1994 FIBA World Championship

This article is about 1994 FIBA World Championship for Men. For the equivalent games for women players, see 1994 FIBA World Championship for Women.

1994 FIBA World Championship

FIBA Championnat du monde de basket-ball masculin 1994
Tournament details
Host country	Canada
City	Toronto Hamilton
Dates	August 4–14
Officially opened by	Ray Hnatyshyn
Teams	16 (from 5 confederations)
Venue(s)	SkyDome Maple Leaf Gardens Copps Coliseum
Final positions
Champions	United States (3rd title)
Runners-up	Russia
Third place	Croatia
Fourth place	Greece
Tournament statistics
Games played	64
MVP	Shaquille O'Neal
Top scorer	Andrew Gaze (23.9 points per game)
← 1990 1998 →

The 1994 FIBA World Championship was the 12th FIBA World Championship, the international basketball world championship for men's national teams. The tournament was hosted by Canada from August 4 to 14, 1994. The tournament was held at SkyDome ^[1] and Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto ^[2] as well as at Copps Coliseum in Hamilton. ^[2] The hosting duties were originally awarded to Belgrade, Yugoslavia, but after United Nations limited participation in sporting events in Yugoslavia, Toronto stepped in as a replacement option in 1992.

The 1994 FIBA World Championship was the first time that the FIBA World Championship (now called the FIBA Basketball World Cup) allowed current American NBA players that had already played in an official NBA regular season game to participate. Prior to that only professionals from other leagues were allowed to compete, since players from other leagues were still considered amateurs. ^[3]

The tournament was won by the United States's "Dream Team II", who beat Russia 137–91 in the Final. The United States finished with a perfect 8–0 record (8 wins and 0 losses). The bronze medal was won by Croatia who beat Greece 78–60 in the bronze-medal game.

Venues

Three stadia were used during the tournament:

Toronto		Hamilton
SkyDome	Maple Leaf Gardens	Copps Coliseum
Capacity: 28,708	Capacity: 16,538	Capacity: 18,436
SkyDome Maple Leaf Gardens Copps Coliseum

Qualification

There were 16 teams taking part in the 1994 World Cup of Basketball. After the 1992 Olympics, the continental allocation for FIBA Americas was reduced by one when the United States won the Olympic tournament, automatically qualifying them for the 1994 World Cup.

• Host nation: 1 berth
• 1992 Summer Olympics: 12 teams competing for 1 berth, removed from that country's FIBA zone.
• FIBA Oceania: 3 teams competing for 1 berth
• FIBA Europe: 16 teams competing for 5 berths
• FIBA Americas: 10 teams competing for 4 berths
• FIBA Africa: 9 teams competing for 2 berths
• FIBA Asia: 18 teams competing for 2 berths

Qualified teams

Means of qualification	Date	Venue	Berths	Teams qualified
Host	–		1	Canada
1992 Olympic men's basketball tournament	July 26–August 8, 1992	Barcelona	1	United States
1993 FIBA Oceania Championship	June 7–10, 1993	Auckland	1	Australia
EuroBasket 1993	June 22–July 4, 1993	Berlin, Karlsruhe and Munich	5	Germany   Russia   Croatia   Greece   Spain
1993 Tournament of the Americas	August 28–September 5, 1993	San Juan	4	Puerto Rico   Argentina   Brazil   Cuba
FIBA Africa Championship 1993	September 18–28, 1993	Nairobi	2	Angola   Egypt
1993 ABC Championship	November 12–21, 1993	Jakarta	2	China   North Korea   South Korea *
Total			16

*  North Korea withdrew from the tournament,   South Korea replaced them.

Draw

Group A	Group B	Group C	Group D
Brazil   China   Spain   United States	Australia   Croatia   Cuba   South Korea	Angola   Argentina   Canada   Russia	Germany   Greece   Egypt   Puerto Rico

Preliminary round

The top two teams from each group remain in medal contention.

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification
1	United States	3	3	0	352	259	+93	6	Quarterfinal round
2	China	3	2	1	252	301	−49	5
3	Spain	3	1	2	249	260	−11	4	9th–16th classification round
4	Brazil	3	0	3	242	275	−33	3

Source: FIBA archive
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) head-to-head points; 3) head-to-head goal average; 4) head-to-head number of points scored.

