First list of 3x3 Challengers already breaks pro season record with 23 events

MIES (Switzerland) - Just two weeks after announcing the FIBA 3x3 World Tour 2019 calendar, FIBA set a new historic mark for the 2019 3x3 professional season.

The Challengers are premium direct international qualifiers to the FIBA 3x3 World Tour and attract the best 3x3 players in the world.

Last year, an all-time high 22 Challengers were held. A total of 23 Challengers are already confirmed for 2019 and this number is expected to increase significantly as more Challengers will be announced at a later stage. 

Here is the list of confirmed Challengers, sorted by FIBA 3x3 World Tour Masters to which they qualify.

Chengdu Masters (June 1-2)

Event Country Date
Wuxi Challenger China April 13-14
Fountask Nanjing Challenger China April 20-21
Huaqiao International KunShan Challenger China May 18-19

 

Mexico City Masters (6-7 July)

Event Country Date
Penang Challenger Malaysia May 11-12 
Novi Sad Challenger Serbia May 24-25 
TBA    

 

Saskatoon Masters (20-21 July)

Event Country Date
Ulaanbaatar Challenger Mongolia June 8-9 
Lipik Challenger Croatia June 14-15
Yi Chang Challenger China June 15-16

 

Prague Masters (3-4 August)

Event Country Date
Tinkoff Moscow Open Russia June 7-8
OPAP Limassol Challenger Cyprus June 8-9
Belgrade Challenger Serbia July 13-14

 

Lausanne Masters (23-24 August)

Event Country Date
Poitiers Challenger France July 5-6
Yekaterinburg Challenger Russia July 9-10
TBA    

 

Debrecen Masters (30-31 August)

Event Country Date
Bucharest Challenger Romania August 10-11 
Ljubljana Challenger Slovenia August 17-18 
Rimini Challenger Italy August 17-18

 

Montreal Masters (7-8 September)

Event Country Date
Hai Ning Challenger China  June 29-30 
Huai An Challenger China July 20-21 
TBA    

 

Los Angeles Masters (21-22 September)

Event Country Date
Xiongan Challenger China  August 23-24 
Shanghai Challenger China TBA
TBA    

 

Nanjing Masters (12-13 October)

Event Country Date
Taoyuan Challenger Chinese Taipei September 21-22 
Edmonton Challenger Canada September 28-29
Seoul Challenger South Korea  September 28-29

The Doha Masters is staged so early in the season (April 18-19) that no team can qualify via a Challenger. FIBA will shortly announce the list of qualifying events to this event.

Sixteen invitational teams take part in each Challenger and the two finalists stamp their ticket to a designated FIBA 3x3 World Tour Masters (unless they are already qualified to the same Masters).

With the exception of Doha, each Masters will be connected to 3 Challengers. This means that 50% of the teams competing in (the main draw of) World Tour events come from Challengers.

Prize money will soar from 20 to 32k USD  in each one of these challengers this season, a large contribution to the professionalization of the game.

There are 3 ways to qualify for a FIBA 3x3 Challenger:

1. Win a satellite event (a satellite is a tour or a standalone event which qualifies directly to a challenger)
2. Rank as high as possible in the FIBA 3x3 Team Ranking  (best ranked teams - at the moment of auto-allocation 5 weeks before the event - have preferential access to challengers)
3. Get one of the wildcards from the tournament hosts

A first list of satellites will be announced by the end of March.

All organizers interested in hosting a 3x3 Satellite or a Challenger in following seasons can contact FIBA's 3x3 team.

FIBA