Albania national basketball team

The Albanian national basketball team is the basketball side that represents Albania in international competitions.^[1]

2009 Roster

History

Basketball started spreading in Albania in the 20s, after the First World War with the creation of the first multi-sports societies. One of the oldest clubs that has paractised basketball is SK Tirana. No professional championships would start until the end of the Second World War. The first National Basketball Committee was created in September 1945 which would be responsible for the basketball problems in Albania. This opened the way for the Albanian Basketball Association ( originally Federata Shqiptare e Basketbollit ) to be formed a year later in 1946. In 1947 the Albanian Basketball Association became memebr of FIBA. The first basketball championship started in 1946 while just a year later started the women basketball championship with the participation of eight clubs from all over Albania. In 1951 the Albanian Basketball Federation started a new tournament that would be open to all professional and amateur basketball clubs in the country, the Republic's Cup. In 1952 was started also the Women's Republic Cup and the youths Republic's Cup. Another more massive basketball tournament was included in the National Spartakiada from 1959 to 1989. Basketball has greatly developed in Albania and is now the second favourite sport of every Albanian. In 1999 the Albanian Basketball Association decided to start another tournament, the Basketball Super-Cup.

Eurobasket 1947

Albania first competed in the European championship at Eurobasket 1947. Their debut performance ended without a win, as they lost all three preliminary games, both semifinal round games, and the 13th/14th place classification match to finish 14th out of 14 teams.

Preliminary Round

 Albania 15 – 60  Italy

 Albania 11 – 114  Belgium

 Albania 19 – 104  Egypt

Semi-Final Round

 Albania 19 – 73  Romania

 Albania 27 – 44  Austria

Final Round

 Albania 13 – 90  Yugoslavia

Eurobasket 1957

Ten years later, at Eurobasket 1957 in Sofia, the Albanians fared no better. They lost ten matches out of ten played, going 0–3 in the preliminary round and 0–7 in the classification round to finish 16th of 16.

Preliminary Round

 Albania 57 – 89  Yugoslavia

 Albania 37 – 71  Czechoslovakia

 Albania 42 – 65  Scotland

Classification Round

 Albania 56 – 69  Scotland

 Albania 43 – 72  Germany

 Albania 42 – 91  Finland

 Albania 42 – 82  Italy

 Albania 64 – 97  Turkey

 Albania 45 – 58  Austria

 Albania 48 – 90  Belgium

EuroBasket 2005 (qualification)

The 2005 European Basketball Championship, commonly called Eurobasket 2005, was held in Belgrade, Serbia and Montenegro between September 16 and September 25, 2005. The FIBA European Basketball Championship is a bi-annual basketball competition between national teams organised by FIBA Europe, the sports governing body in Europe. This is the third time that championship is hosted by city of Belgrade (previously in 1961 and 1975).

Group C standings:

September 11, 2004

• 19:00 Tirana, Albania: Albania 72 – 84 Belarus

September 15, 2004

• 18:00 Gmunden, Austria: Austria 83 – 66 Albania

September 18, 2004'

• 19:00 Tirana, Albania: Albania 67 – 76 Cyprus

September 3, 2005

• 17:00 Gomel, Belarus: Belarus 110 – 58 Albania

September 7, 2005

• 19:00 Tirana, Albania: Albania 82 – 90 Austria

September 10, 2005

• 18:15 Nicosia, Cyprus: Cyprus 96 – 75 Albania

Placments

Men competitions

European Promotion Cup

• 2002: European Promotion Cup – 6th place
• 2004: European Promotion Cup – 5th place
• 2006: European Promotion Cup – 2nd place

European Championship

• 1947: European Championship – 14th place
• 1957: European Championship – 16th place
• 1995: European Championship – Qualifying Round
• 1997: European Championship – Qualifying Round
• 1999: European Championship – Preliminary Round
• 2005: Eurobasket – Division B
• 2007: Eurobasket – Division B
• 2009: Eurobasket – Division B

European Olympic Qualifying Tournament

• 1972: European Olympic Qualifying Tournament – Preliminary Round
• 1992: European Olympic Qualifying Tournament – Preliminary Round

Women competitions

European Promotion Cup

• 1996: European Promotion Cup – 2nd place
• 2002: European Promotion Cup – 1st place

European Championship

• 1997: European Championship – Qualifying Round

Youth competitions

• 1999: European Promotion Cup for Junior Men – 7th place
• 2001: European Promotion Cup for Junior Men – 4th place
• 2003: European Promotion Cup for Junior Men – 1st place
• 2005: U18 European Promotion Cup Women – 3rd place

References