljubjana. It was to be held in 1970 in order to make a
permanent return to the original idea of a four year period between
championships, two years before and after each Olympics.
In the previous few years Yugoslavia had become a world power in basketball. They achieved good
results wherever they went and in addition to the silver medal in the previous world championship
they also finished second in the Mexico Olympics to the detriment of the USSR, and a few months
before this tournament they picked up another silver medal at the European Championship held
in Naples.
There was no doubt that the Yugoslavian success on the court fully justified FIBA's decision to
award them the games. Moreover, the games enjoyed the unconditional support of the
government. The peculiarities of the Yugoslav regime (communist but with a far better image than
the rest of the Soviet Bloc) meant that there were very few dissenting voices to their selection as
hosts for the tournament.
Politics, which had blighted every previous edition of the competition, left the stage and was
replaced by pure basketball. It was the 25 th anniversary of the Yugoslav Basketball Federation and
they threw themselves wholeheartedly into the organisation of the tournament. The government
provided them with all the means they needed and took full advantage of this to stage the best
championship to date. Led by Borislav Stankovic, already a well respected leader in FIBA circles,
the organisers decided to maintain the same format as in previous editions, thirteen teams and
the host nation given a bye through the preliminary phase.
The main change in this edition was the presence of participants from five continents. Australia
represented Oceania as the strongest team in the area even though the first continental
tournament would not be held until 1971. South Korea and the United Arab Emirates (UAR)
represented Asia and Africa as the respective continental champions. Brazil and Uruguay qualified
as the top two in the South American championship, and Cuba, Panama, Canada and the USA
completed the American contingent. Europe was represented by the USSR, Italy and
Czechoslovakia, along with the host country, Yugoslavia.
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FUNDACIÓN PEDRO FERRÁNDIZ
WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP