FIBA 3x3 Competition Network · 2014-06-06 · FIBA 3x3 Competition Network_Edition 2104_Feb Page 5 of 22 1.2. Endorsement process FIBA’s freeware to manage events, EventMaker,

FIBA 3x3 Competition Network

Edition February 2014

FIBA 3x3 Competition Network_Edition 2104_Feb Page 2 of 22

Table of Contents

0. Preamble ...................................................................................................... 3

1. Executive Summary ..................................................................................... 4

1.1. Integrated Competition Network.................................................................. 4

1.2. Endorsement process ................................................................................. 5

1.3. Competition Network’s hierarchy ................................................................ 7

1.4. 3x3 Global Season ..................................................................................... 9

2. Grassroots and 3x3 Tours .......................................................................... 11

2.1. Age categories .......................................................................................... 11

2.2. 3x3 Tours ................................................................................................. 11

2.3. NFs’ role regarding grassroots and 3x3 Tours .......................................... 12

3. FIBA 3x3 World Tour.................................................................................. 13

3.1. Introduction ............................................................................................... 13

3.2. Format of WT Events ................................................................................ 14

3.3. FIBA 3x3 World Tour Competition Format ................................................ 15

3.4. WT Qualifiers ............................................................................................ 15

3.5. WT Qualifiers’ Contract ............................................................................. 17

4. National Team Competitions ...................................................................... 18

4.1. FIBA 3x3 World Championships ............................................................... 18

4.2. Global Champs’ Action Plan .................................................................... 20

4.3. FIBA Champs’ Competition Format .......................................................... 21

4.4. Frequency / Calendar ............................................................................... 21

4.5. Host City / Venue Location ....................................................................... 22


0. Preamble

The first version of this Concept Paper was presented and discussed during the 3x3

Global Workshop held on 13 and 14 October 2012 in Barcelona; and submitted to

FIBA’s Central Board in November 2012. This new version includes all relevant

updates concerning the 2014 season.

This Concept Paper is at disposal of National Federations (“NFs), organizers and

stakeholders in general in order to guide and explain FIBA’s steered 3x3 Competition

Network.


1. Executive Summary

1.1. Integrated Competition Network

FIBA has launched an integrated competition network (“3x3 Competition Network” or

“Competition Network”) to further structure and develop 3x3.

The FIBA-steered 3x3 Competition Network will only include FIBA-endorsed 3x3

events. Any 3x3 event anywhere in the world can become FIBA-endorsed, if its

organiser signs and complies with the 3x3 Endorsement Terms1.

The most relevant endorsement conditions are:

• Use of FIBA 3x3 rules of the game; • Share player’s data and event result with 3x3planet.com • Use of FIBA’s tournament software tool, FIBA 3x3 EventMaker; • Ensure that all participating players are registered at 3x3planet.com; • Grant FIBA royalty-free licence to amend, use and distribute footage and

images from the event without restrictions and holding FIBA harmless from any related claim;

• Allow FIBA to publish the results of the event on 3x3planet.com and to use data for calculation of 3x3 Individual World Rankings;

• Prize money aligned with FIBA’s guidelines; no FIBA-endorsed event is allowed to award more prize money then WT events.

The main endorsement requirement to be fulfilled by a competition is to have all its

participating players registered at 3x3planet.com, FIBA’s digital platform for 3x3.

Rationale: 3x3 Competition Network is about creating an integral competition network and offering an individual global ranking – therefore it is mandatory to sign up players and events at 3x3planet.com to ensure FIBA is capturing the data.

All 3x3 FIBA-endorsed events will become automatically part of the 3x3 Competition

Network, all their relevant data will be centrally stored in 3x3 Planet and used for

ranking purposes as well as individual dashboards.

1 Check in fiba.com/3x3/downloads


1.2. Endorsement process

FIBA’s freeware to manage events, EventMaker, has automated the endorsement

process.

Once an organiser has registered, it is automatically certified and can organise an

unlimited number of tournaments. Only caveat: a national federation can ask FIBA to

de-certify an organiser on sound reasons, e.g. no adhering to FIBA’s code of ethics.

