Greece national basketball team

Greece Ηellas

Flag of Greece.svg

FIBA Ranking 4th
Joined FIBA 1932
FIBA Zone FIBA Europe
National Federation Hellenic Basketball Federation
Coach Jonas Kazlauskas
Nickname(s) Επίσημη Αγαπημένη (Official Cherished)
Olympic Games
Appearances 4
Medals None
World Championships
Appearances 5
Medals Silver medal with cup.svg 2006
EuroBasket
Appearances 23
Medals Gold medal with cup.svg 1987, 2005
Silver medal with cup.svg 1989
Bronze medal with cup.svg 1949, 2009
Uniforms
Kit body thinsidesonwhite.png
Light jersey
Team colours
Light
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Dark jersey
Team colours
Dark

The Greek national basketball team is the representative for Greece in international men's basketball competitions, organized and run by the Hellenic Basketball Federation. Traditionally, Greece is considered among the world's top basketball powers and they have won the European Championship twice, in 1987 and 2005. They are the current World Championship silver medalists since 2006 and the EuroBasket 2009 bronze medalists. They are placed fourth in the FIBA World Rankings.

Contents

History

Basketball has a long tradition in Greece, as the country was one of the eight founding members of the International Basketball Federation, more commonly known by its French acronym FIBA, in 1932. However, the men's national team was considered as a second-class power in international basketball for several decades but came into prominence in the mid-1980s by winning the EuroBasket 1987. It was the first ever major international title won by a Greek national team in any sports. As a result basketball became extremely popular in the country and since then Greece has been placed in the high level on the basketball stage.

Early years and international debut

Greece was to take part in EuroBasket 1935, the inaugural FIBA European Championship held in Geneva, but were not able to travel to Switzerland due to financial problems.[1] Thus, Greece made their international debut fourteen years later in the EuroBasket 1949 in Cairo, Egypt. That tournament has been marked as the weakest in the history of the competition, as most of the leading European basketball nations at the time refused to travel by plane to Egypt. Greece entered the tournament as a rookie and got through to make their first major success in their very first appearance in the competition, finishing in the third place behind hosts Egypt and strong side France.[2]

After their first international success, the Greeks were also present in the following tournament in 1951, where they qualified to the semi-final round and finally finished 8th among the eighteen nations that participated. They also made their first appearance at the Olympic Games, taking part at the basketball tournament in 1952. They were narrowly eliminated in the preliminary round, finishing at the bottom of the classification along with other six teams, ending the first period in the history of the team as Greece did not enter any major tournament for the rest of the 1950s.

Decades of obscurity

During the 1960s, the 1970s and the first half of the 1980s, Greece appeared in most of the EuroBasket competitions but were never in contention, their best performances being 8th place in 1965 and 9th place in both 1979 and 1981. They also failed to qualify for the Olympic Games and the FIBA World Championship.

Rise to the top level

The history of the national team was not overly impressive until the mid-1980s, when Greece arose as the new power in international basketball spearheaded by top-class players Nikos Galis, the top scorer in the history of European basketball, Panagiotis Giannakis, Panagiotis Fasoulas and Fanis Christodoulou. The beginning was their qualification for the 1986 FIBA World Championship, for the first time in their history and the end of the tournament found them 10th among the twenty-four nations.

In the next year, Greece faced up their biggest challenge, as the country was the host of the EuroBasket 1987 and the team enjoyed a formidable line-up. Qualified from the preliminary round, they eliminated Italy and Yugoslavia, both among the favourites to win the tournament, in the quarter-finals and the semi-finals respectively. In the final, Greece faced the defending champions and heavily favoured Soviet Union. In front of 17,000 Greek fans at the Peace and Friendship Stadium, the hosts won the gold medal after a thrilling win 103–101 over the Soviets.[3] It was the first time that a Greek national team won a major tournament in any sports, thus basketball was made the national team sport overnight and the national team was to be considered the official cherished of the Greek nation.

