Gilas Pilipinas climbs to no. 38 in FIBA world ranking

The Philippine men's national basketball team Gilas Pilipinas climbed two spots in the latest world rankings made public by FIBA on Friday.

Gilas Pilipinas is now 38th in the overall ranking and the eighth best team in Asia.

The development came after Gilas' 24th place finish in the recently concluded 2023 FIBA World Cup, which the country hosted alongside Japan and Indonesia. In the said tournament, the Philippines also punched a ticket to the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament.

Team USA reclaimed the top spot after finishing fourth in the World Cup and directly qualifying to the 2024 Paris Olympics as one of the top two teams from the Americas, alongside bronze medal winner Canada, getting the sixth spot.

New champions Germany climbed eight spots to no. 3, while 2019 World Cup champions Spain placed second. Runners-up Serbia improved to no. 5, while Australia went down a spot to no. 4.

South Sudan's historic run in the World Cup earned them the no. 31 rank, 32 spots higher than their previous ranking. Latvia's own Cinderella run in the World Cup put them at no. 8 which is 22 places higher than their previous rank.

Japan, the top Asian team at the end of the World Cup, went up 11 spots to claim no. 26.

Last Wednesday, FIBA also released the women's world rankings with the Gilas Women placing 37th.

Gilas Pilipinas will see action next in the Asian Games with interim head coach Tim Cone at the helm.

—JKC, GMA Integrated News