A certificated organiser will have its event automatically endorsed when using the

EventMaker.The automated endorsement process:


The 3x3 Endorsement Terms are a standard adhesion contract.

Only FIBA-endorsed events are allowed to use the 3x3 Endorsed Event stamp and no

organizer/event is allowed to use the FIBA 3x3 logo.


1.3. Competition Network’s hierarchy

The FIBA-endorsed events nomenclature is the following:

FIBA 3x3 World Tour: A 3x3 competition organised under supervision of FIBA and comprised of several FIBA 3x3 World Tour Masters (“WT Masters”) and one FIBA 3x3 World Tour Final (“WT Final”), with 12 teams participating in each event, whereas each team represents a city and rosters are freely composed by players without nationality restrictions (“WT” or “World Tour”). The WT is FIBA’s flagship and the heartpiece of the Competiton Network. 3x3 World Tour Qualifier: A 3x3 competition organised by a FIBA-designee where at least one team will qualify for a FIBA 3x3 World Tour Masters in the corresponding catchment area (“WT Qualifier”); there are two kind of WT Qualifiers: Quests and Challengers. 3x3 Quest: A WT Qualifier comprised of at least three events, including a final, each with at least 50 participating teams in all categories, being open to anybody. 3x3 Challenger: A WT Qualifier comprised of one stand-alone, invitational international tournament limited to 16 teams with obligatory prize money. 3x3 Satellite: A Satellite is a 3x3 Tour or single event that is part of the “Path to the World Tour” but yet too small to become a WT Qualifier – therefore winning teams of these events are directed by FIBA to suitable 3x3 Challengers. FIBA 3x3 All Stars: A 3x3 competition organized under supervision of FIBA and comprised by six teams, whereas each team represents a city and has qualified through the 3x3 Individual World Ranking. FIBA 3x3 World Championships: A 3x3 competition organised by FIBA, whereas the competing teams represent an affiliated FIBA national federation and rosters are selected by the corresponding National Federation (“3x3 WC”).

All other 3x3 Tours or single tournaments are simply “FIBA-endorsed events” and are

also linked to the 3x3 Competition Network, but are not on the “Path to the World Tour”.


All FIBA-endorsed events are classified in the 3x3 Competition Network hierarchy as

follows:

Therefore, the 3x3 Competition Network is a bottom-up integrated hierarchy that

includes all FIBA-endorsed events from grassroots to elite competitions, such as the

3x3 World Tour and national team championships.


The elite competitions can be split into two types:

• National Team championships; • City-based WT and All Stars.

The top National Team competitions are the FIBA 3x3 World Championships (“WC”)

and FIBA 3x3 U18 World Championships (“U18WC”). National Federations are

responsible to select the national teams. Further National Team competitions include

inter alia FIBA Zone Championships, IOC-organised competitions and FISU World

University Championships.

The FIBA 3x3 World Tour is a series of events supervised by FIBA, consisting of a

series of “WT Masters” and a “WT Final”. The participating teams have no nationality

restrictions and represent a city. The teams participating in a WT Masters have

qualified through FIBA-designated WT Qualifiers in each WT Master’s corresponding

catchment area; the WT Final is comprised of teams that have qualified at the relevant

WT Masters.

The number of teams that will qualify for the WT Final from each WT Master as well as

the selection of the WT Qualifiers themselves are a FIBA prerogative. A rule of thumb

is that the best 2 teams of each WT Masters proceed to the WT Final, complemented

with one local team for a total of 12 teams. Whilst WT Qualifiers are assigned to

promoters of the Top 6 of the previous edition, whilst the remaining six berths are

allocated by FIBA based on class, mass, CSR and universality criteria.

FIBA has developed various Event Manuals for each of its elite events to ensure quality

standards and common look & feel. The elite events should whenever possible, be held

in conjunction with grassroots competitions, in keeping with the 3x3 spirit of

« everybody’s game ».

1.4. 3x3 Global Season

The goal of a unified 3x3 Global Season is to avoid agenda conflicts between the main

National-Team championships, the WT and the WT Qualifiers, as well as timing the

various events to minimise diversion from other sports. The WT Masters ought to be

the pinnacle of each catchment area’s natural season.


