National teams / Asia / Japan

full data

Japan

Japan Basketball Association (JBA) · FIBA Asia · East Asia

Federation

Japan Basketball Association Wikipedia

Official website

japanbasketball.jp source: Wikidata

Competitions

• FIBA Basketball World Cup qualifiers (Asian Qualifiers) (zone pathway)
• FIBA Asia Cup and its qualifiers / pre-qualifiers (played by FIBA Asia sub-zone) (zone pathway)
• FIBA Women's Asia Cup (Division A and B) (zone pathway)
• FIBA 3x3 national-team events (3x3 is open to every member federation) (FIBA structure)

"Pathway" means the competitions open to this zone or sub-zone, not a record of every edition entered.

Leagues in this country

B.League (B.Premier) · B.League One (Japan, 2nd level from 2026-27) · B.League Next (Japan, 3rd level from 2026-27) · W League (Japan, women) · W League Future (Japan, women, 2nd division) · Japan corporate/club leagues (JSB, SB2 regional leagues)

Level estimate

Men: Strong · Women: Strong

Level tiers are our estimate from the FIBA World Ranking position (Elite 1–8 · Strong 9–24 · Solid 25–50 · Developing 51–90 · Emerging 91+ · Unranked = not on the ranking). They say nothing about any individual player.

Eligibility in short

• You need the passport. To play for a country in FIBA competition you must hold that country's passport, and the federation must send FIBA your written declaration (Book 3, arts. 3-14, 3-15).
• Born there, or a passport before 18, or "significant links". If you weren't born in the country, you count as a regular national only if you held its passport before your 18th birthday, or FIBA finds you have significant links to it: years lived there, seasons played there, a parent born there, schooling, family and so on (arts. 3-15, 3-16).
• Otherwise you are a "Restricted Player". Each national team may include only one Restricted Player on its final roster for a FIBA competition (arts. 3-17, 3-18). This replaced the older "naturalised after age 16" wording.
• Playing once can lock you in. Being on the final roster at a FIBA national-team competition (3x3 included) fixes your national status (art. 3-22). Since 5 Dec 2025, players who appeared at a World Cup, Olympics, continental cup (AmeriCup, AfroBasket, EuroBasket, Asia Cup), U20 EuroBasket, U19 World Cup or main 3x3 events cannot switch (art. 3-24).
• Changing federation. Only federations can apply. A change is possible after youth events (U16–U18) by agreement (art. 3-23), or after other events if your last appearance was at least 5 years ago and you played no more than 5 official games. After such a change you count as a Restricted Player (arts. 3-25, 3-26).
• Only federations can file. Players and agents can't apply to FIBA directly. Requests go through the national federation, at least 14 days before the competition (arts. 3-11, 3-12).

Source: FIBA Internal Regulations, Book 3 (Players and Officials), in force as of 22 April 2026. Read Book 3 (PDF, fiba.basketball)

Have a family link to another country? See path via passport. Not legal or immigration advice. This is general information. Nationality law changes, and only the government that issues the passport (and FIBA, for eligibility) can decide your case.