First list of 3x3 Challengers already breaks pro season record with 23 events
MIES (Switzerland) - Just two weeks after announcing the FIBA 3x3 World Tour 2019 calendar, FIBA set a new historic mark for the 2019 3x3 professional season.
The Challengers are premium direct international qualifiers to the FIBA 3x3 World Tour and attract the best 3x3 players in the world.
Last year, an all-time high 22 Challengers were held. A total of 23 Challengers are already confirmed for 2019 and this number is expected to increase significantly as more Challengers will be announced at a later stage.
Here is the list of confirmed Challengers, sorted by FIBA 3x3 World Tour Masters to which they qualify.
Chengdu Masters (June 1-2)
| Event | Country | Date |
| Wuxi Challenger | China | April 13-14 |
| Fountask Nanjing Challenger | China | April 20-21 |
| Huaqiao International KunShan Challenger | China | May 18-19 |
Mexico City Masters (6-7 July)
| Event | Country | Date |
| Penang Challenger | Malaysia | May 11-12 |
| Novi Sad Challenger | Serbia | May 24-25 |
| TBA |
Saskatoon Masters (20-21 July)
| Event | Country | Date |
| Ulaanbaatar Challenger | Mongolia | June 8-9 |
| Lipik Challenger | Croatia | June 14-15 |
| Yi Chang Challenger | China | June 15-16 |
Prague Masters (3-4 August)
| Event | Country | Date |
| Tinkoff Moscow Open | Russia | June 7-8 |
| OPAP Limassol Challenger | Cyprus | June 8-9 |
| Belgrade Challenger | Serbia | July 13-14 |
Lausanne Masters (23-24 August)
| Event | Country | Date |
| Poitiers Challenger | France | July 5-6 |
| Yekaterinburg Challenger | Russia | July 9-10 |
| TBA |
Debrecen Masters (30-31 August)
| Event | Country | Date |
| Bucharest Challenger | Romania | August 10-11 |
| Ljubljana Challenger | Slovenia | August 17-18 |
| Rimini Challenger | Italy | August 17-18 |
Montreal Masters (7-8 September)
| Event | Country | Date |
| Hai Ning Challenger | China | June 29-30 |
| Huai An Challenger | China | July 20-21 |
| TBA |
Los Angeles Masters (21-22 September)
| Event | Country | Date |
| Xiongan Challenger | China | August 23-24 |
| Shanghai Challenger | China | TBA |
| TBA |
Nanjing Masters (12-13 October)
| Event | Country | Date |
| Taoyuan Challenger | Chinese Taipei | September 21-22 |
| Edmonton Challenger | Canada | September 28-29 |
| Seoul Challenger | South Korea | September 28-29 |
The Doha Masters is staged so early in the season (April 18-19) that no team can qualify via a Challenger. FIBA will shortly announce the list of qualifying events to this event.
Sixteen invitational teams take part in each Challenger and the two finalists stamp their ticket to a designated FIBA 3x3 World Tour Masters (unless they are already qualified to the same Masters).
With the exception of Doha, each Masters will be connected to 3 Challengers. This means that 50% of the teams competing in (the main draw of) World Tour events come from Challengers.
Prize money will soar from 20 to 32k USD in each one of these challengers this season, a large contribution to the professionalization of the game.
There are 3 ways to qualify for a FIBA 3x3 Challenger:
1. Win a satellite event (a satellite is a tour or a standalone event which qualifies directly to a challenger)
2. Rank as high as possible in the FIBA 3x3 Team Ranking (best ranked teams - at the moment of auto-allocation 5 weeks before the event - have preferential access to challengers)
3. Get one of the wildcards from the tournament hosts
A first list of satellites will be announced by the end of March.
All organizers interested in hosting a 3x3 Satellite or a Challenger in following seasons can contact FIBA's 3x3 team.
FIBA