WC, U18WC and FIBA Zone championships should be held preferentially before the

start of the WT.

The WT season will start every year at the end of the 2nd quarter and finish around the

end of 3rd quarter with the WT Final; the WT Qualifiers in each catchment area will

have to be aligned accordingly, to allow for an optimal qualification process.

Rationale: The WT Masters are played continuously over several months during the “outdoor season” to draw players, audience and media attention. Timing of WT Masters can be changed according to geographic placement in order to fit with the local 3x3 season.


2. Grassroots and 3x3 Tours

All grassroots events, even pick-up games, can be part of the 3x3 Competition

Network. Any organiser can stage a 3x3 grassroots event; the most basic ones can be

organised by schools and local communities, while 3x3 Tours, the most sophisticated

3x3 events, tend to be organized by national federations or professional promoters,

including sponsors.

2.1. Age categories

Organisers are free to decide the various categories for their 3x3 events: age, height,

gender and proficiency are various categories currently used by organisers.

FIBA recommends the following age categories for both male and female:

Open; U18; U15; U12 35+.

Initially, FIBA will organise events in the open and U18 category for both genders.

2.2. 3x3 Tours

3x3 Tours are currently one of the pillars of 3x3 basketball and should be fostered as

one of the routes for the expansion of the discipline.

3x3 Tours are competitions based on a series of linked tournaments and whose main

traits are as follows:

A tour has a minimum of three linked tournaments with a tour winner. These 3x3 Tours

can be single city, i.e. a series of tournaments in one city, or multi-city ones, i.e. a

series of tournaments staged in several cities. The typical format of competition is

Round Robin followed by single elimination.

A country can host several 3x3 Tours managed by different organisers.


FIBA strongly recommends focusing on the development of single-city tours in order to

create 3x3 clusters. The ranking works best with data generated by clusters; it also

helps to strengthen the community features of 3x3 Planet and follows Powell Doctrine

pursuant effort efficiency.

Teams participating in 3x3 Tours have no nationality-restrictions. Teams are free to

form within the categories’ established by the tour organizer.

Organisers of 3x3 Tours can be schools, universities, national federations, private

promoters, brands, etc. All of them need to undergo the endorsement process by FIBA

in order to have their tournament part of the 3x3 Competition Network. The best 3x3

Tours can become a WT Qualifier as explained in section 4.4.

2.3. NFs’ role regarding grassroots and 3x3 Tours

Although 3x3 is a promoter-driven discipline, the role of national federations is still

important in ensuring its development. The national federations should:

• Appoint a dedicated 3x3 person within its organisation; • Sanction for FIBA the various promoters and tournaments in their territory which

comply with FIBA’s “general terms and conditions” (refer section 1.1); • Encourage the organisation of 3x3 events with a specific focus on 3x3 Tours. • The role of National Federations is key in developing 3x3 Tours.

Several national federations are already leveraging the power of 3x3 Tours to develop

basketball in their countries.

Some benefits for national federations developing or supporting 3x3 Tours:

• Powerful tool to develop 3x3 basketball; • Method of growing the number of players; • Optimal method to increase chance of participating in national-team

competitions.

FIBA is encouraging all National Federations to support and further develop 3x3 Tours

in their countries. There are several routes a National Federation can pursue in order to

have 3x3 Tours in their countries:

• Support incumbent promoters or stimulate new promoters; • Foster 3x3 in educational centers (e.g. schools, universities) and communities; • Organise 3x3 Tours themselves.


3. FIBA 3x3 World Tour

3.1. Introduction

The World Tour consists of sequential WT Masters leading to a WT Final combining the

best teams of the various WT Masters events. The WT is bottom-up competition that

follows sequence:

The general layout and timing of the FIBA 3x3 World Tour will stay unchanged,

however an increase of WT Masters overtime can be expected. The underlying

principle of the WT is to give every year any 3x3planet.com-registered player the

chance of participating.

