The U.S. has regained its position as the No. 1 men’s basketball rankings, while South Korea currently ranks No. 51.
The United States has returned to the top of the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) Men’s World Rankings.
The United States moved up one spot to No. 1 from its previous ranking of No. 2 in the world rankings released by FIBA on Saturday.
The FIBA World Rankings are released after major tournaments, and this year’s rankings reflect the FIBA Men’s World Cup, which concluded on Nov. 11.
The United States finished fourth at the tournament, but moved up one spot to No. 1 after former No. 1 Spain slipped to ninth.
The U.S. had held the top spot for 12 years, since 2010, before falling to No. 2 in last November’s rankings, behind Spain.
Spain is now No. 2, while World Cup-winning Germany jumped from No. 11 to No. 3.
Outside of Oceania nations such as Australia (No. 4) and New Zealand (No. 21), Japan is the highest-ranked FIBA Asia member at No. 26.
Japan finished 19th at the World Cup, qualifying for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.
The Japanese were followed by Iran (27th), Lebanon (28th), China (29th), Jordan (32nd) and the Philippines (38th).
South Korea dropped from 38th to 51st.
South Korea has been absent from international competition due to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, missing World Cup regional qualifiers and withdrawing from the Paris Olympics pre-qualifying tournament in Syria in August for the safety of its athletes.
In the women’s rankings released the previous day, there were no changes at the top, with the United States, China, Australia, Spain and Canada remaining unchanged.
South Korea 먹튀검증 moved up one spot to No. 13.