Finland national basketball team
 | |||
| FIBA ranking |
35 9 | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Joined FIBA | 1939 | ||
| FIBA zone | FIBA Europe | ||
| National federation | Finnish Basketball Association | ||
| Coach | Henrik Dettmann | ||
| Nickname(s) | Susijengi (The Wolf Pack) | ||
| Olympic Games | |||
| Appearances | 2 (1952, 1964) | ||
| FIBA World Cup | |||
| Appearances | 1 (2014) | ||
| FIBA EuroBasket | |||
| Appearances | 15 | ||
| Medals | None | ||
| Uniforms | |||
| |||
The Finnish national basketball team (Finnish: Suomen koripallomaajoukkue, Swedish: Finlands herrlandslag i basket) represents Finland in international basketball.
It played at 13 EuroBasket tournaments, its best finish being 6th in 1967 on home soil. Finland made its FIBA World Cup debut in the 2014 edition.
History
Early years
Finland first competed at the European championship at its third installment, the EuroBasket 1939. In the round-robin, they initially struggled and lost to each of the other seven teams and finished with a 70–541 overall point differential.
1950s
Finland's next European competition was 12 years later, at the EuroBasket 1951 in Paris. Overall, they fared much better and split their four preliminary round games and finished at third place in the group at 2–2 but were eliminated from championship contention. They had success after that, winning all three of their classification round 1 games and both round 2 games to finish in 9th place of the 18 teams.
In 1952, by virtue of hosting the games in Helsinki, Finland played at the Olympic basketball competition for the first time. The team finished at the bottom of its first-round Group B with the Soviet Union, Bulgaria and Mexico, losing all of its games and scoring 147-178.[1]
Finland used this international experience when they competed again at the EuroBasket 1953 in Moscow. In the preliminary round, they finished with 1 win and 3 losses for 4th place of the 5 teams in the group. They fared significantly better in the first classification round, winning 3 and losing only 1 to finish in the middle of a three-way tie in the group. They lost both the 9–12 and 11/12 classification games, however, taking 12th place of 17 overall.
At the next event, Finland had some difficulty in the preliminary round of EuroBasket 1955. They lost all three early games in Budapest and were relegated to the classification round. Once again, not faced with the world elite opponents anymore, the Fins shone in the classification round and won all four of the pool play games. They won their classification 9–12 match as well, but lost to France in the 9/10 final to finish 10th of 18 in the tournament.
In Sofia, at the EuroBasket 1957, the Finns finished third in their preliminary group after going 1–2. They moved to the 9–16 classification pool and won five games there with only one loss. They took 11th place overall in the tournament.
Modern era
At the EuroBasket 1995 in Greece, Finland finished 13th.
Finland qualified for the EuroBasket 2011. The tournament berth was the first for Finland in 16 years. There they finished third out of six teams in EuroBasket 2011 Group C and defeated Bosnia and Herzegovina 92–64 and Montenegro 71–65. This allowed them to they qualify for the EuroBasket 2011 Group F. In their first match they were easily defeated by Russia but afterwards they defeated Georgia, before losing to Slovenia in their final match of the tournament. Despite not making it to the best of 8 tournament, Finland ended up making it to their first ever FIBA World Championship as a Wild Card team alongside Greece, Turkey, and Brazil.
Competitive record
Olympic Games
FIBA World Cup
|
EuroBasket
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
.svg.png){kind=small}
Team
Current roster
Roster for the EuroBasket 2015.[2]
| Finland men's national basketball team roster | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | Coaches | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
}
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Depth chart
Other notable players
- SF – Alex Murphy (University of Florida): played for the Finnish U20 national team at the 2012 FIBA Europe Under-20 Championship Division B.[3]
- PF/C - Drew Gooden (Washington Wizards): has a possibility to represent Finland due to his mother being Finnish.[4]
Past rosters
- Scroll down to see more.
1939 EuroBasket: finished 8th among 8 teams
Kalevi Ihalainen, Pauli Sarkkula, Erkki Linden, Ilkka Torronen, Erkki Saurala, Pentti Vuollekoski, Vladi Marmo, Martti Salminen, Reino Valtonen, Alo Suurna, Heinonen (Coach: Osmo Kupiainen)
1951 EuroBasket: finished 9th among 17 teams
