Eurobasket History
The origins of the competition || Geneva 1935 || Riga 1937 || Kaunas 1939 || Geneva 1946 || Prague 1947 || Cairo 1949 || Paris 1951 || Moscow 1953 || Budapest 1955 || Sofia 1957 || Istanbul 1959 || Belgrade 1961 || Wroclaw 1963 || Moscow 1965 || Helsinki 1967 || Naples 1969 || Essen 1971 || Barcelona 1973 || Belgrade 1975 || Liege 1977 || Torino 1979 || Prague 1981 || Nantes 1983 || Stuttgart 1985 || Athens 1987 || Zagreb 1989 || Rome 1991 || Munich 1993 || Athens 1995 || Barcelona 1997 || Paris 1999 || Istanbul 2001 || Stockholm 2003 || Belgrade 2005 || Madrid 2007 || Katowice 2009 || Kaunas 2011 || Ljubljana 2013 || Lille 2015 || Istanbul 2017 || Berlin 2022
THE ORIGINS OF THE COMPETITION
Two years after its creation in 1932, the
International Basketball Federation (commonly known as FIBA, for its
French abbreviation) reached a landmark achievement in having basketball
included as an Olympic sport for the 1936 Games in Berlin. Preparation for the
Olympics were key, and in 1933 it was decided that a European Championship
would be held as a test event. FIBA’s Secretary General William Jones scheduled
the event to take place in Geneva in May 1935.
GENEVA (SWITZERLAND) 1935: THE FIRST
EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP
Eleven teams registered in this seminal edition,
although a preliminary qualifying round between Spain and Portugal was held to
reduce this number to ten in the Final Stage in Geneva. The competition system
was originally devised with a knock-out round between these ten teams prior to
the semifinal round, but the problem was that this preliminary round produced
five semifinalist, so a tie-break had to be played between two of this teams
(Switzerland and Italy). Latvia and Spain reached the final of this first
European Championship, and with a victory by 24-18 the Baltic team became the
first champion in the history of the competition. In those early days, Latvia
had already a long basketball tradition, due mostly to the arrival of American
sailors on merchant ships to the country, who had passed along their knowledge
of basketball to the Latvian players.
RIGA (ESTONIA) 1937: FIRST AFRICAN
PARTICIPANT
FIBA rules dictated that the winner of the European
Championship would host the next event. Therefore, the 1937 edition was held in
Latvia. This time, the competition system was made clear from the beginning,
with two groups in the preliminary round and later a classification round to
decide the final standing. Unlike the Swiss two years before, the Latvian
Basketball Federation could not provide a covered court for the competition, so
the games were held on outdoor cement courts.
Interestingly enough, a non-European squad entered the
competition this year: Egypt. Although this might seem quite shocking today, we
must remember that in those early days the jurisdiction of the continental
basketball associations was not clearly defined, so the North African team
neither belonged to the African nor Asian zone, and they were granted
permission to play in the European Championship (later on, this would also be
the case with other teams like Lebanon, Syria, and Israel).
KAUNAS (LITHUANIA) 1939: AMERICAN POWER
The competition system adopted in this edition, a
league stage with no knock-out rounds or final, proved to be rather
unsuccessful. Unfortunately, that meant that the first game of the tournament
between Lithuania and Latvia (37-36) was effectively the “final,” as they
qualified first and second in the final standing.
One of the main issues facing FIBA during the 30s was
the participation of “naturalized” Americans in European national squads.
The most famous case―but not the only one―was that of the Lithuanian player
Pranas Lubinas. As was later known, his real name was Frank
Lubin, an American center born in Los Angeles who won the gold medal with
the USA at the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin. However, the Lithuanian Basketball
Federation registered him for the European Championship as a native player
(even producing a birth certificate showing that Lubin was born in Kaunas),
and therefore he could play for Lithuania.
