How to organise a 3x3 basketball tournament

Step 1

Choose the format and categories

Decide which categories you run (for example men, women, youth age groups) and how each is played: pools followed by knockout rounds, a straight knockout, or round-robin only. The format decides how many games you need, and that decides everything else.

Step 2

Work out courts and timing

FIBA 3x3 games last 10 minutes of playing time, or end earlier when a team reaches 21 points. With stoppages and changeover, plan each game slot with a margin rather than exactly 10 minutes. Multiply the slots by your courts and you know how many games fit in a day, and whether you need a second day or another court.

Step 3

Build the game schedule

Lay the games out per court and slot. Give teams rest between games, keep categories together on the same courts where possible, and leave room for knockout games whose teams are not known yet.

Step 4

Recruit and schedule referees

FIBA 3x3 games are officiated by two referees, with table officials for the clock and score. Collect availability per time slot, not just per day, and schedule referees with rest between games and the more experienced officials on the harder games.

Step 5

Run the day

On the day the schedule will move: teams arrive late, a court falls behind, a referee leaves early. Have one place where the current schedule lives, and a way to tell everyone when it changes.

Step 6

Afterwards

Collect evaluations of the referees while the games are fresh, thank everyone, and keep the data. It makes the next tournament easier to plan.

Where RefManager fits

The referee side, from setup to evaluation

RefManager 3x3 covers the referee side of these steps: setting up formats, courts and categories, scheduling referees with autofill, running every court on a live board with QR check-in, and evaluating referees afterwards.

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