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1959 FIBA World Championship

Adapted from Wikipedia · Adventurer experience

A 1959 Brazilian postage stamp celebrating the World Champion Basketball team.

The 1959 FIBA World Championship was the third big basketball tournament for countries. It happened in Chile from January 16 to January 31, 1959. Many fun games were played in cities like Antofagasta, Concepción, Temuco, and Valparaíso. The final games were in the capital, Santiago.

Brazilian stamp marking the team's victory

The final games were planned to be in a new indoor stadium called the Metropolitan Indoor Stadium. But the stadium wasn’t ready, so the games were moved outside to the Estadio Nacional de Chile. The event was still very popular, with big crowds watching.

One of the best players was Amaury Antônio Pasos. He was named the Most Valuable Player, or MVP, for his great play during the championship. This event helped countries come together through basketball and showed the joy of international competition.

Competing nations

Group AGroup BGroup C
 Chile – advanced automatically to the final round as host

Competition format

In the 1959 FIBA World Championship, teams played in three groups of four. Each team in a group played the other teams once. The top two teams from each group moved on to the final round. The bottom two teams went to the classification round.

In the classification round, teams were split into two new groups of three. They played each other once. The winners of these groups played for eighth place, the runners-up played for tenth place, and the last teams played for twelfth place. In the final round, the top two teams from the preliminary groups played each other once, and the team with the best record won the championship.

Preliminary round

Group A

Source: FIBA archive points; 2) head-to-head points; 3) head-to-head goal average; 4) head-to-head number of points scored.

Group B

Source: FIBA archive points; 2) head-to-head points; 3) head-to-head goal average; 4) head-to-head number of points scored.
Notes:

Group C

Source: FIBA archive points; 2) head-to-head points; 3) head-to-head goal average; 4) head-to-head number of points scored.

PosTeamPldWLPFPAPDPtsQualification
1 United States330271204+676Final round
2 Formosa321207209−25
3 Argentina312197202−54Classification round
4 United Arab Republic303179239−603
16 January
United States 87–73 Argentina
Scoring by half: 48-27, 39-46
16 January
Formosa 71–69 United Arab Rep.
Scoring by half: 39-38, 32-31
17 January
Argentina 65–52 United Arab Rep.
Scoring by half: 36-32, 29-20
17 January
United States 81–73 Formosa
Scoring by half: 35-38, 46-35
18 January
Argentina 59–63 Formosa
Scoring by half: 33-31, 26-32
18 January
United Arab Rep. 58–103 United States
Scoring by half: 49-23, 54-35
PosTeamPldWLPFPAPDPtsQualification
1 Brazil321211175+365Final round
2 Soviet Union321229199+305
3 Canada321169174−55Classification round
4 Mexico303173234−613
16 January
Canada 52–69 Brazil
Scoring by half: 24-30, 28-39
16 January
Soviet Union 102–72 Mexico
Scoring by half: 48-42, 54-30
Canada 54–51 Mexico
Scoring by half: 26-19, 28-32
17 January
Soviet Union 73–64 Brazil
Scoring by half: 39-36, 34-28
18 January
Canada 63–54 Soviet Union
Scoring by half: 32-23, 31-31
18 January
Mexico 50–78 Brazil
Scoring by half: 20-50, 30-28
PosTeamPldWLPFPAPDPtsQualification
1 Bulgaria330217174+436Final round
2 Puerto Rico321209194+155
3 Philippines312192220−284Classification round
4 Uruguay303181211−303
16 January
Philippines 68–59 Uruguay
Scoring by half: 36-31, 32-28
Bulgaria 67–55 Puerto Rico
Scoring by half: 37-16, 30-39
17 January
Uruguay 64–78 Puerto Rico
Scoring by half: 37-40, 27-38
17 January
Bulgaria 85–61 Philippines
Scoring by half: 36-21, 49-40
18 January
Puerto Rico 76–63 Philippines
Scoring by half: 39-32, 37-31
18 January
Bulgaria 65–58 Uruguay
Scoring by half: 31-28, 34-30

Classification round

First round

Group D

The first round of the 1959 FIBA World Championship had many games in Group D. Teams were ranked by points, head-to-head points, goal average, and points scored.

Group E

Group E also had many games in the first round. Teams were ranked the same way as Group D.

Second round

Twelfth place playoff

The twelfth place playoff had matches to decide the final rankings.

Tenth place playoff

The tenth place playoff had matches to decide the rankings.

Eighth place playoff

The eighth place playoff decided the final positions for those teams.