GENEVA (SWITZERLAND) 1946: THE FIRST POST-WAR
EDITION
World War II had a huge impact on Europe. Not only
were many countries facing huge economic difficulties, but the basketball map
of Europe had also changed notably (for instance, Lithuania and Latvia, the
championship’s first winners, had been annexed to the Soviet Union). FIBA
wanted to organize the first post-war European Championship in 1945, hoping to
use sport as part of Europe’s healing process, but the sequels of the conflict
were still fresh: most national federations had disappeared and the majority of
the players had been conscripted into the armed forces.
However, in 1946 FIBA chose Switzerland as the host of
the European Championship, since this country remained neutral during World War
II and all their sport infrastractures were in good conditions. Ten teams
entered the tournament and the winner was Czechoslovakia, led by its star
player Ivo Mrázek. This championship was a landmark in the participation of
Italy’s Giuseppe Stefanini: not only was he one of Europe’s top players, but
the first one to use the jump-shot as an offensive weapon.
PRAGUE (CZECHOSLOVAKIA) 1947: THE SOVIET
UNION ENTERS THE SCENE
1947 saw the first appearance of two countries who
would have an enormous impact on the global basketball scene in the future: the
Soviet Union and Yugoslavia. Although the Balkan squad struggled at first and
would not become a regular medal contender until 1961, when coach Aleksandar
Nikolić led the team to a silver, the USSR took to international competition
like a duck to water. After all, the advantage of being able to choose players
from Latvia, Estonia, Ukraine, Lithuania, etc. was used to the full by the
Soviets. A record 14 countries entered the 1947 Championship and the Soviet
Union steamrolled through the competition, winning their 6 games by an average
margin of 25 points.
CAIRO (EGYPT) 1949: THE FIRST AFRICAN
WINNER
The 1949 European Championship is significant for
being the strangest of all the championships. For starters, it did not take
place in Europe and the host nation was Egypt. In addition, of the seven
participants, only four were actually European teams.
After the Soviet Union had won the 1947 title, it was
their right and responsibility, as dictated by the rules at the time, to host
the next championship. However, the USSR refused to be the organisers.
Czechoslovakia had been second in 1947, but they had hosted the last event and
could not repeat. Therefore, the organization of the tournament fell to the
bronze medallist, Egypt.
At the time, air travel was still expensive and not
entirely safe. In the same year, the Italian football team Torino had lost all
its players in a plane accident and as such the teams were less keen to travel
by plane. The result was that France was the only strong European squad to
register, while Greece, Holland and Turkey were all championship rookies. In
order to avoid an organization disaster, Syria and Lebanon were also persuaded
to enter the tournament, so that the final number of teams was seven. As a
result, the 1949 European Championship was undoubtedly the weakest in the
history of the competition. Egypt won the title quite easily, France finished
second and Greece third.
PARIS (FRANCE) 1951: THE BEGINNING OF THE
SOVIET DYNASTY
The Soviet Union established an almost total control
over European basketball in the 1950s and 1960s. From 1951 to 1971, they won 10
out of 11 European Championships. Most incredible yet, their overall tally in
the decade of the 1950s was: 49 games played, 47 victories and only 2 defeats
(both of them in the 1955 edition, when they finished in third place).
Stepas Butautas was USSR’s top scorer in the 1951 championship,
but it was in the paint where the Soviets really outmatched their opponents.
In 1955, the intimidating 2.14 m center Jānis Krūmiņš made his debut in an era when most centers
just about reached the two meter mark. By 1959, the Soviets had Krūmiņš, the 2.08 m Petrov, 2.04 m Zubkov and the 2.01 m Vol’nov
and Korneev, and the result was complete dominance.
Most of post-war Europe was still in a re-building
phase during the early 1950s, and that posed problems for an indoor sport such
as basketball. Except the 1951 championship, all the Eurobasket editions of
this decade were held in football stadiums, since there were no indoor
facilities able to host an international basketball competition. The venue for
this edition in Paris was the Vélodrome d’Hiver, a 12,000 seat stadium used
mostly for indoor cycling.
The final between the Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia
was not free on controversy, and the game was decided at the free throw line.
