TAIPEI (Chinese Taipei) - Chinese Taipei aren't just fighting for a FIBA Asia Cup 2025 spot - they’re proving that they belong among Asia’s elite.
For decades, they’ve been a mainstay in the tournament, qualifying 18 straight times and with 25 appearances in total. Their legacy is strong, with moments of brilliance - a bronze medal in 1989 and a fourth-place finish in 2013 - but the recent journey has been about one thing: closing the gap.
Now, at the Qualifying Tournament for Third-Place Teams, they’re just two games away from keeping their streak alive. Guam on March 19. Thailand on March 21. Win, and they book their place in Jeddah. Lose, and they watch from the sidelines for the first time in a long time.
This isn’t about holding onto the past. It’s about proving they belong in the future.
It's important to have the best team and to show everybody that we want to keep competing for this very important goal.
From Struggle to Strength
The road here hasn’t been easy.
Back in Window 1 in February 2024, things looked bleak. Chinese Taipei opened the Asia Cup Qualifiers with two crushing losses - a 20-point defeat to New Zealand and a 53-point blowout against the Philippines. For some of the fans, the gap between them and the top teams felt insurmountable.
Then came a change that seemed to have given them a second wind. A new head coach, Gianluca Tucci.
By the next window in November 2024, Chinese Taipei turned the corner, demolishing Hong Kong, China by 30 points. Against New Zealand, they trailed by just one point in a game where they refused to back down. They lost by 17, but they had made a statement - they were no longer the same team that collapsed in February.
Coach Tucci saw the shift happening in real time.
"We are reducing the gap every single day... Coming back from minus-17 to minus-1 means that we can compete," he said after the loss to the Tall Blacks.
"We need to keep pushing. Every player has to [demand] more [of] himself and play with more pressure in every single day, even in the leagues. This is the way to be better…"
Breaking Through
Then in the final window this past February, that belief turned into reality.
In what many considered a massive upset, Chinese Taipei stunned the Philippines 91-84, securing one of their biggest win in years. But for Tucci, this wasn’t a fluke.
"I just know that the last win against the Philippines was nine years ago," he said. "But I don’t consider this a real surprise because I believe in my team. If you see how hard they work, how they train, this is not really a surprise. It's only a step to becoming better in every single game."
They closed the window with a 99-83 win over Hong Kong, China, concluding their Qualifiers campaign on a high note.
They finished third place in Group B, which means that there was still work to be done to qualify for the Asia Cup - but that didn't take away any of the progress that they had already made.
The Final Test at Home
Now, everything comes down to two games in Taipei.
Chinese Taipei will have home-court advantage at the University of Taipei Tianmu Gymnasium, and they know just how important that can be. Just ask the Philippines how much harder it was to operate with Chinese Taipei’s faithful fans roaring from the stands.
But home court doesn’t guarantee anything, and Chinese Taipei knows that well. Back in the Qualifying Tournament for Third-Place Teams in 2022, Guam hosted Chinese Taipei in Mangilao, but it was the visitors who pulled through and advanced on aggregate score, thanks to the clutch heroics of Lin Ting-Chien.
Aside from Guam, they’ll also have to face Thailand this time. A team that has steadily improved and is playing with the hunger to qualify for its first Asia Cup since 2013, this game won’t be easy by any means.
Every second of these games will be a test. Every possession will matter. But for Tucci, this is exactly what his team has been preparing for.
"We didn’t just use [window] games to win—we used them to improve," he said back in Window 2. "We explored different lineups, different setups."
And now, it all comes down to this.
"This is the final stage. We will compete to be among the best 16 teams in Asia," said Tucci after the final game of the Qualifiers.
"Every player deserves to play, even with few practices, but it’s important to have the best team and to show everybody that we want to keep competing for this very important goal. I think our players are really humble, so they deserve to take this chance."
The chance is here for the taking, right on their home court. Now, it’s up to Chinese Taipei to reach out and claim what they feel they deserve.
FIBA