# 2018 FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup

The 2018 FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup, the 18th edition of FIBA's premier international tournament for women's national basketball teams, was held in Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain from 22 to 30 September 2018. This was the first edition to use the name of FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup. After the last edition in 2014, FIBA changed the name of the competition from the FIBA World Championship for Women, in order to align its name with that of the corresponding men's competition.
The United States were the two-time defending champions. This tournament saw the World Cup debut of Belgium, Latvia and Puerto Rico.
The US Team won the final against Australia, to win their third straight and tenth overall title.

## Venues

| San Cristóbal de La Laguna | Santa Cruz de Tenerife | San Cristóbal de La LagunaSanta Cruz de Tenerife |
| Tenerife Sports Pavilion Santiago Martín | Palacio Municipal de Deportes | San Cristóbal de La LagunaSanta Cruz de Tenerife |
| Group Phase, Qualification for Quarter-Finals, Final Phase | Group Phase, Qualification for Quarter-Finals | San Cristóbal de La LagunaSanta Cruz de Tenerife |
| Capacity: 5,100 | Capacity: 3,600 | San Cristóbal de La LagunaSanta Cruz de Tenerife |

## Hosts selection

The whole bidding process started in October 2014. Bids from two nations were submitted. On 31 October 2014, it was confirmed that Spain and Israel were the bidders. On 16 December 2014, it was announced that Spain won the bid and would host the upcoming World Cup.
2018 FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup bidding results :
| Nation | Votes |
| Spain | 18 |
| Israel | 5 |

## Qualification

Spain as the hosts automatically qualified for the tournament in December 2014. The United States were the next to qualify after winning Gold at the 2016 Summer Olympics.
The remaining teams were decided over June, July & August 2017 through the Women’s Continental Cups. The continental qualifiers vary in the number of teams; the European qualifiers featured 16 teams, Africa featured 12 teams, Americas featured 10 teams and Asia featured 8 teams. From the 46 teams competing for the final 14 spots, the field was completed by the top five teams from 2017 EuroBasket Women, the top three teams from the 2017 FIBA Women's AmeriCup, the two finalists from the 2017 Women's Afrobasket; as well as the top four teams from the 2017 FIBA Asia Women's Cup, which saw teams from Asia and Oceania compete together for the first time ever.
| Team | Qualification | Qualification | Appearance | Appearance | Appearance | Best Performance | FIBA World Ranking | FIBA Zone Ranking |
| Team | Method | Date | Last | Total | Streak | Best Performance | FIBA World Ranking | FIBA Zone Ranking |
| Spain | Host nation | 16 December 2014 | 2014 | 7 | 7 | Runners-up (2014) | 2 | 1 |
| United States | 2016 Summer Olympics | 20 August 2016 | 2014 | 17 | 15 | Champions (1953, 1957, 1979, 1986, 1990, 1998, 2002, 2010, 2014) | 1 | 1 |
| Belgium | EuroBasket Women | 22 June 2017 | — | 1 | 1 | Debut | 28 | 14 |
| France | EuroBasket Women | 22 June 2017 | 2014 | 10 | 5 | 3rd Place (1953) | 3 | 2 |
| Greece | EuroBasket Women | 22 June 2017 | 2010 | 2 | 1 | 11th Place (2010) | 20 | 9 |
| Latvia | EuroBasket Women | 24 June 2017 | — | 1 | 1 | Debut | 26 | 12 |
| Turkey | EuroBasket Women | 24 June 2017 | 2014 | 2 | 2 | 4th Place (2014) | 7 | 4 |
| South Korea | Women's Asia Cup | 27 July 2017 | 2014 | 15 | 15 | Runners-up (1967, 1979) | 16 | 4 |
| Australia | Women's Asia Cup | 27 July 2017 | 2014 | 15 | 14 | Champions (2006) | 4 | 1 |
| China | Women's Asia Cup | 27 July 2017 | 2014 | 10 | 10 | Runners-up (1994) | 10 | 1 |
| Japan | Women's Asia Cup | 27 July 2017 | 2014 | 13 | 3 | Runners-up (1975) | 13 | 2 |
| Canada | Women's AmeriCup | 12 August 2017 | 2014 | 11 | 4 | 3rd Place (1979, 1986) | 5 | 2 |
| Argentina | Women's AmeriCup | 12 August 2017 | 2010 | 9 | 1 | 6th Place (1953) | 15 | 5 |
| Puerto Rico | Women's AmeriCup | 13 August 2017 | – | 1 | 1 | Debut | 22 | 6 |
| Nigeria | Women's Afrobasket | 26 August 2017 | 2006 | 2 | 1 | 16th Place (2006) | 34 | 5 |
| Senegal | Women's Afrobasket | 26 August 2017 | 2010 | 8 | 1 | 12th Place (1979) | 17 | 1 |

## Format

The tournament was played in two phases. In the first phase, the 16 qualified teams were sorted into four groups of four (A-D), each team in a group played each other once, 24 games were played in the first phase. The top team from each group directly advanced to the quarterfinals. The teams that placed fourth in the group stage were eliminated. The teams placed second and third from each group advanced to the quarterfinal qualifications, where the winners of the qualification round then progressed to the quarterfinals, losers were eliminated.
In the second phase, a knockout stage was used to determine the champion. In the quarterfinals the four winners progressed to the semifinals, the four losers played in classification games for 5–8th. In total, 40 games were played over a total of 8 days.