August 4

China	97–93 (OT)	Brazil
Scoring by half: 38-30, 39-47  Overtime: 20-16

Copps Coliseum, Hamilton

August 4

United States	115–100	Spain
Scoring by half: 59-51, 56-49

Copps Coliseum, Hamilton

August 5

Brazil	67–73	Spain
Scoring by half: 36-30, 31-43

Copps Coliseum, Hamilton

August 5

United States	132–77	China
Scoring by half: 71-38, 61-39

Copps Coliseum, Hamilton

August 7

Spain	76–78	China
Scoring by half: 46-31, 30-47

Copps Coliseum, Hamilton

August 7

United States	105–82	Brazil
Scoring by half: 48-36, 57-46

Copps Coliseum, Hamilton

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification
1	Croatia	3	3	0	272	187	+85	6	Quarterfinal round
2	Australia	3	2	1	249	255	−6	5
3	Cuba	3	1	2	244	257	−13	4	9th–16th classification round
4	South Korea	3	0	3	217	283	−66	3

Source: FIBA archive
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) head-to-head points; 3) head-to-head goal average; 4) head-to-head number of points scored.

August 4

Croatia	85–65	Cuba
Scoring by half: 45-27, 40-38

Copps Coliseum, Hamilton

August 4

Australia	87–85	South Korea
Scoring by half: 59-44, 28-41

Copps Coliseum, Hamilton

August 5

Croatia	104–53	South Korea
Scoring by half: 52-30, 52-23

Maple Leaf Gardens, Toronto

August 5

Cuba	87–93	Australia
Scoring by half: 42-42, 45-51

Maple Leaf Gardens, Toronto

August 6

Cuba	92–79	South Korea
Scoring by half: 46-44, 46-35

Maple Leaf Gardens, Toronto

August 6

Croatia	83–69	Australia
Scoring by half: 43-39, 40-30

Maple Leaf Gardens, Toronto

Group C

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification
1	Russia	3	3	0	251	187	+64	6	Quarterfinal round
2	Canada (H)	3	2	1	240	198	+42	5
3	Argentina	3	1	2	204	234	−30	4	9th–16th classification round
4	Angola	3	0	3	168	244	−76	3

Source: FIBA archive
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) head-to-head points; 3) head-to-head goal average; 4) head-to-head number of points scored.
(H) Hosts

August 4

Canada	83–52	Angola
Scoring by half: 39-30, 44-22

Maple Leaf Gardens, Toronto

August 4

Russia	84–64	Argentina
Scoring by half: 38-31, 46-33

Maple Leaf Gardens, Toronto

August 5

Canada	91–73	Argentina
Scoring by half: 30-30, 61-43

Maple Leaf Gardens, Toronto

August 5

Russia	94–57	Angola
Scoring by half: 46-21, 48-36

Maple Leaf Gardens, Toronto

August 6

Argentina	67–59	Angola
Scoring by half: 36-34, 31-25

Copps Coliseum, Hamilton

August 6

Russia	73–66	Canada
Scoring by half: 36-41, 37-25

Copps Coliseum, Hamilton

Group D

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification
1	Greece	3	2	1	201	183	+18	5 [a]	Quarterfinal round
2	Puerto Rico	3	2	1	248	219	+29	5 [a]
3	Germany	3	2	1	217	198	+19	5 [a]	9th–16th classification round
4	Egypt	3	0	3	183	249	−66	3

Source: FIBA archive
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) head-to-head points; 3) head-to-head goal average; 4) head-to-head number of points scored.
Notes:

1. Head-to-head record: Greece 1–1 (1.02 GAvg), Puerto Rico 1–1 (1.01 GAvg), Germany 1–1 (0.98 GAvg)

August 4

Puerto Rico	102–74	Egypt
Scoring by half: 48-35, 54-39

Maple Leaf Gardens, Toronto

August 4

Greece	68–58	Germany
Scoring by half: 31-35, 37-23

Maple Leaf Gardens, Toronto

August 5

Greece	69–53	Egypt
Scoring by half: 37-28, 32-25

Copps Coliseum, Hamilton

August 5

Puerto Rico	74–81	Germany
Scoring by half: 42-41, 32-40

Copps Coliseum, Hamilton

August 7

Puerto Rico	72–64	Greece
Scoring by half: 35-39, 37-25

Maple Leaf Gardens, Toronto

August 7

Germany	78–56	Egypt
Scoring by half: 39-28, 39-28

Maple Leaf Gardens, Toronto

Quarterfinal round

The top two finishers from Groups I and II advance to the final round.

Group I

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification
1	United States	3	3	0	375	251	+124	6	Semifinals
2	Russia	3	2	1	298	272	+26	5
3	Australia	3	1	2	244	314	−70	4	5th–8th classification round
4	Puerto Rico	3	0	3	249	329	−80	3

Source: FIBA archive
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) head-to-head points; 3) head-to-head goal average; 4) head-to-head number of points scored.

