Basketball Australia to bid to host 2031 FIBA Basketball World Cup

Basketball Australia will pitch to host the 2031 Basketball World Cup, inspired by the success of the Matildas in uniting the nation. And Melbourne will host key games under the plan.

Josh Giddey in action against Japan during the FIBA Basketball World Cup. Picture: Takashi Aoyama

Australia is set to bid for the basketball world cup in the wake of last month’s record breaking FIFA Women’s soccer World Cup.

Inspired by the Matildas’ nation uniting efforts and a hugely successful women’s tournament in Australia and New Zealand, moves are afoot to bring the best basketballers on earth down under.

This year’s FIBA World Cup is being played in the Philippines, Indonesia and Japan, after the Australian Boomers played three games in Melbourne before crowds of more than 10,000 a night.

Meetings about the 2031 World Cup are expected in coming weeks and Basketball Australia chief executive Matt Scriven confirmed an Aussie bid was on the cards.

“In relation to the Men’s Basketball World Cup we have expressed our interest to host this event together with several other premium events and we will continue our discussions with FIBA over the coming months,’’ he said.

NBA star Josh Giddey in action for the Boomers at the 2021 FIBA World Cup. Picture: Takashi Aoyama.

Five time Olympian Andrew Gaze told the Herald Sun Australians would get behind a basketball World Cup on home soil with the same parochialism they showed the Matildas.

“It would be very nice, for sure,” Gaze said.

“We’ve shown the world with the Olympics, now the Women’s World Cup … tell me a major event that we’ve had in Australia that we’ve had that hasn’t gone well.’’

If not Australia alone, Gaze said the FIFA Women’s World Cup blueprint could be followed by playing the tournament in conjunction with New Zealand.

“The combination is not a bad formula … they are happy to give it to regions more so than just countries,’’ he said.

“We should absolutely have a crack.”

Gaze said Aussie fans would sell out stadiums to see the likes of NBA stars Giannis Antetokounmpo play for Greece or Luka Doncic represent Greece, as well as Australia’s top talent.

Gaze is backing Australia’s bid to host the FIBA World Cup. Picture: Michael Klein

NBA champion and Boomers great Andrew Bogut said strong Aussie basketball crowds and the fact no major infrastructure would be needed made a World Cup bid a no-brainer.

“We have the facilities ready to do it tomorrow – it’s not a Commonwealth Games type thing where we would need to build new facilities,’’ he said.

“We could use what we’ve got in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane – potentially Perth – I think it’s definitely doable but whether FIBA want to do it is another question.’’

The Herald Sun last month revealed Football Australia was set to bid for the 2034 FIFA World Cup and other major soccer tournaments.

Now Australia is eyeing the FIBA World Cup, which will next be staged in Qatar in 2027.

Australia would be among favourites to land the 2031 edition, with joint bids by the US and Canada and France, Germany and Italy our biggest threats.

Lithuania, Bulgaria and Latvia, Senegal and Egypt and Serbia and Slovenia are also believed to be considering bids.

The success of the Matildas is fuelling interest in other major sporting events. Picture: Adam Head

Two time NBL champion Warrick Giddey, whose NBA star son Josh is the new face of the Boomers, said Australia was the perfect place for the World Cup.

“Go for the next World Cup we can,” he said.

“We’ve got so many Greeks, Spanish, Italians here – if any of those teams came out they would feel like they are playing at home.”

Sydney staged a record breaking FIBA Women’s World Cup last year, shattering crowd and broadcast marks as Australia won a bronze medal.

Mr Scriven said: “We are committed to giving our national teams the opportunity to play on home soil and for our fans to see world class basketball here.

“Australia is renowned globally for its sporting infrastructure and passionate fans, we have an events strategy for the next 10 years to bring more basketball content here.’’

Originally published as Basketball Australia to bid to host 2031 FIBA Basketball World Cup