What Do You Know about FIBA World Cup? 国际篮联世界杯知多少？

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.

国际篮联正在进行一项雄心勃勃的举措，这项举措已经酝酿了将近十年的时间。那就是希望自己的标志性赛事有朝一日能与足球的最高奖项相媲美。

这项举措从改变赛事名称入手。数十年来，这项赛事都被叫作国际篮联世界锦标赛，如今更名为国际篮联世界杯。作为开始，第一届篮球世界杯将于2019年的8月和9月在中国举办，这是一片拥有世界上最多篮球球迷的热土。

如果你忘记了篮球世锦赛/世界杯的存在，或许是因为它已经有5年没有举办了。按照正常的轮回，这项赛事本该在2018年就举办，但是被推迟至2019年的夏天。这主要是为了避免FIBA世界杯和FIFA世界杯在同一年举办。从20世纪60年代以来，FIFA世界杯每隔四个夏天举办一次。

说实话，国际篮联要做到使这项赛事与每四年举办一次的足球世界杯相一致，可谓任重而道远。就像足球世界杯一样，现在的国际篮联有着一个耗时费力，甚至带有少许争议的全新资格体系，这个资格体系贯穿着两年的赛程。为了更加接近足球赛事，国际篮联还扩大了赛事规模，将参与赛事的国家从24个扩充至32个。

在18个月的时间里，80个国家在各自的地区打12场比赛以获取参赛资格。这是一个转变，若按照先前的资格体系，球队得在夏天参与内陆锦标赛，最终的胜出者才能获取参赛资格。这些资格赛大多在冬季或传统的篮球赛季期间进行，这就意味着许多国家最佳的球员无法参赛，更别说NBA球员了！

这也同样发生在足球赛事上，世界杯预选赛在联赛赛季期间举办，耗时长达两年。但是，FIFA世界杯是一项传统的重要赛事，因此世界各地的联赛会暂停赛程，让最佳的球员们能够回去为国征战。

但在NBA和任何欧洲顶级联赛中，情况并非如此。因此，美国国家篮球队不得不招揽发展联盟球员和自由球员，以组建高质量的球队。

世界杯如此备受瞩目，以至于NBA暂停其赛程，让杰出的美国球员们飞往乌拉圭或巴西参与激烈的赛季中期资格赛。从大体上讲，同样的事情也会发生欧洲、亚洲和澳洲的联赛。

这在足球界可是司空见惯的事。或许里奥·梅西在本周刚为巴塞罗那打入一记制胜球，在下周就为阿根廷打入一粒进球，帮助球队挺进世界杯。

现在，这对于世界篮球来说还只是一个愿景。但是，国际篮联正一边规划愿景，一边打造切实可行的机制，使之有朝一日成为可能。

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.扩大;使发展

We have to expand the size of the image.

intense /?n'tens/ adj.激烈的;嚴肃紧张的

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