United Cup of Champions

The United Cup of Champions is an international annual basketball tournament for club teams in the Central Americas and Northern America. The league is traditionally held with 6 teams over a period of a week in the Gran Arena del Cibao in Santiago, the capital of the Dominican Republic.

United Cup of Champions
Organising bodyUnited Cup
Founded2014
First season2014
CountriesAs of 2023:
 Belize
 Canada
 Costa Rica
 Dominican Republic
 United States
ConfederationFIBA Americas
Number of teams6
Current championsMexico Correcaminos UAT Victoria (1st title)
(2022)
Most championshipsUnited States GIE Maile Matrix (4 titles)
Websitewww.theunitedcup.org

History

edit

The United Cup was first played in 2014.

In the United Cup's second season, in 2015, six teams for the Dominican Republic and the United States participated.[1] The GIE Maile Matrix were the inaugural champions after finishing the season with a 3–1 record and beating GUG in the finals. In the 2016, Academia de La Montana de Medellin from Colombia joined the league. In 2019, the HAB Caicos Sonics from the Turks and Caicos Islands made their debut in the league. In 2019, Fenix Santiago from Guatemala and the Tonga national team played in the United Cup. The following year, in 2020, the Chiba Seals from Japan joined. The 2022 saw the United Kingdom's Sheffield Bulldogs join the competition as well as the Correcaminos UAT Victoria from Mexico, who immediately won the title.

The 2023 season will take place from January 10 to January 13, 2023, with teams from a record 5 countries (those being Belize, Canada, Dominican Republic, United States and Costa Rica). The national teams from Belize and Costa Rica represented their countries.[2]

Current teams

edit
Team Location
  Costa Rica (NT) Costa Rica
  Belize (NT) Belize
  Atlanta Savage Atlanta, Georgia, United States
  Immortals Cibao Cibao, Dominican Republic
  BC Uprise Santiago, Dominican Republic
  Fénix Baloncesto Santiago, Dominican Republic

Champions

edit
Edition Season Champions Runners-up Finals score Finals MVP Third place Fourth place
2 2015   GIE Maile Matrix   GUG 81–76 Ethan Bradshaw No third place game
3 2016   GIE Maile Matrix (2)   Plaza 90–78 Keith Closs
4 2017   GIE Maile Matrix (3)   Houston Havoc 86–72 Jermaine Barnes
5 2018   GIE Maile Matrix (4)   GUG 85–80 Langston Nolley
6 2019   Tonga (NT)   Atlanta Blaze 101–90 Stefan Bradford   Fenix Santiago   Plaza Fernando Valerio
7 2020   Santiago Basket   GIE Maile Matrix 90–72 Ameth Gil No third place game
8 2021   Santiago Basket (2)   GIE Maile Matrix 82–77 Oliver Garcia
9 2022   Correcaminos UAT Victoria   Fénix Baloncesto [3] Marquin Chandler

References

edit
  1. ^ "United Cup Basketball 2014–2015, News, Teams, Scores, Stats, Standings, Awards –". www.latinbasket.com. Retrieved 2022-12-11.
  2. ^ "News: Dates set for United Cup of Champions 2023 - theunitedcup.com". www.theunitedcup.com. Retrieved 2022-12-11.
  3. ^ "UAT claim title at the 2022 United Cup". www.theunitedcup.com. Retrieved 2022-12-11.