PosTeamPldWLPFPAPDPtsQualification
1 Philippines220145130+154Eighth place playoff
2 United Arab Republic211136135+13Tenth place playoff
3 Canada202134150−162Twelfth place playoff
Philippines 66–65 United Arab Rep.
Scoring by half: 25-29, 41-36
Canada 69–71 United Arab Rep.
Scoring by half: 40-28, 29-43
Canada 65–79 Philippines
Scoring by half: 33-31, 32-48
PosTeamPldWLPFPAPDPtsQualification
1 Uruguay22010595+104Eighth place playoff
2 Argentina211123117+63Tenth place playoff
3 Mexico202113129−162Twelfth place playoff
Argentina 48–51 Uruguay
Scoring by half: 19-22, 29-29
Mexico 47–54 Uruguay
Scoring by half: 20-25, 27-29
Argentina 75–66 Mexico
Scoring by half: 34-34, 41-32
Canada 64–56 Mexico
Scoring by half: 33-25, 31-31
United Arab Rep. 59–61 Argentina
Scoring by half: 29-32, 30-29
Philippines 78–70 Uruguay
Scoring by half: 47-36, 31-34

Final round

The final round of the 1959 FIBA World Championship had the best teams playing for the championship title. The games took place in several cities in Chile, with the last games in Santiago, the capital.

The teams were ranked by points they earned, their head-to-head results, and other rules to break ties. Chile, as the host country, was one of the teams in the final round.

Source: FIBA archive points; 2) head-to-head points; 3) head-to-head goal average; 4) head-to-head number of points scored.
(C) Champions; (H) Hosts
Notes:

PosTeamPldWLPFPAPDPts
1 Brazil (C)651472382+9011
2 United States642370378−810
3 Chile (H)624393444−518
4 Formosa624315350−358
5 Puerto Rico615397471−747
6 Soviet Union651365264+10110
7 Bulgaria624315338−237
Chile 86–85 (OT) Formosa
Scoring by half: 35-27, 36-44 Overtime: 15-14
Puerto Rico 55–84 Soviet Union
Scoring by half: 29-26, 26-58
Bulgaria 58–63 United States
Scoring by half: 27-26, 31-37
Brazil 94–76 Formosa
Scoring by half: 56-35, 38-41
22 January
Chile 83–71 Puerto Rico
Scoring by half: 46-31, 37-40
23 January
Brazil 62–53 Bulgaria
Scoring by half: 30-28, 32-25
23 January
United States 54–53 Puerto Rico
Scoring by half: 25-32, 29-21
Brazil 63–66 Soviet Union
Scoring by half: 31-30, 32-36
Bulgaria 76–71 Chile
Scoring by half: 37-33, 39-38
26 January
Formosa 69–85 United States
Scoring by half: 32-33, 37-52
26 January
Bulgaria 58–78 Soviet Union
Scoring by half: 18-35, 40-43
Formosa 81–85 Puerto Rico
Scoring by half: 34-42, 47-43
Chile 49–75 Soviet Union
Scoring by half: 28-35, 21-40
Brazil 99–71 Puerto Rico
Scoring by half: 45-29, 54-42
United States 37–62 Soviet Union
Scoring by half: 14-25, 23-37
Bulgaria 70–62 Puerto Rico
Scoring by half: 35-25, 35-37
Chile 55–64 United States
Formosa 2–0 Soviet Union
Brazil 81–67 United States
Scoring by half: 40-37, 41-30
Bulgaria 0–2 Formosa
31 January
Brazil 73–49 Chile
Scoring by half: 37-21, 36-28

Awards

The 1959 FIBA World Championship gave awards to the best players. Amaury Antônio Pasos was named the Most Valuable Player, or MVP. This means he was one of the best players in the tournament.

Most Valuable Player
Brazil Amaury Pasos

Final standings

RankTeamRecord
1 Brazil7–2
2 United States7–2
3 Chile2–4
4 Formosa4–5
5 Puerto Rico3–6
6 Soviet Union7–2
7 Bulgaria5–4
8 Philippines4–2
9 Uruguay2–4
10 Argentina3–3
11 United Arab Republic1–5
12 Canada3–3
13 Mexico0–6

Top scorers (points per game)

Here are the players who scored the most points on average during the 1959 FIBA World Championship:

  1. James T. L. Chen (Formosa) 20.1 points per game
  2. Juan "Pachin" Vicens (Puerto Rico) 19.7 points per game
  3. Wlamir Marques (Brazil) 18.6 points per game
  4. Jerry Vayda (USA) 18 points per game
  5. Lio Jin Ron (Formosa) 16.7 points per game
  6. Dick Welsh (USA) 16.4 points per game
  7. Viktor Radev (Bulgaria) 15.25 points per game
  8. Amaury Pasos (Brazil) 15.22 points per game
  9. Jose Angel Cestero (Puerto Rico) 14.3 points per game
  10. Evelio Droz (Puerto Rico) 13.7 points per game

All-Tournament team

Main article: FIBA Basketball World Cup All-Tournament Team

The All-Tournament team named some of the best players from the championship. These players were very good and did well during the event.

Related articles

Chile
Basketball

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