Leading tournament scorer and Soviet star Stepas Butautas was fouled with
one second on the clock and the game tied (44-44). The French fans, who supported
the Czechs, did their best to put Butautas off, but his nerve held and he
made the game winning free throw, to the delight of his teammates. However,
confusion reigned in the aftermath as one referee claimed the free throw invalid
due to the fact that Butautas had stepped on the line, while the second referee
indicated that the shot should stand. The Soviets complained and, after 20
minutes of discussion, the basket was declared valid and victory awarded to
the Soviet Union. Both the crowd and the Czech team expressed their unhappiness
with the call and the referees ran to the safety of the dressing-room. The
medal ceremony was marred by the continued jeering from the French fans, but
nothing could alter the fact that the Soviet Union were the 1951 European
Champions for the second time in their history.
MOSCOW (USSR) 1953: OUTDOOR GAMES
The Soviet Union easily cruised to win their third
European Championship at home, with games played outdoor in a football stadium
of Moscow, in front of a huge crowd of 35,000 fans. Fortunately for the competition,
the weather was not an inconvenience and didn’t rain during the tournament.
BUDAPEST (HUNGARY) 1955: THE SOVIET MACHINE
WAS STOPPED
The Soviet dominance during the 1950s was interrupted
at the 1955 championship in Hungary, where a new record number of 18 nations
registered. This edition was notable because the 30-second shot clock was
introduced for the first time. The new rule had an immediate effect on tactics
and coaches completely changed style, from a slowed-down possession game to a
fast, quick shooting game. Consequently, scoring went up and Poland’s 140-44
victory over England is a clear consequence of this.
The first serious drawback for the Soviet Union came
in the final round, when they lost with Czechoslovakia (81-74) after 32
consecutive European Championship wins. Although the Czechs were immediately
hailed as tournament favourites, the victory of Hungary over the USSR in the
second to last competition day gave the title to the Magyars.
SOFIA (BULGARIA) 1957: INCREASING INTEREST
As the rest of editions of the European Championship
during the 1950s (Paris 1951 excepted), the games of the edition of 1957 in
Sofia were played outdoors, in a football stadium, at the mercy of weather
conditions. In this case, the chosen venue was Vasil Levski stadium, and the
decisive game between Soviet Union and Bulgaria gathered a new record of 48,000
spectators.
ISTANBUL (TURKEY) 1959: A NEW SOVIET TITLE
The last European Championship to be held outdoors was
Istanbul in 1959 (at Mithat Paşa Stadium), after which FIBA introduced a rule
ensuring that all host nations must have indoor arenas. A complex competition
system was introduced, new Asian participants were invited (Israel and Iran),
but in the end the outcome was the same: victory of the Soviet Union with
a clean tally of 9 victories and 0 defeats.
Although all the games were played outdoors, the final
was “accidentally” moved indoors due to rain. At the end of the tournament,
the team managers chose the following players as the best five: Viktor Zubkov
(USSR), Radivoj Korać (YUG), János Greminger (HUN), Jiří Baumruk (CZE), Maigonis
Valdmanis (USSR).
BELGRADE (YUGOSLAVIA) 1961: YUGOSLAVIA
ENTERS THE SCENE
Until 1961, the European Championship was open to any
country who wished to register (as long as FIBA approved it). The result was
that more and more teams wanted to participate and the competition was becoming
difficult to organize. In 1961, FIBA decided to reduce the number of
participants in the final round to 16, but this decision didn’t come into
effect until the 1963 tournament in Wrocław (Poland). In future editions,
registration was still open to all European teams, but qualification
tournaments would be held in order to reduce the final number of participants
to 16.
The Soviet Union continued their successful record in
the competition winning yet another title, but this time they found a serious
competitor in Yugoslavia, who narrowly lost the final against the Soviets
(60-53) and introduced themselves in the international scene.
WROCŁAW (POLAND) 1963: TOWARDS A STEADY
COMPETITION SYSTEM
The edition of 1963 was designed according to the original
plan of FIBA in the early 1960s, with a total number of 16 participants and
a clear-cut competition system in which teams are divided into two groups
of eight during the Preliminary Round, and later play crossed matches during
the Final Round. In order to reduce the increasing number of participants,
a qualifying stage was introduced prior to the final stage.
