How Angry Birds helped Finland get into the 2014 FIBA World Cup

Following the announcement that Finland were granted one of four wild card berths into this year's FIBA World Cup, much of the reaction has been that of surprise.

How could the 39th ranked team in the world possibly have garnered a spot over the likes of Canada, Russia and China?

I'm glad you asked.

FIBA Secretary General Patrick Baumann said that it was Finland's impressive performance at EuroBasket 2013 that acted as the main reason why they were preferred to (seemingly) more deserving countries.

But that may not be the only reason.

As noted by Tom Ziller over at SB Nation, the decision to include Finland in the competition may have more to do with the existence of a popular video game franchise than the team's performance in Slovenia.

So why did FIBA really pick Finland over Russia, China, Canada or the others? From a Thursday press release by Finland-based mobile gaming giant Rovio.

Flying to support their fellow Finnish forest-dwellers, Rovio's Angry Birds are joining the Finnish Men's National Basketball Team, more commonly known as the Wolfpack, in its goal of receiving one of four Wild Card bids to the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup.

As part of the Finnish Wild Card bid, Rovio has agreed to provide advertising inventory in its ground-breaking mobile entertainment platform to the Wolfpack and the 2014 FIBA World Cup, if Finland is selected. 

So, what does that all mean? Ziller continues:

This is not the Finns' fault. This is FIBA's fault. Part of FIBA's criteria in choosing wild cards is financial. Using that means awarding berths to whichever country can deliver the most TV revenue or send the most fans. Small countries like Finland can't compete on that playing field, certainly not with China or Russia. So the Finns turned the tables a bit, recruited a major Finnish corporation and won. This is not the Finns' fault: it's FIBA's fault for being so openly open to what is basically bribery.

An international sporting event called the 'World Cup' is being mentioned in the same breath as bribery.

Yeah, that sounds about right.