August 9

Russia	101–85	Puerto Rico
Scoring by half: 51-47, 50-38

Maple Leaf Gardens, Toronto

August 9

United States	130–74	Australia
Scoring by half: 62-48, 68-26

Maple Leaf Gardens, Toronto

August 10

Australia	76–103	Russia
Scoring by half: 30-55, 46-48

Maple Leaf Gardens, Toronto

August 10

Puerto Rico	83–134	United States
Scoring by half: 25-62, 58-72

Maple Leaf Gardens, Toronto

August 11

Australia	94–81	Puerto Rico
Scoring by half: 51-41, 43-40

Maple Leaf Gardens, Toronto

August 12

United States	111–94	Russia
Scoring by half: 52-44, 59-50

Maple Leaf Gardens, Toronto

Group II

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification
1	Croatia	3	3	0	278	189	+89	6	Semifinals
2	Greece	3	2	1	206	213	−7	5
3	Canada (H)	3	1	2	222	224	−2	4	5th–8th classification round
4	China	3	0	3	192	272	−80	3

Source: FIBA archive
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) head-to-head points; 3) head-to-head goal average; 4) head-to-head number of points scored.
(H) Hosts

August 8

Croatia	105–73	China
Scoring by half: 61-41, 44-32

SkyDome, Toronto

August 8

Greece	74–71	Canada
Scoring by half: 40-34, 34-37

Maple Leaf Gardens, Toronto

August 10

Canada	61–92	Croatia
Scoring by half: 30-45, 31-47

Copps Coliseum, Hamilton

August 10

China	61–77	Greece
Scoring by half: 30-35, 31-42

Copps Coliseum, Hamilton

August 11

China	58–90	Canada
Scoring by half: 37-43, 21-47

Maple Leaf Gardens, Toronto

August 12

Croatia	81–55	Greece
Scoring by half: 38-29, 43-26

SkyDome, Toronto

9th–16th classification

Quarterfinal round

Group III

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification
1	Spain	3	3	0	264	179	+85	6	9th–12th classification round
2	Argentina	3	2	1	266	221	+45	5
3	South Korea	3	1	2	229	284	−55	4	13th–16th classification round
4	Egypt	3	0	3	199	274	−75	3

Source: FIBA archive
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) head-to-head points; 3) head-to-head goal average; 4) head-to-head number of points scored.

August 8

Spain	98–57	South Korea
Scoring by half: 53-39, 45-18

Copps Coliseum, Hamilton

August 8

Argentina	91–66	Egypt
Scoring by half: 52-30, 39-36

Copps Coliseum, Hamilton

August 9

Egypt	52–94	Spain
Scoring by half: 18-40, 34-54

Copps Coliseum, Hamilton

August 9

South Korea	83–105	Argentina
Scoring by half: 45-50, 38-55

Copps Coliseum, Hamilton

August 11

Spain	72–70	Argentina
Scoring by half: 37-34, 35-36

Copps Coliseum, Hamilton

August 11

South Korea	89–81	Egypt
Scoring by half: 49-34, 40-47

Copps Coliseum, Hamilton

Group IV

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification
1	Germany	3	3	0	268	226	+42	6	9th–12th classification round
2	Brazil	3	1	2	236	251	−15	4 [a]
3	Cuba	3	1	2	225	239	−14	4 [a]	13th–16th classification round
4	Angola	3	1	2	226	239	−13	4 [a]

Source: FIBA archive
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) head-to-head points; 3) head-to-head goal average; 4) head-to-head number of points scored.
Notes:

1. Head-to-head record: Brazil 1–1 (1.03 GAvg), Cuba 1–1 (0.99 GAvg), Angola 1–1 (0.98 GAvg)

August 8

Cuba	76–82	Brazil
Scoring by half: 39-35, 37-47

Copps Coliseum, Hamilton

August 8

Germany	86–76	Angola
Scoring by half: 32-45, 54-31

Copps Coliseum, Hamilton

August 9

Angola	71–75	Cuba
Scoring by half: 39-38, 32-37

Copps Coliseum, Hamilton

August 9

Brazil	76–96	Germany
Scoring by half: 49-48, 27-48

Copps Coliseum, Hamilton

August 11

Cuba	74–86	Germany
Scoring by half: 34-47, 40-39

Copps Coliseum, Hamilton

August 11

Brazil	78–79	Angola
Scoring by half: 44-52, 34-27

Copps Coliseum, Hamilton

13th–16th classification

	Semifinals				13th place game
	South Korea	75
	Angola	71
					South Korea	76
					Egypt	69
	Egypt	69
	Cuba	54
					15th place game
					Angola	67
					Cuba	75

Semifinals

August 12

South Korea	75–71	Angola
Scoring by half: 47-46, 28-25

Copps Coliseum, Hamilton

August 12

Cuba	54–69	Egypt
Scoring by half: 28-34, 26-35

Copps Coliseum, Hamilton

Fifteenth place playoff

August 13

Angola	67–75	Cuba
Scoring by half: 38-40, 29-35

Copps Coliseum, Hamilton

Thirteenth place playoff

August 13

South Korea	76–69	Egypt
Scoring by half: 41-35, 35-34

Copps Coliseum, Hamilton

9th–12th classification

	Semifinals				9th place game
	Spain	90
	Brazil	85
					Spain	65
					Argentina	74
	Argentina	85
	Germany	71
					11th place game
					Brazil	93
					Germany	71