## Draw

The official draw ceremony took place on 6 February 2018, at San Cristóbal de la Laguna, Island of Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain.

### Seedings

Included are the respective FIBA World Rankings for women:
| Pot 1 | Pot 2 | Pot 3 | Pot 4 |
| United States (1)  Australia (4)  Spain (2)  France (3) | Belgium (28)  Greece (20)  Turkey (7)  Latvia (26) | Canada (5)  Argentina (15)  Japan (13)  China (10) | Puerto Rico (22)  South Korea (16)  Nigeria (34)  Senegal (17) |

## Preliminary round
### Group A

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | L | PF | PA | PD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Canada | 3 | 3 | 0 | 234 | 173 | +61 | 6 | Quarterfinals |
| 2 | France | 3 | 2 | 1 | 224 | 200 | +24 | 5 | Qualification round |
| 3 | Greece | 3 | 1 | 2 | 179 | 204 | −25 | 4 | Qualification round |
| 4 | South Korea | 3 | 0 | 3 | 169 | 229 | −60 | 3 | |
| 22 September 2018 |
| South Korea | 58–89 | France |
| Greece | 50–81 | Canada |
| 23 September 2018 |
| Canada | 82–63 | South Korea |
| France | 75–71 | Greece |
| 25 September 2018 |
| South Korea | 48–58 | Greece |
| Canada | 71–60 | France |

### Group B

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | L | PF | PA | PD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Australia | 3 | 3 | 0 | 260 | 175 | +85 | 6 | Quarterfinals |
| 2 | Nigeria | 3 | 2 | 1 | 217 | 224 | −7 | 5 | Qualification round |
| 3 | Turkey | 3 | 1 | 2 | 195 | 201 | −6 | 4 | Qualification round |
| 4 | Argentina | 3 | 0 | 3 | 150 | 222 | −72 | 3 | |
| 22 September 2018 |
| Australia | 86–68 | Nigeria |
| Turkey | 63–37 | Argentina |
| 23 September 2018 |
| Argentina | 43–84 | Australia |
| Nigeria | 74–68 | Turkey |
| 25 September 2018 |
| Australia | 90–64 | Turkey |
| Argentina | 70–75 | Nigeria |

### Group C

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | L | PF | PA | PD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Belgium | 3 | 2 | 1 | 233 | 176 | +57 | 5 | Quarterfinals |
| 2 | Spain (H) | 3 | 2 | 1 | 225 | 196 | +29 | 5 | Qualification round |
| 3 | Japan | 3 | 2 | 1 | 217 | 220 | −3 | 5 | Qualification round |
| 4 | Puerto Rico | 3 | 0 | 3 | 150 | 233 | −83 | 3 | |
* 1 2 3 Belgium 1–1, +7 PD; Spain 1–1, +4 PD; Japan 1–1, –11 PD
| 22 September 2018 |
| Japan | 71–84 | Spain |
| Puerto Rico | 36–86 | Belgium |
| 23 September 2018 |
| Belgium | 75–77 (OT) | Japan |
| Spain | 78–53 | Puerto Rico |
| 25 September 2018 |
| Japan | 69–61 | Puerto Rico |
| Belgium | 72–63 | Spain |

### Group D

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | L | PF | PA | PD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | United States | 3 | 3 | 0 | 289 | 231 | +58 | 6 | Quarterfinals |
| 2 | China | 3 | 2 | 1 | 227 | 227 | 0 | 5 | Qualification round |
| 3 | Senegal | 3 | 1 | 2 | 203 | 231 | −28 | 4 | Qualification round |
| 4 | Latvia | 3 | 0 | 3 | 206 | 236 | −30 | 3 | |
| 22 September 2018 |
| Latvia | 61–64 | China |
| United States | 87–67 | Senegal |
| 23 September 2018 |
| Senegal | 70–69 | Latvia |
| China | 88–100 | United States |
| 25 September 2018 |
| Senegal | 66–75 | China |
| Latvia | 76–102 | United States |

