2006 FIBA World Championship Final the Final without their star player, later to be named tournament MVP, Pau Gasol, who suffered partial fracture of his fifth metatarsal in his left foot in the Semi-final against Argentina. Greece just came off a stunning victory against the United States in their Semi-final. 2006 FIBA World Championship Final The 2006 FIBA World Championship Final was a basketball game between the men's national teams of Greece and the Spain that took place on September 3, 2006, at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan. It was the first Final appearance for Spain, whose best achievement in the World Cup
History of the FIBA Basketball World Cup was to be held in 1950. Argentina was nominated to host for three major reasons – first, European countries were still recovering from the War and none expressed interest in hosting; second, Argentina had a positive image in the international basketball community and were a founding member of FIBA; finally, and probably most importantly, they were willing to take on the unenviable task of hosting the first World Championship. FIBA decided to invite ten teams – the hosts Argentina, the medalists from the 1948 Olympics (the United States, France, and Brazil), plus two teams each from South America, Europe, and