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 rounds 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. [edit] Competing nations The following national teams competed:  Teams that entered qualification tournaments; Asia (purple), Africa (orange), Americas (green), Europe (blue) and Oceania (yellow) and automatic qualifiers (aqua) Japan qualified as the host country, and Italy, Puerto Rico, Serbia & Montenegro, and Turkey gained FIBA wild-card invitations[1]. 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. [edit] Squads At the start of tournament, all 24 participating countries had 12 players on their roster. [edit] Venues [edit] Preliminary rounds August 19, 2006 August 20, 2006 August 21, 2006 August 23, 2006 August 24, 2006 August 19, 2006 August 20, 2006 August 21, 2006 August 23, 2006 August 24, 2006 August 19, 2006 August 20, 2006 August 22, 2006 August 23, 2006 August 24, 2006 | 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 August 20, 2006 August 22, 2006 August 23, 2006 August 24, 2006 All times local (UTC +9) | Round of 16 | | Quarter-finals | | Semi-finals | | Final | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | August 26, 2006 - 10:00 | | | | | | | | | | | |  Argentina | 79 | | August 29, 2006 - 19:30 | |  New Zealand | 62 | | | Argentina | 83 | | August 26, 2006 - 17:00 | | |  Turkey | 58 | | | Turkey | 90 | | | September 1, 2006 - 19:30 | | Slovenia | 84 | | | Argentina | 74 | | August 26, 2006 - 20:00 | | |  Spain | 75 | | | Spain | 87 | | August 29, 2006 - 16:30 | | |  Serbia and Montenegro | 75 | | | Spain | 89 | | August 26, 2006 - 13:00 | | |  Lithuania | 67 | | | Italy | 68 | | | September 3, 2006 - 19:30 | | Lithuania | 71 | | | Spain | 70 | | August 27, 2006 - 20:00 | | |  Greece | 47 | | Greece | 95 | | August 30, 2006 - 16:30 | | | China | 64 | | | Greece | 73 | | August 27, 2006 - 17:00 | | |  France | 56 | | | France | 68 | | | September 1, 2006 - 16:30 | |  Angola | 62 | | | Greece | 101 | | August 27, 2006 - 13:00 | | | United States | 95 | | Third place | | United States | 113 | | August 30, 2006 - 19:30 | | September 2, 2006 - 19:30 | |  Australia | 73 | | | United States | 85 | United States | 96 | | August 27, 2006 - 10:00 | | |  Germany | 65 | | Argentina | 81 | | Germany | 78 | | | | |  Nigeria | 77 | | | [edit] Fifth through eighth place [edit] Awards | 2006 World Championship Winner | 
Spain
First title | [edit] All-tournament team [edit] Top scorers (ppg) - Yao Ming (China) 25.3
- Dirk Nowitzki (Germany) 23.2
- Pau Gasol (Spain) 21.25
- Carlos Arroyo (Puerto Rico) 21.2
- Larry Ayuso (Puerto Rico) 21.2
- Carmelo Anthony (USA) 19.8
- Dwyane Wade (USA) 19.2
- Fadi El Khatib (Lebanon) 18.8
- Igor Rakocevic (Serbia) 18.3
- Tiago Splitter (Brazil) 16.4
- Darko Miličić (Serbia) 16.1
- Serkan Erdoğan (Turkey) 15.4
 Spain's Gold Medal ceremony The final was an unexpectedly one-sided affair, with Spain dominating from the beginning and limiting Greece (exhibiting possible fatigue from its previous game with the U.S.) to just 47 points, fewer than the Greeks 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. [edit] Final standings - Teams that were eliminated at the round of 16 are officially tied for 9th.
- Teams that were 5th at their preliminary rounds are officially tied for 17th.
- Teams that were 6th at their preliminary rounds are officially tied for 21st.
| 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 | | | | 10 | Angola | 3-3 | | | | 11 | Serbia and Montenegro | 2-4 | 1.1025 | | 12 | Slovenia | 2-4 | 0.9904 | | 13 | Australia | 2-4 | 0.9589 | | 14 | Nigeria | 2-4 | 0.9512 | | 15 | China | 2-4 | 0.8873 | | 16 | New Zealand | 2-4 | 0.8623 | | Failed to Reach Eight-Finals | Tiebreaker/Goal Average | | 17 | Puerto Rico | 2-3 | 0.9818 | | 18 |  Lebanon | 2-3 | 0.7915 | | | 19 |  Brazil | 1-4 | 1.0179 | | 20 |  Japan | 1-4 | 0.8193 | | 21 |  Venezuela | 1-4 | 0.7887 | | | 22 | Senegal | 0-5 | 0.7871 | | 23 |  Panama | 0-5 | 0.7599 | | 24 |  Qatar | 0-5 | 0.6798 | [edit] Referees For the World Championship, FIBA selected 40 professional referees. Group A - Aibara, Nobuyasu
- Ankaralı, 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
- Altındal, Mustafa
| [edit] External links |
