Croatia men's national basketball team

Croatia Croatia Hrvatska
FIBA ranking 12 Increase 4
Joined FIBA 1992
FIBA zone FIBA Europe
National federation Croatian Basketball Federation
Coach Velimir Perasović
Olympic Games
Appearances 3 (First in 1992)
Medals (1992)
FIBA World Cup
Appearances 3 (First in 1994)
Medals (1994)
FIBA EuroBasket
Appearances 12 (First in 1993)
Medals (1993, 1995)
Uniforms
Light
Dark

The Croatia men's national basketball team (Croatian: hrvatska muška košarkaška reprezentacija) represents Croatia at international basketball tournaments.[1] It is organized by the Croatian Basketball Federation (Croatian: Hrvatski košarkaški savez).[2]

The biggest success Croatia has achieved was at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics when the team reached the finals against the United States team and won the silver medal. Croatia has also won one bronze medal at the FIBA World Cup and two bronze medals at the FIBA EuroBasket.

Croatia's Krešimir Ćosić, Dražen Petrović, and Mirko Novosel are members of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, Ćosić being inducted in 1996 as a player, Petrović in 2002, also as a player, and Novosel in 2007, as a coach. Petrović, Ćosić, and Novosel are also members of the FIBA Hall of Fame.

History

Prior to Croatian independence

Croatia played its first unofficial friendly game in 2 June 1964 in Karlovac.[3] Croatian team played against US All Star Team and lost 65:110 (31:50). USA players coached by Red Auerbach were Bob Cousy, Tom Heinsohn, K. C. Jones, Jerry Lucas, Bob Pettit, Oscar Robertson and Bill Russel and Croatian team was Giuseppe Gjergja, Nemanja Đurić, Živko Kasun, Zlatko Kiseljak, Slobodan Kolaković, Dragan Kovačić, Boris Križan, Stjepan Ledić, Mirko Novosel, Marko Ostarčević, Petar Skansi and Željko Troskot.[4][5]

Independent Croatia

After independence of Croatia in 1991, the first official tournament played by Croatians were 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona. Croatia defeated CIS team 75:74 and reached the finals against USA Dream Team led by Michael Jordan. USA won 85:117 but Croatia won its first medal at major tournaments in history.

Next tournament was 1993 EuroBasket in Germany. Tragically, before the championship Dražen Petrović died in a car accident in 7 June 1993 at the age of 28. Croatia still managed to reach bronze medal beating Greece 99:59.

Croatia reached its third medal at 1994 FIBA World Championship in Canada. Croatia lost semifinals 64:66 against Russia but again beat Greece 78:60 for the bronze medal. Similar happened at 1995 EuroBasket in Greece. Croatia lost semifinals 80:90 against Lithuania but beat Greece 73:68 for the third time in a row in a bronze medal match. That medal was to date the last Croatian medal from major tournaments. At 1996 Summer Olympics Croatia won the 7th place.

Decline

At 1997 Eurobasket in Spain new Croatian generation emerged and ended in 11th place. Croatia failed to qualify at 2000, 2004 and 2012 Summer Olympics but ended 6th in 2008. Croatia also failed to qualify to 1998, 2002 and 2006 World Championships, best result being 14th place at 2010. At EuroBaskets Croatia's best results were 6th places at 2007 and 2009.

Competitive record

Olympic Games

Competitive record at the Summer Olympic Games

Year Round Position Pld W L PF PA PD
Spain 1992Final2nd862681656+25
United States 1996Quarterfinal7th844662622+40
Australia 2000 Did not qualify
Greece 2004
China 2008Quarterfinal6th633458452+6
United Kingdom 2012 Did not qualify
Brazil 2016 Qualification in progress
Japan 2020
Total Qualified: 3/62213918011730+71

Record against other teams at the Summer Olympic Games

National team Pld W L PF PA PD
Angola Angola220144112+32
Argentina Argentina211143152−9
Australia Australia321266220+46
Brazil Brazil211163154+9
China China220208163+45
Commonwealth of Independent States CIS1107574+1
Iran Iran1109157+34
Lithuania Lithuania202154169−15
Germany Germany1109978+21
Russia Russia1108578+7
Spain Spain211147151−4
United States United States303226322−96
Total 12 teams