The WT Master represents a geographic catchment area and should feature its best

3x3 players. The WT Masters hosting cities are selected with the goal to cover the

world; final selection is FIBA’s prerogative. WT stages will always be related to a city

and its catchment area will cover several countries and even cross continental

boundaries.


The WT is synchronised with 3x3 National Team championships, and will try to avoid

conflict with other major basketball events and other major sport events wherever

possible.

Although 3x3 is an all-year discipline, it is preferentially played outdoors. Therefore the

main season in each region tends to finish at the end of its summer period. The WT

Masters in each catchment area should take its 3x3 season into account and be held at

the end of the good weather season insofar possible.

Example of the catchment areas in 2013 season:

Rationale: Overall goal of the World Tour is to reach out to as many players and fans from different countries and cities as possible. Timing is chosen to maximise playing outdoors.

3.2. Format of WT Events

The FIBA 3x3 World Tour Masters are typically weekend events with two days of

competition and packed with side events. A standard of 12 teams will participate in the

elite category, whilst an adjacent recreational competition with circa 50 teams in very

much intended.


The 12 teams in each World Tour event will be selected via ex-ante designated

qualifiers in the related catchment area. Whilst registration to the parallel amateur

competition will not be restricted except for a number of teams cap, if any.

The events are meant to offer more than just sport competition and should be

organized as a full weekend experience with contests, music, shows to enjoy and

interactive side events that appeal to a family as well as a group of friends of any age.

3.3. FIBA 3x3 World Tour Competition Format

The standard competition format of a World Tour event will be round robins followed by

knock-outs: 12 teams competing in pools of three with the best 2 of each

poolprogressing to the quarterfinals.

Usually, the two best teams of each WT Masters and local teams classify to the WT

Final for the overall title.

In addition, each WT event has a shootout and dunking contest.

The growth of 3x3 should lead to circuits in the various catchment areas, whereas a

given catchment area has a certain number of WT Masters and therefore becoming a

catchment area’s circuit events.

In order to attract the best players, prize money is offered at the World Tour events.

3.4. WT Qualifiers

The teams competing in each WT Masters are representing a city and will have earned

a berth competing at events in the relevant catchment area. A WT Qualifier is defined

as an event or tour that secures at least one participating team a place in a WT Master.

In addition, FIBA reserves the right to invite additional teams/players based on the 3x3

Ranking and via wild cards.


Although teams and players are not barred from competing in various catchment areas

and WT Qualifiers, the competition system does not foresee the participation in more

than one WT Masters in case of multiple successful qualifications. The rationale behind

this is to keep a maximum variety of teams in the World Tour and offer the participation

as development driver in all catchment areas for the time being. In addition, teams

qualified for a WT Masters must consist of at least the team captain and one other

player from the team winning the relevant WT Qualifier. 2 players max may be replaced

in case of injury, but only by players that have participated in at least two FIBA-

endorsed events in the same catchment area during the last 12 months.

In order to secure a fair representation of the catchment areas in the World Tour,

Teams are allowed to participate in any event including Challengers. Said this, a WT

Masters event will only feature the teams of its catchment area. Winner of a WT

Qualifier that does not belong to its catchment area, will not qualify to the given WT and

only collect the points; the best placed team of the right catchment area will get the

berth.

FIBA determines the WT Qualifiers. WT Qualifiers for each WT Masters are assigned

based on two criteria:

1. Results of previous season results in the respective WT Masters

The organisers of the WT Qualifiers whose teams finished in the top six of a

WT Masters receive a direct slot for the WT Masters the following year

2. Class, mass and CSR angle of an organiser

• Tradition and venue location; • Sustainability and quality of the organiser; • Size, number of participants and spectators; • Age and gender diversity; quality of the registered players; • Footprint across the catchment area; • Prize money; side events; overall event quality.

More than one team can be allocated to a WT Masters from a given WT Qualifier, if a

tournament/tour is of high quality and/or covers a large geographical region and/or

follows all FIBA recommendations.

WT Qualifiers can be organised by a National Federation, a private promoter, a

commercial sponsor, a city, a university, etc.; all interested candidates will be evaluated

by FIBA and have to undergo a review process.


