3X3’s Early Beginnings

Traditional basketball has been governed by an international organization since 1932, while streetball has not been controlled by one. Streetball tournaments that are three-on-three have always been organized and promoted privately. As an informal basketball, Streetball has never been formalized or managed like traditional basketball.

However, in the 2000s, FIBA developed an easy and convenient form of basketball where teams, players and nations could play on a well-organized and structured platform. The idea was to revolutionize three-on-three basketball and transform it into an international craze.

The idea behind FIBA’s philosophy, which was the brainchild of the General Secretary, Patrick Baumann, was to create a framework for streetball competitions all over the world. As part of its idea to make basketball the sport that is most accepted in the world, FIBA embraced 3×3 to enhance, strengthen and further develop the sport.

Since its inception, 3×3 has been designed to be an innovation catalyst and accelerator for the growth of basketball around the world and a fresh basketball discipline that is attractive to the young population. Fans would no longer have to travel to the indoor arenas of suburbs of the cities because basketball would come right into the city centers. With showmanship on a court, iconic cityscape backdrops with continuous music and the most talented street artists, the newest basketball type would be becoming an actual urban culture festival.

The first goal that FIBA had was to establish a clear set of rules and to formalize three-on-three so that players, nations, and teams could play on a structured platform with more structure. FIBA also had a wish to attract basketball players, primarily protecting teenagers who are leaving the sport and providing these players with a new format of basketball with the possibility of representing their countries on the international stage.

This was in perfect alignment with the initial goal of FIBA, which is that “everybody can succeed in 3×3,” and was intended to help basketball countries that do not have a chance to be ranked high due to the lower budgets for sports to achieve international recognition by embracing this thrilling basketball style.

Most importantly, 3×3 is a perfect illustration of a low-cost quality event since it was much less costly and more accessible, while at the same time, it was also easier to plan and compete against old-school basketball, which was extremely appealing for players as well as organizers.

It is evident that embracing a new basketball sport has brought many benefits. Still, what is more important, it gave basketball more international reach because it took the sport of basketball to new horizons.

As a result, this created career opportunities for more players, which acquired new players to basketball and eventually led to new followers of fans.