26 Jun 2022
ANTWERP (Belgium) - Serbia's men and France's women won the Crelan FIBA 3x3 World Cup 2022, which took place in Antwerp, Belgium in a sold-out outdoor venue on the iconic Groenplaats on June 21-26.
Serbia become world champions for the fifth time (in seven editions!) after defeating Lithuania (21-16) in the final. The number one 3x3 player in the world Strahinja Stojacic had a game-high 9 points in the game. His teammate Dejan Majstorovic led the team in scoring in Antwerp and was named MVP of the competition. The man also known as the 'Maestro' became the (joint) most successful player in 3x3 World Cup history with four titles. He was joined on the Team of the Tournament by Ignas Vaitkus (Lithuania) and Thibaut Vervoort (Belgium).
In the men's bronze medal game, France silenced the home crowd after a nail-biting overtime win against the Belgian hosts. Léo Cavaliere had a game-high 8 points and carried a French team, which was playing with just three players after their top scorer Antoine Eito went down with an ankle injury in the semi-finals.
In the women's category, France won their first-ever World Cup following a 16-13 win against Canada. Michelle Plouffe led all scorers with 7 points but Laetitia Guapo and Hortense Limouzin combined for 10 points for les Bleues. France became the first team to win a World Cup and the Women's Series. After leading her team in scoring, Guapo was awarded the MVP award. Michelle Plouffe (Canada) and Lili Wang (China) also featured on the Team of the Tournament.
In the women's bronze medal game, World Cup 2019 winners and Tokyo Olympics bronze medalists China defeated Lithuania 21-11. Ji Yuan Wan was the top scorer of the game with 7 points and Lili Wang and ZhiTing Zhang added 6 apiece.
The Crelan FIBA 3x3 World Cup 2022 marked the start of the path to the Paris 2024 Olympics, as the winners are automatically qualified for the FIBA 3x3 World Cup 2023, where the 3 medalists will qualify for a FIBA 3x3 Olympic Qualifying Tournament in 2024.
Polish dunker Piotr "Grabo" Grabowski won the Crelan FIBA 3x3 World Cup 2022 dunk contest. The 6-foot (1.83m) dunker dominated Remco Frankin (Netherlands), who won silver, and Kristaps Dargais (Latvia), who took home bronze.
###
Exciting, urban and innovative, 3x3 is inspired by several forms of streetball played worldwide and is considered the world’s number one urban team sport. Steered by FIBA, games see two teams of three players face off on a basketball half-court.
It was played successfully for the first time in international competition at the 2010 Youth Olympic Games in Singapore and since then has benefited from the launch of a yearly professional circuit for men and women (World Tour and Women’s Series respectively) and national-team competitions.
3x3 made its Olympic debut at the Tokyo 2020 Games.
FIBA 3x3 events are played on Enlio floors with Wilson balls, Schelde backstops, Bodet shot-clocks and the Magic Sky canopy system.
For further information about 3x3, visit fiba3x3.basketball, FIBA 3x3 accounts on Douyin, Facebook, Instagram, Sina Weibo, Tencent, TikTok, Twitch, Twitter, Youku and YouTube or contact 3x3@fiba.basketball.