## Final round

| Qualification round | Qualification round | Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | | Semifinals | Semifinals | Final | Final |
| | | 28 September | 28 September | | | | |
| | | Canada | 53 | | | |
| 26 September | 26 September | | Canada | 53 | | | |
| 26 September | 26 September | Spain | 68 | | | |
| Spain | 63 | Spain | 68 | | | |
| Spain | 63 | | | | 29 September | 29 September | |
| Senegal | 48 | | | | 29 September | 29 September |
| Senegal | 48 | | | | Spain | 66 |
| | | | | | Australia | 72 |
| | | 28 September | 28 September | | | | |
| | | Australia | 83 | | | |
| 26 September | 26 September | | Australia | 83 | | | |
| 26 September | 26 September | China | 42 | | | |
| China | 87 | China | 42 | | | |
| China | 87 | | | | | | 30 September | 30 September |
| Japan | 81 | | | | | | 30 September | 30 September |
| Japan | 81 | | | | | | Australia | 56 |
| | | | | | | | United States | 73 |
| | | 28 September | 28 September | | | | | |
| | | Belgium | 86 | | | | | |
| 26 September | 26 September | | Belgium | 86 | | | | | |
| 26 September | 26 September | France | 65 | | | | | |
| France | 78 | France | 65 | | | | | |
| France | 78 | | | | 29 September | 29 September | | | |
| Turkey | 61 | | | | 29 September | 29 September | | |
| Turkey | 61 | | | | Belgium | 77 | | |
| | | | | | United States | 93 | Third place | Third place |
| | | 28 September | 28 September | | | | 30 September | 30 September |
| | | United States | 71 | | | | Spain | 67 |
| 26 September | 26 September | | United States | 71 | | | | Spain | 67 |
| 26 September | 26 September | Nigeria | 40 | | | | Belgium | 60 |
| Nigeria | 57 | Nigeria | 40 | | | | Belgium | 60 |
| Greece | 56 | | | | | | | |

### 5–8th place

| 5–8th place semifinals | 5–8th place semifinals | Fifth place | Fifth place |
| 29 September | 29 September |
| Canada | 71 |
| Canada | 71 | 30 September | 30 September |
| China | 76 | 30 September | 30 September |
| China | 76 | China | 67 |
| 29 September | 29 September | | China | 67 |
| 29 September | 29 September | France | 81 |
| France | 84 | France | 81 |
| Nigeria | 62 | | |
| Nigeria | 62 | Seventh place | Seventh place |
| | | 30 September | 30 September |
| | | Canada | 73 |
| | | Nigeria | 72 |

### Final

* 30 September 2018 20:00
* Boxscore
| Australia | 56–73 | United States |
| Scoring by quarter: 15–20, 12–15, 11–26, 18–12 |||
| Pts: Smith 10 Rebs: Cambage 14 Asts: O'Hea 4 | | Pts: Griner 15 Rebs: Stewart 8 Asts: Bird 5 |
* Tenerife Sports Pavilion Santiago Martin, San Cristóbal de La Laguna Attendance: 3,715 Referees: Antonio Conde (ESP), Yu Jung (TPE), Yohan Rosso (FRA)

## Final standings

| # | Team | Pld | W | L | PF | PA | PD | Preliminary round | Preliminary round | Preliminary round | Preliminary round | FIBA World Ranking | FIBA World Ranking | FIBA World Ranking |
| # | Team | Pld | W | L | PF | PA | PD | Grp | Rank | W–L | GA | Old | New | +/− |
| | United States | 6 | 6 | 0 | 526 | 404 | +122 | D | — | — | — | 1 | 1 | |
| | Australia | 6 | 5 | 1 | 471 | 356 | +115 | B | — | — | — | 4 | 3 | 1 |
| | Spain | 7 | 5 | 2 | 489 | 429 | +60 | C | — | — | — | 2 | 2 | |
| 4th | Belgium | 6 | 3 | 3 | 456 | 401 | +55 | C | — | — | — | 28 | 16 | 12 |
| Eliminated at the quarterfinals |||||||||||||||
| 5th | France | 7 | 5 | 2 | 532 | 476 | +56 | A | — | — | — | 3 | 4 | 1 |
| 6th | China | 7 | 4 | 3 | 499 | 543 | −44 | D | — | — | — | 10 | 7 | 3 |
| 7th | Canada | 6 | 4 | 2 | 431 | 389 | +42 | A | — | — | — | 5 | 5 | |
| 8th | Nigeria | 7 | 3 | 4 | 448 | 508 | −60 | B | — | — | — | 34 | 19 | 15 |
| Eliminated at the qualification round |||||||||||||||
| 9th | Japan | 4 | 2 | 2 | 298 | 307 | −9 | C | 3rd | 2–1 | 0.723 | 13 | 10 | 3 |
| 10th | Turkey | 4 | 1 | 3 | 256 | 279 | −23 | B | 3rd | 1–2 | 0.650 | 7 | 6 | 1 |
| 11th | Greece | 4 | 1 | 3 | 235 | 261 | −26 | A | 3rd | 1–2 | 0.597 | 20 | 23 | 3 |
| 12th | Senegal | 4 | 1 | 3 | 251 | 294 | −43 | D | 3rd | 1–2 | 0.677 | 17 | 17 | |
| Eliminated at the preliminary round |||||||||||||||
| 13th | Latvia | 3 | 0 | 3 | 206 | 236 | −30 | D | 4th | 0–3 | 0.687 | 26 | 24 | 2 |
| 14th | South Korea | 3 | 0 | 3 | 169 | 229 | −60 | A | 4th | 0–3 | 0.563 | 16 | 18 | 2 |
| 15th | Argentina | 3 | 0 | 3 | 150 | 222 | −72 | B | 4th | 0–3 | 0.500 | 15 | 15 | |
| 16th | Puerto Rico | 3 | 0 | 3 | 150 | 233 | −83 | C | 4th | 0–3 | 0.500 | 22 | 22 | |
* Qualified for the 2020 Summer Olympics

