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FIBA Intercontinental Cup Information
In this Basketball preview blog, we are going to focus on the FIBA Intercontinental Cup tournament, which takes place each year.
The league features 6 of the best teams from around the world who compete to claim the tag as the best club team in the world!
Established in 1965, the tournament has been known as the Intercontinental Cup since 2013 and underwent an expansion in 2023.
Below, we are going to look at the upcoming tournament, look back at past champions and look at betting odds to enhance your betting experience with the Intercontinental Cup.
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Who won the Intercontinental Cup?
Spanish side Unicaja are the reigning champions, having defeated NBA G League United 71-61 in the 2025 final in Singapore, a repeat result of the previous year.
When is the Intercontinental Cup?
The 2026 Intercontinental Cup is expected to take place in September 2026; the venue is yet to be announced.
Who are the favourites to win the Intercontinental Cup?
You can expect the bookies to have the back-to-back champions, Unicaja, as favourites to retain their title and make it three on the bounce, although NBA G League United will be looking for revenge after the last two finals.
Who will win the Intercontinental Cup?
Head over to the OLBG Basketball Tips to see who they are tipping to win, not only the outright winner but also matches throughout the tournament.
Additionally, if you only want to view the tips from the top tipsters, those who have shown a profit on basketball over the past year, then head over to the Best Basketball Tipsters page.
What is the Intercontinental Cup Format?
The six teams competing will be split into two groups of three. Each team will face the other two teams in their group, with the teams finishing 1st advancing to the final.
The teams finishing in 2nd go into the third-place game, whilst the teams finishing in 3rd head to a fifth-place game. The Final and place-deciding games are one-off matches.
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How often do Favourites win in the Intercontinental Cup?
Here is how the favourites have performed each year. Games have varied over the years, and with the expansion in 2023, we now get nine games each year.
As you can see, over the last ten tournaments, favourites have won 78.26% of games, and during the last three tournaments, they have won 20 of the 27 games, meaning underdog backers may struggle!
| Year | Favourites | Winners | Win Rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 1 | 0 | 0.00% |
| 2017 | 1 | 1 | 100.00% |
| 2019 | 4 | 4 | 100.00% |
| 2020 | 4 | 4 | 100.00% |
| 2021 | 1 | 1 | 100.00% |
| 2022 | 4 | 2 | 50.00% |
| 2022-23 | 4 | 4 | 100.00% |
| 2023 | 9 | 6 | 66.67% |
| 2024 | 9 | 8 | 88.89% |
| 2025 | 9 | 6 | 66.67% |
| Total | 46 | 36 | 78.26% |
Intercontinental Cup League Past Winners
Only seven teams have won this tournament more than once: Real Madrid leads the way with five wins, although their last success came in 2015. Another Spanish club is Canarias, which has won this three times and more recently than Madrid, with all three coming since 2017.
Both Akron Wingfoots (1967, 1968 & 1969) and Varese (1966, 1970 & 1973) have three wins apiece, but as you can see, those came a long time ago. The only other multiple winners are Cantù (1975 & 1982), Flamengo (2014 & 2022) and, more recently, Unicaja (2024 & 2025).
| Season | Champions | Score | Runners-up |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Unicaja | 71–61 | NBA G League United |
| 2024 | Unicaja | 75–60 | NBA G League United |
| 2023 (II) | Franca | 70–69 | Baskets Bonn |
| 2023 (I) | Canarias | 89–68 | São Paulo |
| 2022 | Flamengo | 75–62 | San Pablo Burgos |
| 2021 | San Pablo Burgos | 82–73 | Quimsa |
| 2020 | Canarias | 80–72 | Virtus Bologna |
| 2019 | AEK | 86–70 | Flamengo |
| 2017 | Canarias | 76–71 | Guaros de Lara |
| 2016 | Guaros de Lara | 74–69 | Skyliners Frankfurt |
Intercontinental Cup Winners by Country
Spanish teams have been the most successful in this tournament, which is no surprise given that we have already highlighted that Real Madrid are 5x winners and Canarias are 3x winners. The other four have come from FC Barcelona, San Pablo Burgos and Unicaja Málaga (x2).
Second on the list and five behind Spain are Italian clubs with seven wins, three of those from Varese, two from Cantù and then each of Virtus Roma and Olimpia Milano has one win apiece.
| Rank | Club | Winners | Runners-Up |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Spain | 12 | 4 |
| 2nd | Italy | 7 | 6 |
| 3rd | Brazil | 4 | 10 |
| 4th | USA | 4 | 2 |
| 5th | Greece | 3 | 0 |
Author Information
Andy Powell manages this FIBA Intercontinental Cup Preview and other basketball content in this section of the site, as well as the Basketball Tipsters in the OLBG tipster competition, in his role in the OLBG Expert Team. Andy meticulously updates the data and results for these pieces. You can get Basketball betting advice in our bookmaker reviews as well as in our Best Basketball Betting Sites Guide.
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