FIBA World Cup

Competitive record at the FIBA World Cup

Year Round Position Pld W L PF PA PD
Canada 1994Semifinal3rd871692502+190
Greece 1998 Did not qualify
United States 2002
Japan 2006
Turkey 2010Round of 1614th624467480−13
Spain 2014Round of 1610th633478467+11
TBD 2019 Qualification in progress
Total Qualified: 3/62012816371449+188

Record against other teams at the FIBA World Cup

National team Pld W L PF PA PD
Argentina Argentina1109085+5
Australia Australia1108369+14
Brazil Brazil1017492−18
Canada Canada1109261+31
China China11010573+32
Cuba Cuba1108565+20
France France1016469-5
Greece Greece321224191+33
Iran Iran1107554+21
Philippines Philippines1108178+3
Puerto Rico Puerto Rico11010382+21
Russia Russia1016466−2
Senegal Senegal1017577-2
Serbia Serbia1017273−1
Slovenia Slovenia1018491−7
South Korea South Korea11010453+51
Tunisia Tunisia1108464+20
United States United States10178106−28
Total 18 teams

FIBA EuroBasket

Competitive record at FIBA EuroBasket

Year Round Position Pld W L PF PA PD
Germany 1993Semifinal3rd981864679+185
Greece 1995Semifinal3rd981758683+75
Spain 1997Second Round11th826619620−1
France 1999Second Round9th633444454−10
Turkey 2001Quarterfinal7th826619620−1
Sweden 2003Second Round11th413318304+14
Serbia and Montenegro 2005Quarterfinal7th743566564+2
Spain 2007Quarterfinal6th9367047040
Poland 2009Quarterfinal6th945646648−2
Lithuania 2011Preliminary Round13th523396404−8
Slovenia 2013Semifinal4th1183805801+4
FranceCroatiaGermanyLatvia 2015 Qualified000000
TBD 2017 Qualification in progress
Total Qualified: 12/1285454067396481+258
Including qualifying rounds13686501114310051+1092

Record against other teams at FIBA EuroBasket

National team Pld W L PF PA PD
Belgium Belgium11010674+32
Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina321243229+14
Bulgaria Bulgaria220192165+27
Czech Republic Czech Republic220156117+39
Estonia Estonia220179149+30
Finland Finland330264219+45
France France7345665660
Georgia (country) Georgia1107776+1
Germany Germany7345595590
Greece Greece734555523+32
Israel Israel211161159+2
Italy Italy651424394+30
Latvia Latvia211170176−6
Lithuania Lithuania505356417−61
Republic of Macedonia Macedonia211157149+8
Montenegro Montenegro1109781+16
Poland Poland211150147+3
Portugal Portugal1109068+22
Russia Russia734550547+3
Serbia Serbia202128144−16
Slovenia Slovenia422312313−1
Spain Spain624427493−66
Turkey Turkey633503430+73
Ukraine Ukraine321265238+27
Total 24 teams
Including qualifying rounds 34 teams

Competitive record in qualifying rounds

Year Pld W L PF PA PD Qual
Germany 1993761763570+193yes
Greece 1995651510438+72yes
Spain 19971073823647+176yes
France 19991073813711+102yes
Turkey 200110100856693+163yes
Sweden 20031082834724+110yes
Serbia and Montenegro 2005431312268+44yes
Spain 2007651498397+101yes
Poland 2009 6th from 2007 EuroBasketyes
Lithuania 2011 6th from 2009 EuroBasketyes
Slovenia 2013880685539+146yes
FranceCroatiaGermanyLatvia 2015 4th from 2013 EuroBasketyes
TBD 2017 Qualification in progressTBD
Total71591260944987+110712/12

Record against other teams in qualifying rounds

National team Pld W L PF PA PD
Austria Austria220160149+11
Belarus Belarus11011272+40
Belgium Belgium220176129+47
Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina422295267+28
Bulgaria Bulgaria211173148+25
Cyprus Cyprus440368224+144
Denmark Denmark220183146+37
England England220163149+14
Estonia Estonia541417350+67
Germany Germany202144159-15
Hungary Hungary440316268+48
Iceland Iceland220193151+42
Republic of Ireland Ireland220165145+20
Latvia Latvia550466371+95
Lithuania Lithuania211137140-3
Republic of Macedonia Macedonia330312232+80
Netherlands Netherlands440331265+66
Romania Romania330342206+136
Russia Russia211151138+13
Slovakia Slovakia440355277+53
Slovenia Slovenia1019094-4
Sweden Sweden431320289+31
Switzerland Switzerland220176127+49
Turkey Turkey211133121+12
Ukraine Ukraine541416370+46
Total 25 teams

Current roster

This is the roster for 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup.

