With eFIBA Season 3 gearing up to launch from 1 October 2024, Basketball New Zealand (BBNZ) and NZ Esports are excited to confirm their participation in FIBA’s official NBA 2K tournament – which will see 62 national teams and the world’s best NBA 2K gamers representing their country on the world stage.
From 15 October, New Zealand will once again contest the Oceania Conference, facing rivals Guam in a Regional Qualifiers and Regional Finals series. The winning team moves on to join seven other countries in the eFIBA World Finals, to be played in-person at a yet-to-be-announced location in December – and with a share of the €50,000 prize pool on offer.
All games will be played on NBA 2K25 on the PlayStation 5 console, and all Regional Qualifiers, Regional Finals and eFIBA World Finals will be streamed on both the eFIBA and FIBA Twitch and YouTube channels.
“We showed the world what New Zealand could achieve”
NZ Esports CEO, Jonathan Jansen says New Zealand showed in 2023 that they can compete – and win – on the eSports basketball world stage.
“Last year we showed the world what New Zealand could achieve when we finished 7th in the world at the eFIBA World Championships in Sweden, and we’re so excited to join forces with BBNZ to run it back again – this time aiming for even better results.”
BBNZ CEO, Dillon Boucher is excited to see what New Zealand can achieve on the world stage in its second year.
“Last year our inaugural squad came in as the youngest team at the World Finals, and none of our players had ever represented their country – or played against other another country – in 2K before, so it was always going to be a steep learning curve for them,” says Boucher.
“Despite this, they embraced their underdog status, defied expectations and performed well on the world stage; we were extremely proud of their effort and what they achieved.
“The true test for our eSports programme comes in Year Two; how can we use the experience and learnings from Year One to keep improving and become more competitive? That’s key for us, as the other countries will now know not to take New Zealand lightly in eFIBA Season 3.”
NBA2k NZ Selection In September
With a New Zealand NBA 2k squad to be selected by 16 September, NZ Esports are now looking to evaluate the gamer talent in Aotearoa for this national team. To be considered for selection, interested NBA 2k gamers can complete an Expression Of Interest (EOI) form at: https://bbnz.link/NBA2kEOI
2023 eFIBA World Finals
This is New Zealand’s second time in this competition, following a successful run in 2023 which saw the Kiwi squad emerge as Oceania Champions after dispatching Guam in a three-game series, then travel to the in-person eFIBA World Finals in Sweden.
The eFIBA Season 2 World Finals took centre stage at DreamHack Winter 2023, a three-day gaming lifestyle festival in Jonkoping, Sweden, with more than 45,000 people attending over the four days. USA was crowned tournament champions, taking the biggest share of the €50,000 prize pool, with France coming in second, Türkiye third, and the Philippines finishing fourth.
New Zealand finished seventh overall, beating Lebanon in their final pool game – a win which saw 17-year-old Jaxon Sutton (a.k.a. Flumeto) score a tournament-record 51 points in an outstanding performance.