Kalevi Heinanen, Pentti Laaksonen, Raimo Lindholm, Pertti Mutru, Tapio Poyhonen, Timo Suviranta, Kalevi Sylander, Oiva Virtanen, Olli Arppe, Kaj Gustafsson, Arto Koivisto, Juhani Kyostila, Raine Nuutinen, Allan Pietarinen (Coach: Eino Ojanen)
1952 Olympic Games: finished 15th among 23 teams
Kalevi Heinanen, Pentti Laaksonen, Juhani Kyostila, Raimo Lindholm, Pertti Mutru, Tapio Poyhonen, Eero Salonen, Timo Suviranta, Kalevi Sylander, Oiva Virtanen, Raine Nuutinen, Olavi Lahtinen, Tuomo Ristola, Esko Karhunen
1953 EuroBasket: finished 12th among 17 teams
Kalevi Heinanen, Pentti Laaksonen, Pertti Mutru, Allan Pietarinen, Raimo Lindholm, Timo Suviranta, Timo Lampen, Raine Nuutinen, Keijo Hynninen, Oiva Virtanen, Eero Salonen, Kaj Gustafsson (Coach: Eino Ojanen)
1955 EuroBasket: finished 10th among 18 teams
Kalevi Heinanen, Kalevi Sylander, Pertti Mutru, Oiva Virtanen, Timo Lampen, Taisto Ravantti, Seppo Kuusela, Timo Suviranta, Raine Nuutinen, Eero Salonen, Kalevi Tuominen, Asko Jokinen, Raimo Lindholm (Coach: Eino Ojanen)
1957 EuroBasket: finished 11th among 16 teams
Timo Lampen, Arto Koivisto, Pertti Mutru, Raine Nuutinen, Eero Salonen, Seppo Kuusela, Arvo Jantunen, Juhani Kala, Paavo Suhonen, Raimo Lindholm, Timo Suviranta, Kalevi Sylander (Coach: Kalevi Tuominen)
1959 EuroBasket: finished 13th among 17 teams
Timo Lampen, Raimo Lindholm, Seppo Kuusela, Arvo Jantunen, Juhani Kala, Matti Nenonen, Raine Nuutinen, Eero Salonen, Raimo Vartia, Matti Koli, Kyosti Rousti, Palko (Coach: Kalevi Tuominen)
1961 EuroBasket: finished 14th among 19 teams
Martti Liimo, Kari Liimo, Raimo Lindholm, Timo Lampen, Raimo Vartia, Pertti Laanti, Tony Barlund, Arvo Jantunen, Uolevi Manninen, Lauri Nurma, Seppo Kuusela, Rauno Ailus (Coach: Kalevi Tuominen)
1963 EuroBasket: finished 14th among 16 teams
Martti Liimo, Kari Liimo, Jorma Pilkevaara, Timo Lampen, Pertti Laanti, Raimo Vartia, Uolevi Manninen, Antero Siljola, Juha Harjula, Seppo Kuusela, Rauno Ailus, Kauko Kauppinen (Coach: Kalevi Tuominen)
1964 Olympic Games: finished 11th among 16 teams
Martti Liimo, Jorma Pilkevaara, Kari Liimo, Raimo Vartia, Pertti Laanti, Timo Lampen, Risto Kala, Kauko Kauppinen, Raimo Lindholm, Teijo Finneman, Uolevi Manninen, Juha Harjula (Coach: Kalevi Tuominen)
1965 EuroBasket: finished 12th among 16 teams
Martti Liimo, Kari Liimo, Jorma Pilkevaara, Kari Lahti, Pertti Laanti, Timo Lampen, Uolevi Manninen, Jyrki Immonen, Hannu Paananen, Lars Karell, Kari Ronnholm, Teijo Finneman (Coach: Kalevi Tuominen)
1967 EuroBasket: finished 6th among 16 teams
Veikko Vainio, Jorma Pilkevaara, Martti Liimo, Kari Liimo, Pertti Laanti, Kari Lahti, Uolevi Manninen, Teijo Finneman, Jyrki Immonen, Lars Karell, Olavi Ahonen, Kari Ronnholm (Coach: Kalevi Tuominen)
1977 EuroBasket: finished 10th among 12 teams
Heikki Taponen, Tapio Sten, Jarmo Laitinen, Erkki Saaristo, Antti Zitting, Mikko Koskinen, Klaus Mahlamaki, Risto Lignell, Raimo Mantynen, Anssi Rauramo, Kalevi Sarkalahti, Heikki Kasko (Coach: Robert Petersen)
1995 EuroBasket: finished 13th among 14 teams
Hanno Möttölä, Martti Kuisma, Kari-Pekka Klinga, Petri-Mikael Niiranen, Juha Luhtanen, Jyri Lehtonen, Pekka Markkanen, Sakari Pehkonen, Markku Larkio, Mika-Matti Tahvanainen, Riku Marttinen, Jarkko Tuomala (Coach: Henrik Dettmann)
2013 Eurobasket: finished 9th among 24 teams
Mikko Koivisto, Antti Nikkilä, Kimmo Muurinen, Shawn Huff, Gerald Lee, Sasu Salin, Tuukka Kotti, Petteri Koponen, Samuel Haanpää, Hanno Möttölä, Teemu Rannikko (Coach:Henrik Dettmann)
2014 FIBA World Cup: finished 22nd among 24 teams
Mikko Koivisto, Erik Murphy, Kimmo Muurinen, Shawn Huff, Gerald Lee, Sasu Salin, Tuukka Kotti, Petteri Koponen, Matti Nuutinen, Hanno Möttölä, Antero Lehto, Teemu Rannikko (Coach:Henrik Dettmann)
2015 Eurobasket: finished 16th among 24 teams
Mikko Koivisto, Shawn Huff, Gerald Lee, Sasu Salin, Tuukka Kotti, Petteri Koponen, Matti Nuutinen, Ville Kaunisto, Joonas Cavén, Roope Ahonen, Jamar Wilson, Erik Murphy (Coach:Henrik Dettmann)
Kit
Manufacturer
Sponsor
Notes
- ↑ Along with France, hosts were Croatia, Germany and Latvia. Finland has been drawn in Group A, and therefore they competed in France.
References
- ↑ "Basketball at the 1952 Helsinki Summer Games: Men's Basketball Round One". Sports Reference. Retrieved 23 June 2014.
- ↑ "Finland EuroBasket 2015 Roster". FIBA Europe. Retrieved 7 September 2015.
- ↑ http://www.goduke.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=22724&SPID=1845&DB_LANG=C&DB_OEM_ID=4200&ATCLID=205530996
- ↑ http://www.sportsmedia101.com/washingtonwizards/2014/08/06/drew-gooden-to-play-for-finland-in-fiba-world-cup/
- 1 2 Finland | EuroBasket 2015, FIBA.com, Retrieved 27 September 2015.
External links
 |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Finland national basketball team. |
| ||||||||||||||||||