Serbia national basketball team

Silver: 1968, 1976, 1988, 1996
Bronze: 1984,

Silver: 1963, 1967, 1974
Bronze: 1982, 1986

Silver: 1961, 1965, 1969, 1971, 1981, 2009
Bronze: 1963, 1979, 1999

The Serbian national basketball team (Serbian: Кошаркашка репрезентација Србије / Košarkaška reprezentacija Srbije) represents Serbia in international basketball matches.

FIBA considers Serbian national basketball team the direct successor of Serbia and Montenegro^[1] (FR Yugoslavia), but not of SFR Yugoslavia.

Previously (1946–1991) Serbia was part of Yugoslav national basketball team.

History

Kingdom of Yugoslavia (1936–1941)

Serbia, then a part of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia became a member of FIBA in 1936. The national team did not show any success in its first couple of years and later suspended play due to World War II.

SFR Yugoslavia (1946–1991)

Yugoslavia made its European championship debut in Eurobasket 1947, the fifth edition of the tournament. The team placed 13th out of 14 teams in the competition, losing to the Soviet Union and Hungary in the preliminary round, beating the Netherlands but losing to Italy in the semifinal round (placing third in the three-way tie between the teams), and defeating Albania in the 13th/14th classification match.

Yugoslavia's appearance at the Eurobasket 1957 tournament in Sofia resulted in a 2–1 record for the preliminary round and advancement to the final round robin. There, they proved capable of two wins, defeating Poland and France to finish at 2–5 for 6th place in the tournament.

Yugoslavia had many successes at the FIBA World Championships. The national team captured 3 titles in 1970, 1978 and 1990, Later capturing 2 more titles as FR Yugoslavia in 1998 and 2002.

The Yugoslav national team of the late 1980s and early 1990s featured what was perhaps the greatest generation in the history of Yugoslav basketball. A common quip about basketball is: "The Canadians invented it, the Yugoslavs perfected it." With such future NBA players as Dražen Petrović, Vlade Divac, Toni Kukoč, Dino Rađa, Predrag Danilović and Žarko Paspalj, has pioneered the wave of international NBA players well before the early 21st century, when the concept began to gain true global momentum.

Many of the former Yugoslav stars mentioned above were a part of the under-21 national team that won the FIBA World Junior Championships in 1987, defeating the United States both in pool play and in the final.

FR Yugoslavia/Serbia and Montenegro (1992–2006)

Despite being a noticeably smaller country, the national basketball team continued to be a very competitive force in the international scene. They won a number of back to back Eurobasket championships, and World Cups. They dominated the world scene in 1990s, in generations led by players such as Vlade Divac, Peja Stojaković, Aleksandar Đorđević and Dejan Bodiroga, but went through a crisis in early 2000s.

On Eurobasket they have won 3 gold medals, in 1995, 1997, 2001 and one bronze medal in 1999. Serbia and Montenegro was host of Eurobasket 2005, but only took 9th place. They also took the silver medal at the 1996 Summer Olympics.

Yugoslav Olympic Committee selected the national basketball team for the best male team five times, from 1995 to 1998 and in 2002.^[2]

Serbia (2006–present)

A new generation, again led by coach Dušan Ivković returned some of the old glory by taking the silver medal in Eurobasket 2009, and fourth place in the 2010 FIBA World Championship, with the youngest team.^[3]

Medals table

Competitions

Roster

Depth Chart

Past rosters

As Federal Republic of Yugoslavia

As Serbia and Montenegro

As Serbia

Head coaches

Notable players

• Vlade Divac
  • Ranked 12th in the NBA in field-goal percentage (.503) in 1999–2000
  • Named NBA All-Star, 2001
  • One of only two basketball players born and trained in Europe (Dražen Petrović is the other) to have his number retired by an NBA team
  • Only basketball player born and trained in Europe to play at least 1,000 NBA games (1,134)
  • European Club Basketball's 50 greatest contributors.^[4]
• Predrag Danilović
• Dejan Bodiroga
• Aleksandar Đorđević
• Predrag Stojaković
• Dejan Tomašević
• Žarko Paspalj
• Željko Rebrača
• Zoran Slavnić
• Dragan Kićanović
• Radivoj Korać
• Zoran Savić

References

External links

• Basketball Federation of Serbia