FIBA Women’s World Cup Will Move After WNBA Season in 2030

The FIBA Women’s World Cup will move back on the calendar starting in 2030, avoiding overlap with the WNBA season.

FIBA announced the change Thursday to move back the 2030 tournament to November 27 to December 8 of that year. The 2030 tournament does not yet have a host site; FIBA said bidding will begin later this year, with a potential selection in December.

The next FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup will be held in September 2026 in Germany, while the next men’s tournament will be in Qatar in 2027. That tournament will be held as usual in August and September.

The women’s tournament has historically been played directly following the men’s tournament in September and sometimes October. While that’s the offseason for the NBA, the WNBA playoffs usually begin in late September.

The move will certainly help American stars compete in both the WNBA Finals and the World Cup. The 2022 roster team included WNBA stars A’ja Wilson, Breanna Stewart, Sabrina Ionescu, Chelsea Gray, Alyssa Thomas, Jewell Loyd, Kahleah Copper, and Kelsey Plum, all of whom currently lead title-contending teams and could very likely see conflicts with the 2026 FIBA tournament and WNBA season.

In 2022, Wilson, Gray, and Plum brought the Aces their first WNBA championship on September 18. They turned around and led the U.S. to gold in the Women’s World Cup, which began play September 22. Wilson was the MVP.

The WNBA season is now longer than it was in 2022 and FIBA has moved up the 2026 tournament, flipping the timing between the international and domestic championships. The 2026 FIBA tournament is scheduled for September 4–13; The 2025 WNBA playoffs begin September 14, with the Finals slated for mid-October. Barring another schedule change—the WNBA does take an Olympic break every four years—the WNBA and FIBA could overlap next September.

But the schedule change also helps more international players stay in the WNBA rather than forfeiting their roster spot to lead their national team. The first ever entry draft pick of the Golden State Valkyries, Juste Jocyte decided to forgo the WNBA season this year to focus on EuroBasket, which is held in June. Gabby Williams rejoined the WNBA late last year after leading France to a silver medal at the Paris Olympics, and has this year decided to skip Eurobasket along with her Storm teammate Dominique Malonga. 

Conflicting schedules between the WNBA and national teams will still exist, but the FIBA change takes one major tournament out of the biggest part of the league’s calendar.

The scheduling decision as well as other FIBA matters were handled by the organization’s Central Board during a meeting in Bahrain. A group photo of the board featured NBA legends Dirk Nowitzki and Yao Ming and NBA deputy commissioner and COO Mark Tatum.