New FIBA World Ranking Men presented by Nike launched

MIES, Switzerland - FIBA on Wednesday launched the new FIBA World Ranking Men, presented by Nike.

The innovative game-based ranking factors in results from official games played by 149 national teams and will be updated after every window of Qualifiers and following the conclusion of top official FIBA competitions.

The new ranking is based on results of games ranging from regional pre-qualifiers all the way to the FIBA Basketball World Cup Final, and includes the Olympic Basketball Tournament as well as the Continental Cups. The previous ranking was purely competition-based and only took into account the final standings of tournaments.

The basic principle is simple: 1,000 basis points are awarded in each game, with the two teams earning a share of these according to the margin of victory or defeat. Weightings are added on a round basis meaning that, when a team progresses through a top official FIBA competition, its wins are worth more with every round it plays.

The ranking has revised weightings of the competitions. For the first time, it sees the implementation of a time decay rewarding teams for their most recent performances. This replaces the system in place under the previous ranking, where all games over the 8-year period received the exact same value.

Finally, the new ranking also recognizes the value of away wins and rewards facing and beating opponents that are higher in the ranking.

FIBA Secretary General and International Olympic Committee (IOC) Member Patrick Baumann said: "The new ranking was devised with our new calendar clearly in mind. We are pleased to offer more teams - 149 of them, compared to 91 previously - a ranking that can be updated after every window of the Qualifiers so that national teams, fans and their national federations can follow their progress on a more regular basis. Prior to the change, the rankings already proved to be among the most popular pages on FIBA.basketball and we expect there will be even more debating and conversations taking place following the implementation of this new one."

For now, the new FIBA World Ranking Men, presented by Nike, only applies to senior men's national teams and competitions. FIBA will work towards drawing up and implementing similar systems for the women's and youth (boys and girls) rankings at a later stage.

Click here to view the full FIBA World Ranking Men, presented by Nike, here to find out how it works and here for the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ).

###

About FIBA
FIBA (fiba.basketball) - the world governing body for basketball - is an independent association formed by 213 National Basketball Federations throughout the world. It is recognised as the sole competent authority in basketball by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

For further information about FIBA visit fiba.basketball or follow FIBA on facebook.com/fiba, twitter.com/fiba, instagram.com/fiba and youtube.com/fiba.