The season of consecration for Jr. NBA FIP activities begins. The program of the National Basketball Association, endorsed by the Italian Basketball Federation in 2016, reaches its peak for 2024/25, the season in which twenty-five thousand (25,000!) girls and boys will take to the pitch clutching a basketball and wearing the shirts of the 30 American franchises.
In addition to the basketball players, the numbers are corroborated by the over 1,000 young referees, dressed in the gray jerseys of the Jr. NBA, and the over 3,200 coaches and teachers.
The Jr. NBA is now a reality in the calendar of activities of the FIP Youth Sector and School Sector. Two distinct championships, one aimed at Under 13 clubs (Jr. NBA FIP U13 Championship) and the other at secondary school students (Jr. NBA FIP Schools League), which have managed to capture the collective imagination for their ability to combine the healthy values of sport with the fun of the game and the pride of wearing the colors of the legendary NBA teams.
The numbers. The two Jr. NBA projects, organized in Italy by FIP with the precious support of the Regional Committees, involve a number of players that is unparalleled in Europe. For this sports season, in fact, the Under 13 sees almost 19,000 basketball players at the starting line, while 6,000 students will play in the 16 city tournaments. Present on all continents, in the European and Middle East areas, the Jr. NBA has its own “flag” in 34 nations, for a total of 147 leagues. Behind Italy, the country with the highest number of Leagues (this year there are 49 Under 13 Leagues, 16 Schools Leagues), there is Great Britain, with 36 Leagues divided between England, Ireland, Wales and Scotland . The project is expanding in the Middle Eastern area, with 4 Leagues in Abu Dhabi, 2 in Qatar, 2 in Israel and one in Lebanon.
Jr. NBA FIP U13 Championship. The 2024/25 season opens with mind-boggling numbers, due to the extension of the Jr. NBA FIP U13 Championship to the entire national territory. In its third edition, in fact, there will be 1,272 men’s teams and 284 women’s teams taking part in the tournament. After two years of gradual adjustment between the regions of Italy, this year the Italian Under 13 basketball team will be dressed entirely in the NBA.
The format of the championship remains unchanged compared to past editions. Through the Draft Events – the first of the season took place today at the PalaTiziano in Rome with 120 teams – the clubs are formally divided within one of the 49 Leagues that make up the Championship. Again in the event that symbolically opens the tournament, the teams are paired with the franchises of the overseas championship, and so Olimpia Milano or Basket Costa Masnaga – let’s take the teams that won the Championship last year as an example – associate their naming to that of the Oklahoma City Thunder or that of the Denver Nuggets.
After the regional phase, the continuation of the season includes the playoff phase, from which the 16 participants (8 in the men’s and 8 in the women’s) advance to the Final Event, the final event in which they play for the conquest of the coveted Jr. NBA Ring.
In 2023, the first year of the Under 13 project, the Final Event was organized in Pescara, and had Simone Fontecchio as an exceptional guest. Last year the finalist teams met in Perugia instead. For this season, the event will be from 6 to 8 June 2025, with the venue to be announced in the coming weeks.
Jr. NBA FIP Schools League. Seventh edition of the FIP and NBA school tournament. It was 2016, when the first, and then only, city tournament was organized in Rome which immediately managed to attract 30 schools in the capital. Excluding the Covid period, the tournament had an impressive demand for organization from all over Italy. With the Jr. NBA FIP, basketball enters middle schools, with a streamlined tournament (10-minute games, always at least one girl on the court, there are a maximum of 5 outings during curricular time for the entire school year) and with the free distribution of the beautiful game kits. Today, as in the past season, the tournament will be played in 16 cities. As in May 2024, also in May 2025 the 16 winners of the city stages will be hosted by the Italian Basketball Federation for the Final Event which, exactly like the Under 13 tournament, offers the Jr. NBA ring as a prize.
The Leagues of the Jr. NBA FIP U13 Championship 2024/25
Men’s tournament
- Lombardy – Leagues from n.1 to n.8
- Piedmont/Liguria/Sardinia – Leagues from n.9 to n.14
- Veneto/Friuli Venezia Giulia/Trentino Alto Adige – Leagues from n.15 to n.20
- Tuscany/Lazio – Leagues from n.21 to n.26
- Emilia Romagna/Marche/Umbria – Leagues from n.27 to n.32
- Abruzzo/Molise/Puglia/Basilicata – Leagues from n.33 to n.36
- Sicily/Campania/Calabria – Leagues from n.37 to n. 41
Women’s tournament
- Piedmont/Lombardy/Liguria – Leagues from n.1 to n.2
- Emilia Romagna/Veneto/Friuli Venezia Giulia/Trentino Alto Adige – Leagues n.3 to n.4
- Tuscany/Sardinia/Lazio/Umbria – Leagues n.5 to n.6
- Marche/Abruzzo/Molise/Puglia – League n.7
- Campania/Sicily/Calabria – League n.8
The cities of the Jr. NBA FIP Schools League
Ancona, Ascoli Piceno and Fermo, Bari, Florence, Genoa, Matera, Milan, Naples, Perugia, Pescara and Chieti, Livorno, Reggio Calabria, Rome, Trani and Barletta, Trieste, Venice
Date
- Final Event Jr. NBA U13 Championship – June 6-8, 2025 (venue to be assigned)
- Final Event Jr. NBA FIP Schools League – 23-24 May 2025 (venue and dates to be confirmed)
Golden Book Jr. NBA FIP U13 Championship
Male
- 2024 EA7 Emporio Armani/Oklahoma City Thunder
- 2023 Anzio Basket Club/Dallas Mavericks
Female
- 2024 Basket Costa/Denver Nuggets
- 2023 Women’s Basketball Florence/Detroit Pistons
Albo d’Oro Jr. NBA FIP Schools League
- 2024 – Massimiliano Guerri State Middle School – Reggello (FI) / Oklahoma City Thunder
- 2023 – Denver Nuggets/IC. Campi Elisi Trieste
- 2022 – not played
- 2021 – not played
- 2020 – not assigned
- 2019 – Sacramento Kings/San Carlo Milano
- 2018 – Chicago Bulls/IC Giuseppe Impastato Roma
- 2017 – Los Angeles Lakers/IC Leonardo da Vinci Guidonia
- 2016 – Oklahoma City Thunder/IC Vibo Mariano Roma
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