2006 FIBA WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

The '2006 FIBA World Championship' was an international basketball competition hosted by Japan from August 19 to September 3, 2006. It was co-organised by the International Basketball Federation (FIBA), Japan Basketball Association (JABBA) and the 2006 Organizing Committee. Badtz-Maru, a fellow character of Hello Kitty from Japanese company Sanrio, was the official 2006 mascot.
For the first time since 1986, the World Championship was contested by 24 nations, eight more than in 2002. As a result, group rounds were conducted in four different cities, with the knockout round's being hosted by Saitama City.
The tournament was won by Spain, who, in the championship final, beat Greece, 70-47, to finish the tournament having won all nine games played. The bronze medal was won by the United States, who defeated Argentina, 96-81, in the third place game.

Contents

Competing nations

Squads

Preliminary rounds

Fifth through eighth place

Awards

All-tournament team

Final

Final standings

Referees

External links

Competing nations

The following national teams competed:

Group A	Group B	Group C	Group D
Argentina France Lebanon Nigeria Serbia and Montenegro Venezuela	Angola Germany Japan New Zealand Panama Spain	Australia Brazil Greece Lithuania Qatar Turkey	China Italy Puerto Rico Senegal Slovenia United States

Japan qualified as the host country, and Italy, Puerto Rico, Serbia & Montenegro, and Turkey gained FIBA wild-card invitations. Argentina qualified as the champion of the 2004 Olympics. The remaining 18 countries qualified through their continents' qualifying tournaments (six from Europe, four from the Americas, three from each of Asia and Africa and two from Oceania).
The draw for 2006 World Championship was held in Tokyo on 15 January 2006. In the preliminary rounds, Group A played at Sendai, Group B at Hiroshima, Group C at Hamamatsu and Group D at Sapporo. The Medal Rounds were played at Saitama.

Squads

Main articles: 2006 FIBA World Championship squads

At the start of tournament, all 24 participating countries had 12 players on their roster.

Preliminary rounds

===Group A (Sendai)===

Team	Pts	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	Diff	First Tiebreaker Classification for Tied Teams
Argentina	'10'	5	5	0	464	339	+125	x
France	'8'	5	3	2	353	329	+24	x
Nigeria	'7'	5	2	3	371	393	-22	2W-0L
Serbia and Montenegro	'7'	5	2	3	409	352	+57	1W-1L
Lebanon	'7'	5	2	3	357	451	-94	0W-2L
Venezuela	'6'	5	1	4	336	426	-90	x

August 19, 2006

Venezuela	72–82	'Lebanon'
Serbia & Montenegro	75–82	'Nigeria'
'Argentina'	80–70	France

August 20, 2006

Nigeria	77–84	'Venezuela'
Lebanon	72–107	'Argentina'
'France'	65–61	Serbia & Montenegro

August 21, 2006

'Argentina '	96–54	Venezuela
'Serbia & Montenegro'	104–57	Lebanon
'France'	64–53	Nigeria

August 23, 2006

Nigeria	64–98	'Argentina'
Venezuela	65–90	'Serbia & Montenegro'
'Lebanon'	74–73	France

August 24, 2006

Serbia & Montenegro	79–83	'Argentina'
Lebanon	72–95	'Nigeria'
'France'	81–61	Venezuela

===Group B (Hiroshima)===

Team	Pts	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	Diff
Spain	'10'	5	5	0	476	336	+140
Germany	'9'	5	4	1	421	384	+37
Angola	'8'	5	3	2	451	406	+45
New Zealand	'7'	5	2	3	345	393	-48
Japan	'6'	5	1	4	322	393	-71
Panama	'5'	5	0	5	326	429	-103

August 19, 2006

'Germany'	81–70	Japan
'Angola'	83–70	Panama
'Spain'	86–70	New Zealand

August 20, 2006

Japan	62–87	'Angola'
New Zealand	56–80	'Germany'
Panama	57–101	'Spain'

August 21, 2006

'Angola'	95–73	New Zealand
Germany	71–92	'Spain'
'Japan'	78–61	Panama

August 23, 2006

'Spain'	93–83	Angola
Panama	63–81	'Germany'
'New Zealand'	60–57	Japan

August 24, 2006

Angola	103–108 (3OT)	'Germany'
'New Zealand'	86–75	Panama
Japan	55–104	'Spain'

===Group C (Hamamatsu)===

Team	Pts	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	Diff
Greece	'10'	5	5	0	404	358	+46
Turkey	'9'	5	4	1	370	358	+12
Lithuania	'8'	5	3	2	413	353	+60
Australia	'7'	5	2	3	370	349	+21
Brazil	'6'	5	1	4	399	392	+7
Qatar	'5'	5	0	5	310	456	-146

August 19, 2006

Brazil	77–83	'Australia'
'Greece'	84–64	Qatar
'Turkey'	76–74	Lithuania

August 20, 2006

Qatar	66–97	'Brazil'
Australia	68–76	'Turkey'
Lithuania	76–81(OT)	'Greece'