Croatian National Basketball Team roster
Players Coaches
Pos. # Name Age – Date of birth Ht. Club Ctr.
C 4 Tomić, Ante 27 – 17 February 1987 2.17 m (7 ft 1 in) FC Barcelona Spain
C 5 Andrić, Lukša 29 – 29 January 1985 2.10 m (6 ft 11 in) BC Astana Kazakhstan
G 6 Lafayette, Oliver 30 – 6 May 1984 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in) Olympiacos Greece
G 7 Bogdanović, Bojan 25 – 18 April 1989 2.00 m (6 ft 7 in) Brooklyn Nets United States
F 8 Šarić, Dario 20 – 8 April 1994 2.08 m (6 ft 10 in) Anadolu Efes Turkey
F 9 Rudež, Damjan 28 – 17 June 1986 2.08 m (6 ft 10 in) Indiana Pacers United States
G 10 Ukić, Roko 29 – 5 December 1984 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in) KK Cedevita Croatia
G 11 Simon, Krunoslav 29 – 24 June 1985 1.96 m (6 ft 5 in) Lokomotiv-Kuban Russia
C 12 Markota, Damir 28 – 26 December 1985 2.09 m (6 ft 10 in) İstanbul BB Turkey
F 13 Hezonja, Mario 19 – 25 February 1995 2.02 m (6 ft 8 in) FC Barcelona Spain
C 14 Žorić, Luka 29 – 5 November 1984 2.11 m (6 ft 11 in) Fenerbahçe Turkey
F 15 Babić, Luka 22 – 29 September 1991 2.00 m (6 ft 7 in) KK Cedevita Croatia
Head coach
Assistant coaches
Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • Club field describes current pro club
  • Age describes age as of 30 August 2014

Past rosters

Olympic Games

FIBA World Cup

FIBA EuroBasket

Head coaches

Notable players

Biggest Wins

20+ point difference

Olympic Games

  • +34 vs. Iran (91–57) 2008
  • +33 vs. Australia (98–65) 1992
  • +31 vs. China (109–78) 1996
  • +23 vs. Angola (71–48) 1996
  • +21 vs. Germany (99–78) 1992

World Championship

  • +51 vs. South Korea (104–53) 1994
  • +32 vs. China (105–73) 1994
  • +31 vs. Canada (92–61) 1994
  • +26 vs. Greece (81–55) 1994
  • +21 vs. Iran (75–54) 2010
  • +20 vs. Cuba (85–65)1994
  • +20 vs. Tunisia (84–64) 2010

European Championship

  • +50 vs. Turkey (113–63) 1993
  • +40 vs. Greece (99–59) 1993
  • +32 vs. Belgium (106–74) 1993
  • +25 vs. Finland (88–63) 2013
  • +22 vs. Turkey (90–68) 1995
  • +22 vs. Czech Republic (86–64) 1999
  • +22 vs. Ukraine (93–71) 2003
  • +22 vs. Portugal (90–68) 2007
  • +21 vs. Bulgaria (104–83) 1993
  • +20 vs. Bosnia and Herzegovina (98–78) 1993
  • +20 vs. Germany (75–55) 1997

Mediterranean Games

  • +24 vs. Albania (94–70) 2009

Biggest Loses

-20+ point difference

Olympic Games

  • -33 vs. USA (70–103) 1992
  • -32 vs. USA (85–117) 1992
  • -31 vs. USA (71–102) 1996
  • -24 vs. Argentina (53–77) 2008

World Championship

  • -28 vs. USA (78–106) 2010

European Championship

  • -28 vs. Spain (68–40) 2013
  • -26 vs. Spain (92–66) 2013

See also

References

  1. ↑ http://www.eurobasket.com/Croatia/basketball.asp
  2. ↑ http://www.hks-cbf.hr
  3. ↑ "All Star NBA u Šancu 1964.". http://kafotka.net''. Retrieved 8 September 2012.
  4. ↑ "U Šancu haklale NBA zvijezde, a u Draganiću gradili naftnu bušotinu". http://www.kaportal.hr''. Retrieved 8 September 2012.
  5. ↑ "KARLOVAC: 40 GODINA NBA LIGE U KARLOVCU". http://index.hr''. Retrieved 21 August 2012.

External links

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