Semifinals

August 12

Spain	90–85	Brazil
Scoring by half: 43-34, 47-51

Copps Coliseum, Hamilton

August 12

Germany	71–85	Argentina
Scoring by half: 41-44, 30-41

Copps Coliseum, Hamilton

Eleventh place playoff

August 13

Brazil	93–71	Germany
Scoring by half: 48-42, 45-29

Copps Coliseum, Hamilton

Ninth place playoff

August 13

Spain	65–74	Argentina
Scoring by half: 25-39, 40-35

Copps Coliseum, Hamilton

5th–8th classification

	Semifinals				5th place game
	Australia	95
	China	57
					Australia	96
					Puerto Rico	83
	Puerto Rico	85
	Canada	82
					7th place game
					China	76
					Canada	104

Semifinals

August 13

Australia	95–57	China
Scoring by half: 44-27, 51-30

SkyDome, Toronto

August 13

Canada	82–85	Puerto Rico
Scoring by half: 47-48, 35-37

SkyDome, Toronto

Seventh place playoff

August 14

China	76–104	Canada
Scoring by half: 41-51, 35-53

Copps Coliseum, Hamilton

Fifth place playoff

August 14

Australia	96–83	Puerto Rico
Scoring by half: 57-47, 39-36

Copps Coliseum, Hamilton

Final round

	Semifinals				Final
	Russia	66
	Croatia	64
					Russia	91
					United States	137
	Greece	58
	United States	97
					Third place game
					Croatia	78
					Greece	60

Semifinals

August 13

United States	97–58	Greece
Scoring by half: 40-30, 57-28

SkyDome, Toronto

August 13

Croatia	64–66	Russia
Scoring by half: 22-31, 42-35

SkyDome, Toronto

Third place playoff

August 14

Greece	60–78	Croatia
Scoring by half: 32-36, 28-42

SkyDome, Toronto

Final

August 14 16:00

Box

United States	137–91	Russia
Scoring by half: 73–40, 64–51
Pts: Wilkins 20 Rebs: Johnson 11 Asts: Dumars, Price 5		Pts: Babkov 22 Rebs: Kisurin 7 Asts: Bazarevich 7

SkyDome, Toronto Attendance: 32.616 Referees: Wiesław Zych (POL), Isaac Glass (URU)

Awards

1994 FIBA World Championship winner
United States Third title

MVP
Shaquille O'Neal

All-Tournament Team

Main article: FIBA Basketball World Cup All-Tournament Team

• Sergei Bazarevich
• Reggie Miller
• Shawn Kemp
• Dino Rađa
• Shaquille O'Neal — MVP

O'Neal, who had a sponsorship deal with Pepsi, declined to accept the MVP award and sent Shawn Kemp in his stead as the award, which was sponsored by Coca-Cola, was a bottle of Coke encased in glass atop a wooden base. ^{[4] [5]}

Top scorers (ppg)

Source: ^[6]

1. Andrew Gaze 23.9
2. Dino Rađa 22.4
3. Arijan Komazec 19.4
4. Hur Jae 19.4
5. Paolo de Almeida 19.4
6. Moon Kyung-Eun 19
7. Richard Matienzo 18.8
8. Shaquille O'Neal 18
9. Marcelo Nicola 17.7
10. Reggie Miller 17.1

Final standings

1994 FIBA World Championship final rankings.

Rank	Team	Record
	United States	8–0
	Russia	6–2
	Croatia	7–1
4	Greece	4–4
5	Australia	5–3
6	Puerto Rico	3–5
7	Canada	4–4
8	China	2–6
9	Argentina	5–3
10	Spain	5–3
11	Brazil	2–6
12	Germany	5–3
13	South Korea	3–5
14	Egypt	1–7
15	Cuba	3–5
16	Angola	1–7

References

1. The New York Times, BASKETBALL; Dream Team Ends Its Sequel Predictably
2. The New York Times, Sports of The Times; Toronto, Dream Team, The World
3. "Why Can Pros Complete in International Events". Archived from the original on January 20, 2015.
4. "Soda wars fizzle as O'Neal declines to accept award". The Orlando Sentinel . August 15, 1994. p. B2. Retrieved December 15, 2023– via Newspapers.com.
5. "USAB: A Look Back at the USA Men's 1994 World Championship Gold Medal". Archived from the original on July 25, 2015. Retrieved July 24, 2015.
6. Statistics

External links

• 1994 FIBA World Championship
• FIBA official website
• EuroBasket.com FIBA Basketball World Cup Page