The WT Qualifiers can be either:

• A “3x3 Quest”. This is a 3x3 Tour that has been elevated to WT Qualifier status, due to its quality and size;

• A “3x3 Challenger” (also called “Open” in some Eastern European countries). This is an invitational, international, stand-alone, yearly tournament featuring the best teams of a given region with obligatory prize money.

Organisers interested in staging a 3x3 Quest and/or 3x3 Challenger will have to submit

their interest and candidature to FIBA for its consideration.

Equipment, especially the courts and hoops, ought to follow FIBA requirements in

particular regarding the safety standards – relevant guidance is provided in the Event

Manual as well as by the FIBA Equipment & Venue Center’s documentation.

Except for these requirements, organisers are free to conduct their event as best suits

their needs. FIBA will not be involved financially in the WT Qualifiers.

3.5. WT Qualifiers’ Contract

Organisers of a WT Qualifier will have to sign with FIBA a contract covering the

following contractual clauses:

• Sign the Terms & Conditions for 3x3 WT Qualifiers; • Align, in advance with the FIBA’s season calendar; • Allow FIBA to promote the WT Qualifier and use content related to it; • Use of EventMaker and have all participants registered in 3x3planet.com; • Use a FIBA 3x3 official ball, if any; and use FIBA rules; • Fund travel of qualified team(s) to the corresponding WT Masters • 3x3 Challengers to award USD 5.000 in prize money; • Follow FIBA lead on sports-related matters, such as inter alia,

appointment of referees, commissioners and supervisor, if required; • Proper use of FIBA logo and compliance with FIBA branding guidelines.


4. National Team Competitions

In spite of being a young discipline, there are already a significant number of National

Team competitions.

The main National Teams competitions are:

• FIBA 3x3 World Championships; • FIBA 3x3 U18 World Championships; • European Olympic Games; • Youth Olympic Games; • Zone Championships;

All these National Team competitions have to comply with the endorsement

requirements and are part of the 3x3 Competition Network.

In addition, there are a number of other National Team competitions, such as FISU

World University Championships organized with FIBA’s technical cooperation; those

competitions are part of the 3x3 Competition Network if they comply with the

endorsement criteria.

4.1. FIBA 3x3 World Championships

The two main National Team competitions organized by FIBA are:

• FIBA 3x3 U18 World Championships; • FIBA 3x3 World Championships.

The following sections mainly refer to those two events, but most of the features are

applicable to or are recommended for other national team competitions.

Format and size of WC and U18 WC (together “FIBA Champs”) are similar to facilitate

replication and standardisation of the events. Qualification system, eligibility and

applicable regulations will be same for both.

FIBA Champs have to have simultaneously men and women’s team competition and a

series of individual contests.

Rationale for individual contests: Individual contests will supplement the main tournament, add more highlights, give more chances to win medals, strengthen group dynamics, fit with the streetball culture and add to the entertainment for audiences.


4.1.1. Eligibility and qualification system

In order to be eligible to participate in FIBA Champs, Zone championships and IOC-

organized competitions (“national-team 3x3 Official Competitions”), National

Federations are required to have three FIBA-endorsed events in their territory in the

previous 12 months up to a determined cut-off date2.

Eligible countries have three routes to qualify:

1. Host Country is awarded a place;

2. Previous tournament edition: The Winner of the previous (U18)-WC/OG qualifies

directly to the next edition3; in case this team is the host country, then the second

ranked team qualifies;

3. Position in the FIBA 3x3 Federation Ranking.

The FIBA 3x3 Federation Ranking has the cutoff date on November 1st for the World

Champs on the following year. Details on the ranking to be found in the “Criteria to

Qualify for NT” and the “Ranking Quick Guide” document on the hub on

fiba.com/3x3/downloads.

The FIBA 3x3 Federation Ranking is calculated as follows:

All national federations meeting the eligibility norm are force-ranked (from highest

to lowest) in accordance with the ranking points awarded on 3x3Planet.com to

their Top 100 confirmed players; this calculation is done separately for Men,

Women, U18 Men and U18 Women.

