What Do You Know about FIBA World Cup? 國際籃聯世界杯知多少？

FIBA， basketballs international organizing body， is making an ambitious move that has been nearly a decade in the making as it aims for its signature event to one day rival soccers biggest prize.

It starts with the name. What was known for decades as the FIBA World Championships is now known as the FIBA World Cup. To kick it off， the first basketball World Cup is being held this August and September in China， which boasts the most basketball fans on the planet.

If youd forgotten about the existence of World Championships/World Cup， it might be because it hasnt taken place in five years. It was pushed back from its normal rotation in 2018 to this summer. This was primarily so it wouldnt be conducted in the same year as the FIFA World Cup， which it trailed every four summers dating to the 1960s.

In all honesty， FIBA has a long way to go here in trying to square this event with soccers festival every four years. Now FIBA has a new laborious and even mildly controversial qualification system that， like its bigger soccer brother， takes place throughout the calendar over the course of two years. To be more like the soccer event， it has expanded size of its field to create a larger and more diverse group of competitors， going from 24 countries to 32.

Over an 18-month span， 80 countries played 12 games in their regions to qualify. This was a change from the previous system where teams played in continental tournaments over the summer and top finishers advanced. Most of these qualifying games were played during the winter months and traditional basketball season， which often meant countries best players couldnt participate. Certainly no NBA players did.

This happens in soccer， the World Cup qualifiers take place during the league seasons over the course of two years. But the FIFA World Cup is so important and so traditional， that leagues around the world pause their schedules to allow the best players to return to play for their home countries.

That didnt happen in the NBA or any of the top European leagues. Thus USA Basketball had to scramble to field quality teams made up of League players and free agents.

The World Cup will be so highly thought of that the NBA will halt its schedule and the great American players of the day will fly off to Uruguay or Brazil for intense midseason qualification games. The same thing， in grand theory， would happen across Europe， Asia and Australia.

This is a regular occurrence in soccer， where Lionel Messi would make a game-winner for FC Barcelona one week and the next week score for Argentina to get it into the World Cup.

Right now， that image in the world basketball is just a dream. But FIBA is doing the dreaming and putting the mechanics in place to make it possible one day.

國際籃聯正在進行一項雄心勃勃的舉措，這項舉措已經醞釀了將近十年的時間。那就是希望自己的標志性賽事有朝一日能與足球的最高獎項相媲美。

這項舉措從改變賽事名稱入手。數十年來，這項賽事都被叫作國際籃聯世界錦標賽，如今更名為國際籃聯世界杯。作為開始，第一屆籃球世界杯將于2019年的8月和9月在中國舉辦，這是一片擁有世界上最多籃球球迷的熱土。

如果你忘記了籃球世錦賽/世界杯的存在，或許是因為它已經有5年沒有舉辦了。按照正常的輪回，這項賽事本該在2018年就舉辦，但是被推遲至2019年的夏天。這主要是為了避免FIBA世界杯和FIFA世界杯在同一年舉辦。從20世紀60年代以來，FIFA世界杯每隔四個夏天舉辦一次。

說實話，國際籃聯要做到使這項賽事與每四年舉辦一次的足球世界杯相一致，可謂任重而道遠。就像足球世界杯一樣，現在的國際籃聯有著一個耗時費力，甚至帶有少許爭議的全新資格體系，這個資格體系貫穿著兩年的賽程。為了更加接近足球賽事，國際籃聯還擴大了賽事規模，將參與賽事的國家從24個擴充至32個。

在18個月的時間里，80個國家在各自的地區打12場比賽以獲取參賽資格。這是一個轉變，若按照先前的資格體系，球隊得在夏天參與內陸錦標賽，最終的勝出者才能獲取參賽資格。這些資格賽大多在冬季或傳統的籃球賽季期間進行，這就意味著許多國家最佳的球員無法參賽，更別說NBA球員了！

這也同樣發生在足球賽事上，世界杯預選賽在聯賽賽季期間舉辦，耗時長達兩年。但是，FIFA世界杯是一項傳統的重要賽事，因此世界各地的聯賽會暫停賽程，讓最佳的球員們能夠回去為國征戰。

但在NBA和任何歐洲頂級聯賽中，情況并非如此。因此，美國國家籃球隊不得不招攬發展聯盟球員和自由球員，以組建高質量的球隊。

世界杯如此備受矚目，以至于NBA暫停其賽程，讓杰出的美國球員們飛往烏拉圭或巴西參與激烈的賽季中期資格賽。從大體上講，同樣的事情也會發生歐洲、亞洲和澳洲的聯賽。

這在足球界可是司空見慣的事?；蛟S里奧·梅西在本周剛為巴塞羅那打入一記制勝球，在下周就為阿根廷打入一粒進球，幫助球隊挺進世界杯。

現在，這對于世界籃球來說還只是一個愿景。但是，國際籃聯正一邊規劃愿景，一邊打造切實可行的機制，使之有朝一日成為可能。

Word Study

ambitious /?m'b???s/ adj.有野心的;有雄心的

Chris is so ambitious， so determined to do it all.

expand /?k'sp?nd/ v.擴大;使發展

We have to expand the size of the image.

intense /?n'tens/ adj.激烈的;嚴肅緊張的

So where does this doubt and intense emotional fear come from？