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FIBA World Cup: Players Get Down To World Cup Theme Song (Video)

By Phil Watson

Ricky Rubio in action for Spain during the 2010 FIBA World Championships. (Photo by Christopher Johnson/This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.)
Ricky Rubio in action for Spain during the 2010 FIBA World Championships. (Photo by Christopher Johnson/This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.) /
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Spanish singer Huecco released the official music video to the FIBA World Cup’s theme song and it is delightfully ridiculous.

There are highlights galore from international action, as well as a host of NBA players, former NBA players, future NBA players and never-will-be NBA players dancing along and, worse, pretending to play instruments.

And that shiny gold basketball looks like it might be a tad bit slippery.

The host Spaniards were well represented (obviously) in the video by Ricky Rubio, Serge Ibaka, Pau Gasol and Jose Calderon, but there were also appearances by Pablo Prigioni, Luis Scola, Andres Nocioni and recent draft pick Dario Saric, who is being stashed internationally as part of the Philadelphia 76ers’ “sometime this millennium” rebuilding plan.

The FIBA World Cup—which used to be known as the FIBA World Championships until someone at FIBA thought that naming its championship the same thing as the more well-known FIFA competition was a terrific idea—opens Saturday in Spain with 24 nations divided into four groups:

  • Group A: Brazil, Egypt, France, Iran, Serbia, Spain.
  • Group B: Argentina, Croatia, Greece, the Philippines, Puerto Rico, Senegal.
  • Group C: Dominican Republic, Finland, New Zealand, Turkey, Ukraine, United States.
  • Group D: Angola, Australia, Lithuania, Mexico, Slovenia, South Korea.

The U.S. is the defending champion of the event, having beaten host Turkey in 2010.

Spain is in as the host nation and the U.S. secured its berth by winning the gold medal at the London Olympics.

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Angola, Egypt and Senegal punched their tickets via the 2013 FIBA Africa Championship last August in Abidjan, Ivory Coast.

Mexico, Puerto Rico, Argentina and the Dominican Republic qualified at the 2013 FIBA Americas Championship in Caracas, Venezuela, last August-September.

Iran, the Philippines and South Korea got in through the 2013 FIBA Asia Championship in Manila, Philippines last August.

Six teams qualified last September—France, Lithuania, Croatia, Slovenia, Ukraine and Serbia—at FIBA EuroBasket 2013 in Slovenia.

Australia and New Zealand qualified at the 2013 FIBA Oceania Championship held at Auckland and Canberra in New Zealand.

The last four qualifiers got in as wild cards—Brazil, Finland, Greece and Turkey.

Some things to look for will be the expanded free throw lane, the restricted arc and the extended 3-point line—food for thought as you dance along to the official theme song.