Should there be a tie, then the national federation with the highest number points

in the given category.

2 Cut-off date is 1 November (end of season) of prior year for FIBA Champs 3 Youth Olympic Games are considered U18 Championships; whilst Olympic Games are considered

World Championships


Without influencing the right of participation for countries qualified via route 1 or 2;

the final selection via route 3 is subject to three restrictions:

(i) a ratio of participating teams/countries no higher than 1.33* ,

(ii) a maximum of 50% of total teams coming from the same FIBA Zone for each

gender, and

(iii) a minimum of one team per FIBA Zone.

*If the ratio is not met, for countries with both genders pre-selected, the worst ranked,

either male or female, is being substituted by the next ranked country until the ratio is

reached.

4.1.2. Eligible players

Only 3x3planet.com registered players that have played at least in two FIBA-endorsed

events in the 12 months prior to the date of roster selection will be able to join the

national team pursuant national-team 3x3 Official Competitions.

Rationale: Registration at 3x3planet.com is important to grow the 3x3 community also amongst national-team players; particularly to allow players to be ranked and compared, but also to demonstrate a participation pathway for the grassroots players.

4.1.3. Team roster

Team rosters will consist of four players; only one delegation official per team. National

team selection is a national federation prerogative and has to follow any of these two

models:

• Team is selected via a national trial, whereas the winner becomes the national team

• Select the players, albeit minimum two players have to be within the top 10 ranked nationals in the corresponding category on the date of the submission of the final list of players

4.2. National-team 3x3 Official Competitions’ Action Plan

The qualification system developed by FIBA is biased towards the national federation

ranking; most of the teams qualified to national-team 3x3 Official Competitions thanks

to their ranking position.


National Federations can increase their chances to participate in national-team 3x3

Official Competitions by developing actions aimed to improve their position in the

national federation ranking.

The following actions are the very much recommended when intending to improve their

standings in the 3x3 Federations Ranking:

- Maximize the number of ranked players registered in 3x3planet.com

- Maximize the total ranking points of all its national players

- Maximize the number of FIBA-endorsed events in its territory

- Maximize the number of FIBA-endorsed 3x3 Tours in its territory by stimulating the highest number of organisers

- Have best ranked nationals participating in both higher level events and national-team competitions

- Facilitate the inclusion of competitions in the “Path to the World Tour”, either as feeders or WT Qualifiers

- Organise National Trials

4.3. FIBA Champs’ Competition Format

FIBA Champs consist of:

• Team Competitions, always simultaneously both men and women; • Individual contests.

The main attraction will be the size and format of the team competition, as it will

consume significantly more time than the individual contests. The players participating

in the individual contests will be drawn from the participants in the national teams; an

exception can be made with the dunkers in the open category.

4.4. Frequency / Calendar

FIBA Champs are to be held in June: WC will take place every even year whilst the

U18 WC yearly unless it is a Youth Olympic Games (YOG) year – in this case the YOG

replaces the U18WC.

This schedule of national-team competitions will grow as more international federations

and associations include 3x3 in their programme.


4.5. Host City / Venue Location

FIBA is in charge of the designation of 3x3 WC and 3x3 U18WC host cities.

Hosting a FIBA WC gives great exposure to a National Federation, it has to be noted,

that running a 3x3 WC is by far less expensive than regular 5vs5 events and therefore

can also be targeted by smaller NF’s. A draft version of a typical Host Agreement

mentioning all major terms and conditions can be found in the hub on

fiba.com/3x3/downloads.

Bid procedures will be opened on a regular basis.

All related travel costs to the 3x3 WC and 3x3 U18WC hosting country for teams and

officials will be borne by each participating National Federation; while local travel &

living for up to five people per delegation, as well as customary event organisation

expenses, will be covered by the LOC.

Venues should be outdoors and downtown in iconic high-traffic areas. Further details

will be included in the FIBA Champs manual.

END.

Documents

FIBA 3x3 Competition Network · 2014-06-06 · FIBA 3x3 Competition Network_Edition 2104_Feb Page 5 of 22 1.2. Endorsement process FIBA’s freeware to manage events, EventMaker,