FIBA Americas

What is FIBA Americas?

FIBA Americas is the Americas Zone of FIBA, the International Basketball Federation, and the Regional Office through which that Zone acts. FIBA’s General Statutes, in the edition of 16 May 2025, define the Zones as “divisions of FIBA with delegated authority to take decisions in their geographic regions”, which “shall not be organised as legal entities and shall act only through the Regional Offices”.^[1] The legal person is therefore the Regional Office, which Article 19.1 describes as “a non-profit-making legal entity (or group of entities) owned by FIBA”.^[1]

FIBA’s own Americas pages use broader language. The region page states that “FIBA Americas is the governing body for basketball in the Americas region, overseeing competitions and development initiatives”,^[3] and the organisation page calls it “an international federation whose membership consists of the national basketball federations of the Americas”.^[2] Under the statutes, the Zone is a division of FIBA rather than a federation with its own legal personality. It covers basketball in both its five-a-side and 3x3 forms, for national teams and clubs.

What does FIBA Americas govern or do?

FIBA’s organisation page for the Americas lists the office’s work in one sentence: “Among many tasks, this includes promoting, supervising and directing international competition at the club and national team levels”.^[2] Article 17.6 of the General Statutes sets the mission of every Zone, which begins with establishing “their own development plans as an extension and reflection of the FIBA strategic objectives” and includes improving the “technical standards and administrative level of national member federations” and developing “strategies allowing the Regional Offices to be financially self-sustainable”.^[1]

The Zone’s authority is delegated and bounded. Article 18.1 authorises Zones to “organise their affairs in the manner most appropriate in their geographic region”, subject to the General Statutes and to FIBA’s regulations and decisions, and requires each Zone to have Zone Regulations.^[1] Under Article 19.4 the Regional Office’s staff “implement the decisions of FIBA and Zone bodies in their geographic regions”.^[1] In October 2025 the Americas Zone Board “approved the proposal for a new competition system for youth across the zone”, which FIBA said would be implemented in “the last quarter of 2026”.^[6]

When was FIBA Americas founded and where is it based?

The date on which FIBA first established its Americas Zone could not be established from the FIBA pages and statutes retrieved; the current statutes name the five Zones, Africa, Americas, Asia, Europe and Oceania, as established, without a date.^[1]

FIBA’s contact page gives the office’s address as “FIBA - Americas, 3480 Main Highway, Miami FL 33133 - USA”.^[4] A FIBA news report, which carries no publication date on its page, records that “FIBA Americas unveiled its new headquarters in Miami, Florida”, describing the city as “The Gateway to The Americas”, and quotes thanks to Puerto Rico “for hosting us so warmly for a long time”. The same report names Carol Callan as FIBA Americas President and Carlos Alves as FIBA Executive Director Americas at the time of the opening.^[5] The legal form the Miami entity takes under United States law could not be confirmed from a retrieved filing; the statutes describe each Regional Office only as “a non-profit-making legal entity (or group of entities) owned by FIBA”.^[1]

In October 2025 FIBA named Fabian Borro as FIBA Americas President, Ricardo Vairo as a Vice President and Carlos Alves as Executive Director Americas, and described the meetings as “the mid-term of the 2023-2027 mandate”.^[6]

How is FIBA Americas recognised?

FIBA Americas exists by FIBA’s own instrument. Article 17.1 of the FIBA General Statutes (edition of 16 May 2025) provides that “the Congress may establish Zones in geographic regions”, and Article 17.2 names the Americas among the five Zones “established in order to ensure proximity to the national member federations in the Zone and to run the regional affairs”.^[1] Article 18.1 requires each Zone to elect a Zone President for “one (1) four (4) year term of office, renewable only once”, to hold assemblies of its national member federations “at least every two years”, and to elect a Zone Board for matters arising “between the Zone Assemblies”. Article 19.2 has FIBA’s Executive Committee appoint each Regional Office’s Executive Director “after consultation with the Zone Board”.^[1] Because Zones “shall not be organised as legal entities”, the Americas Zone holds no recognition separate from that of FIBA, the world federation.^[1]

For the Pan American Games, Panam Sports’ qualification manual for Santiago 2023 named “FIBA Américas” as the responsible body for both five-a-side and 3x3 basketball, with the men’s five-a-side places drawn from the 2022 AmeriCup.^[8]

What does FIBA Americas organise?

The Zone’s senior men’s championship is the FIBA AmeriCup, which FIBA describes as “formerly known as the FIBA Americas Championship” and “Now held every four years”.^[7] FIBA’s editions page lists a first edition in Puerto Rico in 1980 and a most recent edition in Nicaragua in 2025, won by Brazil, with 2029 not yet held.^[9] FIBA’s region page lists the next AmeriCup for 24 August to 2 September 2029.^[3] Entry is through the FIBA AmeriCup Qualifiers, in which, by FIBA’s description, “16 teams divided into four groups” play and “the top three from each group advance to the AmeriCup”.^[7]

The FIBA Women’s AmeriCup is held every two years, according to FIBA, and serves as “a qualifier for both the FIBA Women’s World Cup and the Olympic Games”; its regional pathways are the Central American, Caribbean, Centrobasket and South American women’s championships.^[7] FIBA lists the next Women’s AmeriCup for 3–11 July 2027.^[3] In 3x3, the Santiago 2023 manual cited the FIBA 3x3 AmeriCup held in Miami on 4–6 November 2022.^[8]

For clubs, FIBA’s Americas pages list the Basketball Champions League Americas, with “the winner earning a spot in the FIBA Intercontinental Cup”, the Women’s Basketball League Americas, and the men’s and women’s Liga Sudamericana de Baloncesto.^[10]

Who are its members?

Members are national basketball federations; FIBA’s General Statutes assign them to the Zone, which must hold “assemblies of all national member federations assigned to the Zone at least every two years”.^[1] FIBA Americas’ organisation page puts the number at “currently 42 members” (page accessed 1 October 2026).^[2] USA Basketball is one of them.

The Zone works through sub-zones. FIBA’s report on the mid-term meetings held in Mexico City on 2–4 October 2025 describes “the sub-zone of Central America and the Caribbean (Concencaba), along with its sub-sub zones for the Caribbean (CBC) and Central America (Cocaba)”, and a separate Consubasquet meeting for South America chaired by FIBA Americas Vice President Ricardo Vairo. The same report states that the host National Olympic Committee’s president “welcomed the 30 National Federations to Mexico”, which is an attendance figure for that assembly, not a membership count.^[6] A list of the 42 federations by sub-zone was not published on the FIBA Americas pages retrieved.