The European champions failed to qualify for the 1988 Olympic Games for a first time in 36 years, despite a decent performance in the pre-Olympic tournament. In the EuroBasket 1989, the defending champions were under pressure to prove that they could stand at the top level of international basketball and they did so in a convincing way. After they had qualified from the group stage, the Soviet Union stood in their way in the semi-finals but Greece defeated them once again and reached the final. Contrary to what happened two years ago, this time Greece had to overcome Yugoslavia and the latter's home court advantage, as the tournament was held in Zagreb. Eventually, the Greek team bowed to the home side taking the silver medal, their third medal in total and second in a row.

Sustained success but no medals

In the 1990s there was a series of successful results for the national team, which was present in all major international tournaments every year except for the 1992 Olympics. In the period between 1990 and 1998, Greece never fell below 6th place and usually ended up 4th. They also qualified for a second Olympic appearance in 1996, where the team reached the 5th position.

Ιn the 1990 FIBA World Championship, the team would face a new challenge as they would have to compete without their leading scorer Nikos Galis who was injured, but performed better than four years ago and were placed 6th. For the next two competitions in 1994 and 1998 Greece finished 4th. In 1994, the team reached the semi-finals but was eliminated by the United States and played for the third place against Croatia to which they lost and were placed 4th, a result that was considered to demonstrate the continued prominence of the team. In 1998, the tournament was held in Athens and the Greeks hoped to qualify for the final, but in the semi-final they were eliminated by Yugoslavia in extra time and their disappointment of missing the chance to reach the final led to an easy defeat to the United States in the bronze medal game, once more leaving Greece 4th.

In the EuroBasket 1991 Greece finished 5th and for the next three competitions in 1993, 1995 and 1997 they reached the semi-finals but ultimately ended up 4th. The 1995 tournament was hosted in Greece but the Greeks failed to repeat the triumph of 1987 and were defeated in the semi-final by Yugoslavia, something that happened again in 1997, while hosts Germany had eliminated Greece in 1993.

Decline and rebirth

Greece wins the EuroBasket 2005.

The years 1999–2002 were marked by an obvious decline of Greece. The beginning of this era was the shocking 16th and last place of the team in the final standings of the EuroBasket 1999, having sufferred three defeats in the preliminary round. Consequently, Greece was absent from the 2000 Olympics. In the next European championship in 2001, the Greek team was placed 9th, thus failed to qualify for the 2002 FIBA World Championship. The revival of Greece started in the EuroBasket 2003, where an overhauled team finished 5th; the experiment was partly successful but the public was not very enthusiastic. The 2004 Olympics in Athens were considered as the biggest chance of hosts Greece to win their first Olympic medal but a close loss to eventual gold medalists Argentina in the quarter-finals stopped their way and they were finally placed 5th.

Greece with the silver medal at the 2006 FIBA World Championship.

Greece were considered a strong outsider for the medals at the EuroBasket 2005. They advanced from the group stage with two wins in three games and eliminated Israel and Russia to reach the semi-finals, where they faced France. The French were leading the score by seven points with only one minute left, Greece appeared to have no chance to pull out the win and one more lost semi-final was coming. However, the Greeks managed to get within a two-point distance and won 67–66 with a three-pointer by Dimitris Diamantidis with three seconds remaining, setting off a joyous celebration from the Greek side. At the final and in front of a raucous pro-Greece sold-out crowd of 20,000 at the Belgrade Arena, the Greeks defeated Germany in a convincing way with 78–62 and won the gold medal for a second time in their history.[4]

In the next year, the European champions won the 2006 Stanković Cup going undefeated in the tournament and defeating Germany again at the final with an impressive 84–47 win. In the 2006 FIBA World Championship, Greece were glazed to win a medal that had closely missed in their last two participations in the tournament and reached once more the semi-finals with a record of seven consecutive wins, some of them impressive. In the semi-finals, Greece defeated the popular odds-on United States in a 101–95 upset, rallying back from twelve points down, and qualified for the final, but they proved to be exhausted from their dramatic game with the Americans and lost 70–47 to Spain, ending up with the silver medal. Despite the loss the players were greeted enthusiastically by celebrating fans on their return to Greece, due to their first medal in a World Championship and their glorious win over the United States.

