Intro
87% of all World Cup and Olympic medals in men category belong to European teams. Women are more diversified, it’s “only” 60%. That’s why incoming weekend games are so important.
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Interesting facts about 3x3 basketball
Where the past meets the future… and Ice Cube.
3x3 basketball is an European game
History of World Championship (FIBA3x3 World Cup) clearly shows the European dominance, at least in men’s category. Please notice, that Serbia wasn’t rewarded with the medal… twice.
To be fair, we have to admit that women’s World Cups and Olympic Games are less European-centric, mainly thanks to the USA team.
Where 3x3 basketball meets technology
Have the Netherlands won Olympic Games thanks to an app? We doubt so, but this story is very interesting to read and definitely shows the future of 3x3 and sports in general.
BIG3
Interview with league founder Ice Cube - most surprising and interesting topics - from our perspective:
He claims that the Big3's regular season ratings are doing better numbers than MLS or NHL in their regular season.
You can definitely expect him to jump up there and get down with grabbing the mic and entertaining the crowd.
He expresses that the league is doing "more than meets the eye" when it comes to helping athletes, specifically mentioning helping their mental health and providing a place to play at the pro level for those who might not have otherwise gotten to end their careers on their own terms.
Full version:
FIBA 3x3 World Tour
Only one tournament, in Mongolia. The only challenger played gathered half of the teams present in our power ranking, so small updates were needed.
Week summary
Sukhbaatar challenger, won by Ub, showed that, whatever they did during the break after a slow start, was effective. It also proved, that both Strahinja Stojacic and Cameron Forte are simply dominant:
And, luckily for all fans, they met in the final game:
#3x3PowerRanking
TOP17 teams in the world, in our opinion. Since the previous one, no new teams were added.
Format: position, team, position change, current FIBA3x3 ranking (June 4th 2025), reason.
Toulouse, -, 3, still seems to be the strongest team.
Amsterdam, -, 2, no De Jong = no final in Mongolia.
UB, +1, 1, two tournaments won in one week.
Miami, -1, 4, quiet week.
Raudondvaris, -, 6, preparing for Euro Cup qualifier.
Chongming, +1, 10, it’s no longer just Latvians and Forte.
Liman, -1, 7, took a break.
Hangzhou, -, 16, Ub and Chongming were too strong for them.
Vienna, -, 5, resting too.
Riffa, -, 8, stayed at home.
Partizan, -, 9, deserved a rest.
Ulaanbaatar, -, 14, we expected more from them at home.
Lausanne, -, 12, hopefully they are regrouping.
London, +4, 11, strong performance in Sukhbaatar.
Utrecht, -1, 17, they need to play more.
Shinagawa, -, 23, another two losses and just one win.
Carolina, -, 15, no games, no changes.
Predictions
No World Tour tournament scheduled for next week, but we can try guess the rest of the season, just for fun. In our opinion, the top 3 will stay the same: Toulouse, Ub, Amsterdam. The sequence may change, but at the end of the season they will lead the official ranking and play in a grand finale.
Utrecht and Shinagawa are also our candidates to final tournament, and top 10 ranking teams in the final classification.
Time will show whether the trends we observed so far were true and/or stable enough.
3x3 basketball national teams
In less than 100 days, Copenhagen (Denmark) will host 12 nations in both men’s and women’s competing in FIBA3x3 Euro Cup 2025
In the men's category, Austria (last year's winners), Denmark (Hosts), Serbia, France and Netherlands qualified directly thanks to the ranking.
In the women's category, Spain (last year's winners), Denmark (Hosts), Netherlands, France and Germany qualified thanks to the ranking.
It leaves only 7 slots open and ready to be captured during three tournaments being played in parallel in three cities.Let’s try to guess who will advance (men & women) and which player will shine most in each location. In other words, our classical 3x3 predictions for the weekend:
Euro Cup Pristina (Kosovo) - only the winners qualify
Men: Kosovo, Albania, Azerbaijan, Cyprus, Ireland, Malta
Women: Kosovo, Azerbaijan, Cyprus, Ireland, Malta
In both cases Azerbaijan is our no. 1, even if the official ranking doesn’t show the same.
Bucharest (Romania) - three teams qualify
Men: Romania, Latvia, Poland, Hungary, Ukraine, Greece, Turkiye, Belgium, Croatia, Spain, Switzerland
In our opinion, Belgium, Spain and Poland, have the best chance to advance, with Adrian Bogucki being unstoppable under the basket. Latvia, without Lasmanis, may struggle a little bit. Greece and Croatia can create some positive surprises.
Women: Romania, Latvia, Poland, Hungary, Ukraine, Greece, Turkiye, Belgium, Croatia, Serbia
Latvia, after the latest Women’s Series win, has to be considered as contender. The Poland team looks better each month. And Hungary is always fun to watch, so we wish them success, too. Ukraine and Serbia for sure will catch our eye as well.
Kosice (Slovakia) - three teams qualify
Men: Slovakia, Lithuania, Czechia , Italy, Israel, Slovakia, Great Britain, Portugal, Georgia, Germany, Montenegro, Estonia
Lithuania is a no-brainer here, but to choose the other two is tough. We go with Great Britain and Germany, they deserve to give us a high-five in Copenhagen.
Women: Slovakia, Lithuania, Czechia, Italy, Israel, Slovakia, Great Britain, Portugal, Georgia, Austria
Italy, Lithuania and… no idea… let’s say Czechia. The first two played well last season, Czechia looks pretty good in 2025.
Take care, watch lots of 3x3 this weekend and don’t forget to comment and share what you just read if you like it!