The Soviet Union went on to win another championship,
while host Poland finished in second position ahead of Yugoslavia. The Polish
championship was the first edition in which the tournament’s MVP was officially
elected (this election had also been made in previous editions, although unofficially,
by the international media): the first MVP in the history of the European
Championship was the Spanish forward Emiliano Rodríguez, a highly lethal scorer.
MOSCOW (USSR) 1965: THE MAP OF PARTICIPANTS
INCREASE
For the first time in the history of the European Championship,
the final stage of the tournament was held in different cities: the Soviet
Union was the host and they proposed to split the preliminary round between
Moscow and Tiblisi. The system proved to be a success and was adopted on a
regular basis in the following championships.
The competition format of the tournament remained the
same as in the previous edition, with 16 teams in the final stage.
Nonsurprisingly, the Soviet Union went on to win their eight title (fifth in a
row) in front of their own fans, establishing their indisputable supremacy in
European basketball.
HELSINKI (FINLAND) 1967: COMPETITION GAINS
MOMENTUM
The 1967 European Championship, hosted in the Finnish
cities of Helskinki (main venue) and Tampere (sub-venue), is considered to be
the first of the modern age. It was the first time that the international media
were in attendance and games were broadcasted on TV across Europe. The Finns
organized an excellent tournament which, in many ways, set the standards for
today. For instance, it was possible for fans and media in Tampere to watch
games in Helsinki via short circuit TV, and statistics were also available in
both venues. In modern times, such “luxuries” have become the norm, but in the
1960s these innovations were nothing short of revolutionary.
On the court, the Soviets were showing no signs of
relinquishing their grip on the reins of power and won yet another
championship, extending their participation sheet to a perfect record during
the period 1957-1967: six championships won out of six, with 55 victories and 0
defeats, thanks to a list of players that would become part of legend: Valdis
Muižnieks, Jānis Krūmiņš, Yurij Korneev, Armenak Alachachian, Sergej Belov,
Gennadij Vol’nov, Jaak Lipso, Vladimir Andreev… conducted since 1961 by the
“Silver Fox” Aleksandr Gomel’skij.
The Finnish championship was the first edition in
which an All-Tournament team was elected: Sergej Belov (Soviet Union), Modestas
Paulauskas (Soviet Union), Jiří Zedníček (Czechoslovakia), Jiří Zídek (Czechoslovakia) and Veikko
Vainio (Finland).
NAPLES (ITALY) 1969: THE RISE OF YUGOSLAVIA
While the Soviets were still far ahead in the distance
at the top of European basketball, a new force was emerging in the horizon:
Yugoslavia. If center Radivoj Korać had been the leader of the team during the
first half of the 1960s (he was the championship top scorer in 1961, 1963 and
1965), a new era for Yugoslavia started in the late years of this decade under
the leadership of Krešimir Ćosić, a very talented 2.10 m center with guard-like
skills, perfectly capable of playing inside and outside. After winning the
silver medal at the 1968 Olympics, Yugoslavia became the first team to defeat
the Soviet Union in twelve years of European Championship at the 1969 edition
in Italy (73-61), with Ćosić being instrumental in the last minutes of the
game.
Although the winning streak of the Soviet Union was stopped
in 59-0 by this loss in the preliminary round of the tournament, in the final
they reversed the defeat and emerged with a seventh consecutive gold medal.
This time Gomel’skij had the weapon to stop Krešimir Ćosić: the veteran Gennadij
Vol’nov defended the Yugoslavian center and held him to just 8 points, and
the result was a Soviet hard-fought victory (81-72). But this was a serious
warning of Yugoslavia of what was about to come in European basketball…
ESSEN (FRG) 1971: THE END OF AN ERA AND THE
BEGINNING OF A NEW ONE
If Yugoslavia had been nipping at the Soviets’ heels
in the 60s, in the 70s they tore a huge chunk out of their dominance. After the
decade was over, Yugoslavia had won three gold medals for two of the Soviets,
and established themselves as Europe’s premier force.