In the EuroBasket 2007, the defending European champions advanced to the semi-finals where they faced up hosts and world champions Spain, in a repeat of the final one year ago. Greece came close to take a revenge but finally lost 82–77 and played in the bronze medal game, where they succumbed to Lithuania. At the 2008 Olympic tournament, another last-second defeat 80–78 to Argentina in the quarter-finals led Greece to the 5th place once more. In the EuroBasket 2009, the national team was potently changed; with a bunch of young players and without key players Theodoros Papaloukas and Dimitris Diamantidis, as well as Panagiotis Vasilopoulos and Kostas Tsartsaris, the tournament was perceived as the turning point for Greece after their major recent achievements. However, after their fourth consecutive defeat to Spain in the semi-finals and sixty years after their first, and last, bronze medal they managed to take the podium in the third position against the odds, with a thrilling 57–56 win over Slovenia, ceasing the curse of being defeated in all bronze medal games throughout their history.

Roster

Players Coaches
Pos. # Name Age - DOB Ht. Club Club nat.
C 4 Vougioukas, Ian &000000000000002500000025 - May 31, 1985(1985-05-31) 2.11 m (6 ft 11 in) Panathinaikos BC Greece
C 5 Bourousis, Ioannis &000000000000002600000026 - November 17, 1983(1983-11-17) 2.13 m (7 ft 0 in) Olympiacos BC Greece
PG 6 Zisis, Nikos &000000000000002700000027 - August 16, 1983(1983-08-16) 1.97 m (6 ft 6 in) Montepaschi Siena Italy
PG 7 Spanoulis, Vassilis &000000000000002800000028 - August 7, 1982(1982-08-07) 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in) Olympiacos BC Greece
PG 8 Kalathis, Nikos &000000000000002100000021 - February 7, 1989(1989-02-07) 1.98 m (6 ft 6 in) Panathinaikos BC Greece
PF 9 Fotsis, Antonis (C) &000000000000002900000029 - April 1, 1981(1981-04-01) 2.09 m (6 ft 10 in) Panathinaikos BC Greece
PF 10 Printezis, Georgios &000000000000002500000025 - February 22, 1985(1985-02-22) 2.06 m (6 ft 9 in) Unicaja Malaga Spain
SF 11 Perperoglou, Stratos &000000000000002600000026 - August 7, 1984(1984-08-07) 2.03 m (6 ft 8 in) Panathinaikos BC Greece
PF 12 Tsartsaris, Kostas &000000000000003000000030 - October 17, 1979(1979-10-17) 2.10 m (6 ft 11 in) Panathinaikos BC Greece
SG 13 Diamantidis, Dimitris &000000000000003000000030 - May 6, 1980(1980-05-06) 1.98 m (6 ft 6 in) Panathinaikos BC Greece
SF 14 Kaimakoglou, Kostas &000000000000002700000027 - March 15, 1983(1983-03-15) 2.05 m (6 ft 9 in) Panathinaikos BC Greece
C 15 Schortsanitis, Sofoklis &000000000000002500000025 - June 22, 1985(1985-06-22) 2.08 m (6 ft 10 in) Maccabi Tel Aviv B.C. Israel
Head coach
  • Lithuania Jonas Kazlauskas
Assistant coach(es)
  • Greece Giannis Sferopoulos

Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • Club field describes current pro club

Participation in international competitions

Olympic Games

Year Position W L
Finland 1952 17th 1 2
United States 1996 5th 5 3
Greece 2004 5th 4 3
People's Republic of China 2008 5th 3 3
Total 4/17 13 11

FIBA World Championship

Year Position W L
Spain 1986 10th 4 6
Argentina 1990 6th 4 4
Canada 1994 4th 4 4
Greece 1998 4th 5 4
Japan 2006 Silver medal icon.svg 8 1
Turkey 2010 10th 3 3
Total 6/16 28 22