August 22, 2006

'Lithuania'	106–65	Qatar
'Greece'	72–69	Australia
'Turkey'	73–71	Brazil

August 23, 2006

Australia	57–78	'Lithuania'
Qatar	69–76	'Turkey'
Brazil	80–91	'Greece'

August 24, 2006

'Australia'	93–46	Qatar
'Lithuania'	79–74	Brazil
'Greece'	76–69	Turkey

===Group D (Sapporo)===

Team	Pts	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	Diff	First Tiebreaker Classification for Tied Teams	Second Tiebreaker Goal Average for Tied Teams
United States	'10'	5	5	0	543	428	+115	x	x
Italy	'9'	5	4	1	386	367	+19	x	x
Slovenia	'7'	5	2	3	434	433	+1	1W-1L	(167/160, 1.0438)
China	'7'	5	2	3	424	455	-31	1W-1L	(165/167, 0.9880)
Puerto Rico	'7'	5	2	3	432	440	-8	1W-1L	(172/177, 0.9718)
Senegal	'5'	5	0	5	355	451	-96	x	x

August 19, 2006

Puerto Rico	100–111	'United States'
'Slovenia'	96–79	Senegal
China	69–84	'Italy'

August 20, 2006

Senegal	79–88	'Puerto Rico'
'Italy'	80–76	Slovenia
'United States'	121–90	China

August 22, 2006

'Puerto Rico'	90–87	China
'Italy'	64–56	Senegal
Slovenia	95–114	'United States'

August 23, 2006

Senegal	83–100	'China'
Puerto Rico	82–90	'Slovenia'
'United States'	94–85	Italy

August 24, 2006

Slovenia	77–78	'China'
'Italy'	73–72	Puerto Rico
'United States'	103–58	Senegal

==Knockout stage (Saitama)==
All times local (UTC +9)

Fifth through eighth place

Awards

2006 World Championship Winner
'Spain' 'First title'

Most valuable player
Pau Gasol

All-tournament team

★ Pau Gasol

★ Jorge Garbajosa

★ Carmelo Anthony

★ Manu Ginobili

★ Theodoros Papaloukas

Final

The final was an unexpectedly one-sided affair, with Spain dominating from the beginning and limiting Greece to just 47 points, fewer than the Greek had scored in any single game in the tournament, and less than half what Greece had scored against the USA in the semifinals. Spain won despite having lost power forward Pau Gasol, ultimately named the tournament's most valuable player, to injury in a semifinal match against Argentina.

Final standings

Rank	Team	Record
1	Spain	9-0
2	Greece	8-1
Failed to Reach Final
3	United States	8-1
4	Argentina	7-2
Failed to Reach Semi-Finals
5	France	6-3
6	Turkey	6-3
7	Lithuania	5-4
8	Germany	5-4
Failed to Reach Quarter-Finals			Tiebreaker/Goal Average
9	Italy	4-2
9	Angola	3-3
9	Serbia and Montenegro	2-4	1.1025
9	Slovenia	2-4	0.9904
9	Australia	2-4	0.9589
9	Nigeria	2-4	0.9512
9	China	2-4	0.8873
9	New Zealand	2-4	0.8623
Failed to Reach Eight-Finals			Tiebreaker/Goal Average
17	Puerto Rico	2-3	0.9818
17	Lebanon	2-3	0.7915
17	Brazil	1-4	1.0179
17	Japan	1-4	0.8193
21	Venezuela	1-4	0.7887
21	Senegal	0-5	0.7871
21	Panama	0-5	0.7599
21	Qatar	0-5	0.6798

Referees

For the World Championship, FIBA selected 40 professional referees.

Group A ★ Aibara, Nobuyasu ★ Ankara, Recep ★ Avanessian, Heros ★ Aylen, Michael ★ Chlif, Abdellilah ★ Dovidavičius, Virginijus ★ Facchini, Fabio ★ Jungebrand, Carl ★ Moore, Terry Matthew ★ Trías Iglesias, Álvaro Darío

Group B ★ Muhimua Joao, Abreu ★ Belošević, Ilija ★ Carrión, José Aníbal ★ Chiti, Alejandro César ★ Noujaim, Rabah ★ Ryzhyk, Borys ★ Sudek, Petr ★ Viator, Eddie ★ Yang, Maogong

Group C ★ Arteaga, Juan Carlos ★ Cerebuch, Guerrino ★ Estévez, Pablo Alberto ★ Homsy, Mike Amir ★ Mercedes Sánchez, Reynaldo Antonio ★ Miyatake, Yosuke ★ Muhvić, Dubravko ★ Pukl, Saša ★ Rush, Eddie Fernanzo ★ Vázquez, Jorge

Group D ★ Bachar, Shmuel ★ Brazauskas, Romualdas ★ Butler, Scott Jason ★ Delgado Casadiego, Daniel Alfredo ★ Hirahara, Yuji ★ Jovčić, Milivoje ★ Maranho, Cristiano Jesus ★ Martín Bertrán, José Antonio ★ Simão, Domingos Francisco ★ Mustafa Altindal

External links

★ FIBA World Championship 2006 Official Site

★ All games as calendar in ical-format

★ FIBA World Championship 2006 - Unofficial blog