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Manila Bulletin devider Sports devider Basketball devider Gilas aims to crack Top 30 in FIBA rankings, reveals Cone

Gilas aims to crack Top 30 in FIBA rankings, reveals Cone

Published Sep 27, 2025 01:02 pm

At A Glance

  • Gilas Pilipinas head coach Tim Cone was so disappointed that the Nationals slipped to No. 37 in the FIBA World Rankings that he has now set his sights on a spot inside the Top 30 as a target for his team for the upcoming international tournaments.
Gilas Pilipinas head coach Tim Cone was so disappointed that the Nationals slipped to No. 37 in the FIBA World Rankings that he has now set his sights on a spot inside the Top 30 as a target for his team for the upcoming international tournaments.
Cone made the national team's objective known during the PBA Media Day at the Elements Eton Centris, noting how he wants Gilas to use the 2027 FIBA World Cup Asian Qualifiers to bounce back from the recent setbacks.
“We had a couple of setbacks that we are disappointed in. We are disappointed that we dropped in the rankings. I knew it was coming and it still hurt a lot to drop. We worked hard to get that ranking back up and then we lost again,“ said Cone.
Gilas slipped three spots from its previous ranking of No. 34 following a rough FIBA Asia Cup campaign that saw the Nationals finish seventh with a 2-3 record.
The Nationals, under Cone, actually had their best ranking since 2018 when it grabbed the No. 34 spot in the world – four places from their previous No. 38 ranking they got after the 2023 World Cup.
The rise came following Gilas exploits in the Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Latvia in 2024 and held it through the FIBA Asia Cup qualifiers.
A four-game losing skid, which began during the last window of the qualifiers up to the first two games of the Asia Cup – incidentally all four against Chinese Taipei and New Zealand –  took away all the gains for the Nationals.
“We want to get our ranking in the Top 29. That is our first goal. Get into the top 29 and then do under 30 and after that, see if we can get it under 25 and then the 20s,“ revealed Cone.
“That is our goal,“ he stressed.
A quick browse to online sources, however, showed that Gilas hasn't come close to breaking into the Top 30 in recent years or since it last held the 27th spot in 2016 following the Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Manila.
From that point, Gilas then dropped to No. 31 and then No. 33 in the following years before it slipped eight spots to No. 41 following a tumultuous FIBA Asia Cup campaign in 2022. It moved up to No. 40 during the 2023 FIBA World Cup qualifiers and then to No.38 after the global showpiece in the same year.
Gilas, however, is expected to get its hands full for the upcoming qualifying windows after being grouped with Guam, New Zealand and Australia.
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