EuroBasket

Year Position W L
Egypt 1949 Bronze medal icon.svg 4 2
France 1951 8th 2 6
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia 1961 17th 2 4
Soviet Union 1965 8th 5 4
Finland 1967 12th 3 6
Italy 1969 10th 2 5
Spain 1973 11th 2 5
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia 1975 12th 1 6
Italy 1979 9th 3 4
Czechoslovakia 1981 9th 2 6
France 1983 11th 2 5
Greece 1987 Gold medal icon.svg 6 2
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia 1989 Silver medal icon.svg 3 2
Italy 1991 5th 3 2
Germany 1993 4th 5 4
Greece 1995 4th 5 4
Spain 1997 4th 7 2
France 1999 16th 0 3
Turkey 2001 9th 2 2
Sweden 2003 5th 5 1
Serbia and Montenegro 2005 Gold medal icon.svg 6 1
Spain 2007 4th 5 4
Poland 2009 Bronze medal icon.svg 6 3
Total 23/36 81 83

Mediterranean Games

Year Position W L
Egypt 1951 4th 3 3
Spain 1955 Bronze medal icon.svg 3 3
Tunisia 1967 4th 3 3
Turkey 1971 Bronze medal icon.svg 3 2
Algeria 1975 5th 2 2
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia 1979 Gold medal icon.svg 5 0
Morocco 1983 4th 1 3
Syria 1987 Bronze medal icon.svg 4 2
Greece 1991 Silver medal icon.svg 4 1
France 1993 4th 3 3
Italy 1997 4th 4 2
Tunisia 2001 Silver medal icon.svg 5 1
Spain 2005 Silver medal icon.svg 3 2
Italy 2009 Silver medal icon.svg 4 2
Total 14/16 47 29

Memorable matches

Date Tournament Place Match Score
May 1981 EuroBasket 1981 Challenge round Istanbul, Turkey  Greece -  Turkey 85 - 84
June 1987 EuroBasket 1987 Group stage Athens, Greece  Greece -  Yugoslavia 84 - 78
June 1987 EuroBasket 1987 Semi-final Athens, Greece  Greece -  Yugoslavia 81 - 77
14 June 1987 EuroBasket 1987 Final Athens, Greece  Greece -  Soviet Union 103 - 101
24 June 1989 EuroBasket 1989 Semi-final Zagreb, Croatia  Greece -  Soviet Union 81 - 80
28 June 1993 EuroBasket 1993 Preliminary round II Berlin, Germany  Greece -  Spain 76 - 75
1 July 1993 EuroBasket 1993 Quarter-final Berlin, Germany  Greece -  France 61 - 59
8 August 1994 1994 FIBA World Championship 2nd Round Toronto, Canada  Greece -  Canada 74 - 71
30 June 1995 EuroBasket 1995 Quarter final Athens, Greece  Greece -  Spain 66 - 64
2 August 1996 1996 Summer Olympics 5th place game Atlanta, USA  Greece -  Brazil 91 - 72
25 June 1997 EuroBasket 1997 Group stage Barcelona, Spain  Greece -  Turkey 74 - 52
26 June 1997 EuroBasket 1997 Group stage Barcelona, Spain  Greece -  Russia 74 - 72
31 Aug 2001 EuroBasket 2001 Preliminary round Antalya, Turkey  Greece -  Italy 83 - 82
24 September 2005 EuroBasket 2005 Semi-final Belgrade, Serbia  Greece -  France 67 - 66
25 September 2005 EuroBasket 2005 Final Belgrade, Serbia  Greece -  Germany 78 - 62
20 August 2006 2006 FIBA World Championship Group stage Hamamatsu, Japan  Greece -  Lithuania 81 - 76(OT)
22 August 2006 2006 FIBA World Championship Group stage Hamamatsu, Japan  Greece -  Australia 72 - 69
27 August 2006 2006 FIBA World Championship Round of 16 Saitama, Japan  Greece -  China 95 - 64
9 September 2006 2006 FIBA World Championship Semi-final Saitama, Japan  Greece -  USA 101 - 95
9 September 2007 EuroBasket 2007 Qualifying round Madrid, Spain  Greece -  Croatia 81 - 78
14 September 2007 EuroBasket 2007 Quarter-final Madrid, Spain  Greece -  Slovenia 63 - 62
18 September 2009 EuroBasket 2009 Quarter-final Katowice, Poland  Greece -  Turkey 76 - 74(OT)


See also

References

External links