Gibraltar basketball climbs seventeen places in world rankings

Gibraltar basketball was to become the next big mover in Gibraltar sports within the world rankings, rising a total of seventeen places this summer.
Following in the footsteps of both football and netball, both of whom have seen a jump up in their ranking positions this summer, basketball was listed as 125th in the FIBA World Ranking table, just behind South Africa. Only Guatemala, rising 20 places and Costa Rica and Gabon jumping 18 places, were to see such big rise in their rankings.
Guatemala, who had the biggest jump in positions still two places behind Gibraltar, with Gabon ten places behind.
Gibraltar women’s basketball was also to see a jump in rankings, rising two positions to 106 from 114 teams listed in the women’s world rankings. Gibraltar women’s team not competing this past summer in any tournaments. The women’s rankings not update this summer in the official FIBA rankings pages.
On a press release issued last week by FIBA, after updating the men’s rankings following the Olympics it was to state that “The outlook of the FIBA World Ranking, presented by Nike has changed once again after an incredible tournament at the Paris 2024 Olympics.”
USA claimed gold at the Men’s Olympic Basketball Tournament Paris 2024 and protected their lead at the top of the ranking, while Serbia jumped up two spots to get to the second spot with a total of 758.9 points, overtaking Germany.
The fourth place now belongs to France. An appearance in the Gold Medal Game of the Men’s Olympic Basketball Tournament Paris 2024 pushed them up by five spots compared to March 2024, putting them just behind Germany in third, and making them the highest climbing nation in the Top 20.
Canada climbed up to the fifth spot after their first Olympic run in 24 years and are still reaping the benefits of their third-place finish at the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 last summer.
With their wins at the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournaments, Greece and Puerto Rico are both up by one spot, Greece going to 13th, and Puerto Rico to 15th.
South Sudan had the only double-digit leap among the Top 50. Their first ever Olympics brought them their first win at the competition in their debut game, and a jump from 34th to 23rd in the FIBA World Ranking. They are now the top ranked African team, overtaking Côte d’Ivoire.
Cameroon are another African nation with a positive change since the last update of the ranking, climbing by five places thanks to their performances at the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Latvia, and now they sit at number 64.
The same tournament saw the Philippines climb by four spots to number 34, while the Olympics promoted Japan by five places, taking them to 21st in the world.
The biggest jump in the Top 100 belongs to Costa Rica, up from 89 to 71, while El Salvador came within the Top 100 with a 23-place improvement to reach number 103. Both Costa Rica and El Salvador improved their positions by reaching the Final of the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2027 Central American Pre-Qualifiers.
The next update of the FIBA World Ranking Women, presented by Nike, will be published after the conclusion of the FIBA Women’s World Cup 2026 Pre-Qualifying Tournaments, held from August 19-25 in Rwanda and Mexico.