## Awards and statistics
### Awards

The All-Star Five was revealed on 30 September 2018.
* MVP: Breanna Stewart
* Breanna Stewart
* Diana Taurasi
* Astou Ndour
* Emma Meesseman
* Liz Cambage

### Statistics
#### Player tournament averages

| Name | PPG |
| Liz Cambage | 23.8 |
| Emma Meesseman | 18.5 |
| Kia Nurse | 18.2 |
| Breanna Stewart | 16.3 |
| Kim Mestdagh | 16.2 |
| Name | RPG |
| Emma Meesseman | 10.7 |
| Liz Cambage | 10.5 |
| Evelyn Akhator | 9.0 |
| Laura Nicholls | 8.9 |
| Yuki Miyazawa | 8.8 |
| Name | APG |
| Julie Allemand | 8.2 |
| Nako Motohashi | 5.8 |
| Laia Palau | 5.7 |
| Işıl Alben | 5.3 |
| Sue Bird | 4.8 |
| Name | BPG |
| Liz Cambage | 2.8 |
| Kyara Linskens | 1.8 |
| Brittney Griner | 1.5 |
| Quanitra Hollingsworth | 1.5 |
| Han Xu | 1.4 |
| Astou Ndour | 1.4 |
| Name | SPG |
| Maki Takada | 2.8 |
| Ezinne Kalu | 2.4 |
| Sarah Michel | 2.0 |
| Evanthia Maltsi | 2.0 |
| Nako Motohashi | 1.8 |

#### Team tournament averages

| Team | PPG |
| United States | 87.7 |
| Australia | 78.5 |
| France | 76.0 |
| Belgium | 76.0 |
| Japan | 74.5 |
| Team | RPG |
| Australia | 48.0 |
| United States | 47.3 |
| Nigeria | 43.4 |
| Canada | 42.2 |
| France | 40.6 |
| Team | APG |
| Belgium | 23.8 |
| United States | 23.7 |
| France | 23.3 |
| Australia | 21.5 |
| China | 19.3 |
| Team | BPG |
| Australia | 5.3 |
| United States | 4.2 |
| Spain | 3.9 |
| Belgium | 3.5 |
| France | 3.4 |
| Team | SPG |
| Nigeria | 9.9 |
| Japan | 9.3 |
| Canada | 9.2 |
| Spain | 9.0 |
| France | 8.6 |

#### Tournament game highs

| Statistic | Player | Total | Opponent | Team | Total | Opponent |
| Points | Liz Cambage | 34 | Nigeria (22 Sep) | United States | 102 | Latvia (25 Sep) |
| Rebounds | Emma Meesseman | 18 | Japan (23 Sep) | United States | 62 | Nigeria (28 Sep) |
| Assists | Julie Allemand | 13 | France (28 Sep) | France | 30 | Nigeria (29 Sep) |
| Steals | Pamela Rosado Ezinne Kalu | 5 | Spain (23 Sep) United States (28 Sep) | Nigeria | 13 | Greece (26 Sep) France (29 Sep) |
| Blocks | Liz Cambage | 5 | United States (30 Sep) | Australia | 8 | Nigeria (22 Sep) United States (30 Sep) |

## Marketing

The logo and branding identity was unveiled on 5 February 2018 at the La Laguna Gran Hotel in San Cristóbal de La Laguna, the logo is inspired by the treasures of the island of Tenerife, its coastlines and its heart of Spain.
The Mascot Tina the Turtle were also unveiled at the ceremony in the town hall of Santa Cruz de Tenerife on 7 August 2018, 6 Weeks before the Tournament kick off the mascot name is a short form of Tinerfina which means Coming from or Living from Tenerife, Both Logo and the Mascot were designed by a Tenerife Artist Raul Pena