The battle for supremacy began at the 1970 World
Championship. Yugoslavia was the host team and emerged with the first major
title in the country’s history (their only defeat in the competition was
precisely against the Soviet Union, although it was in a game in which nothing
was at stake, since Yugoslavia was already the champion before the match). The
battle resumed at the 1971 European Championship in West Germany. Mirko
Novosel, who would go on to become a very successful head coach of the Balkanic
team, made his debut as assistant coach to Ranko Žeravica, while on the court Krešimir
Ćosić was still the star.
As expected, the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia cruised
through the tournament undefeated and met in the final. For most of the game it
seemed as though Yugoslavia would finally beat their nemesis, but it was not to
be. Ćosić, who was elected MVP of the tournament, was again stopped by the Soviet
defense (he was held to a very poor 3/20 shooting by Alzhan Zharmukhamedov) and
the Soviets earned a tough win (69-64) to grab their eight consecutive gold in
European Championship.
BARCELONA (SPAIN) 1973: FIRST CHAMPIONSHIP
FOR YUGOSLAVIA
The new era of Yugoslavian dominance in the European
Championship began in 1973, but this time they didn’t meet their arch-rivals in
the final, since Spain produced the biggest surprise of the tournament by
beating the Soviet Union in semifinals (80-76). It can be argued that the USSR
was a weakened team without centers Aleksandr Belov,
Vladimir Andreev and Alzhan
Zharmukhamedov, but the participation of players like Sergej Belov, Modestas
Paulauskas, and Valerij Miloserdov ensured a very competitive squad.
Yugoslavia grabbed their first gold medal in the
competition by easily beating Spain in the final (78-67), but their supremacy
of European basketball was not convincingly established yet, since they had not
yet beaten the Soviets in a major competition.
BELGRADE (YUGOSLAVIA) 1975: BALKANIC
DOMINANCE
For the 40th anniversary of the European Championship,
FIBA decided to grant the organization of the tournament to Yugoslavia. The
Balkans, a very solid and powerful team in which Mirko Novosel was the head
coach and Mirza Delibašić made his debut as point guard, were unanimously
considered the favorites of the competition. This time they not only won the
gold medal, but did it by beating the Soviet Union in the final game, thus
claiming their supremacy in the European basketball. Yugoslavia’s inside power
was too much for their opponents and, although the contest was close, the home
team finally prevailed (90-84).
LIÈGE (BELGIUM) 1977: THIRD TITLE FOR
YUGOSLAVIA
To prove that their supremacy in European basketball
was consolidated, Yugoslavia went on to win another gold medal in the 1977
European Championship held in Belgium. Their clear victory in the final against
the Soviet Union (74-61) prompted Aleksandr Gomel’skij to call the Yugoslavs
“the best team in basketball.” Although the title was still a matter of these
two teams, whose play was way ahead of the rest, the bronze medal earned by
Czechoslovakia can be considered as the greatest surprise of the Championship.
TORINO (ITALY) 1979: THE USSR IS BACK
Although Yugoslavia cemented their status of
basketball power by winning the World Championship in the Philippines in 1978,
the next year the Soviet Union proved that they were far from a spent force and
won the gold medal in the Eurobasket of Italy. This time Yugoslavia couldn’t
even make it to the final against their arch-rivals, as a result of their
surprising defeat against a Mickey Berkowitz-led Israel in the preliminary
round (77-76) and a much more clear one against the Soviet Union in the
classification round (96-77). The final was played by the USSR and Israel, and
the Soviets easily won the gold medal to return to the track of success.
PRAGUE (CZECHOSLOVAKIA) 1981: ANOTHER GOLD
FOR THE SOVIET UNION
No big surprises in this championship, since the
Soviet Union and Yugoslavia met again in the final. The Soviets had won the
last edition of the 1970s and now they started the 1980s with another gold
medal. Their two clear victories over Yugoslavia in the competition (108-88 in
the preliminary round and 84-67 in the final) proved that the balance of the
rivalry between these two team was again moving to their side.
NANTES (FRANCE) 1983: THE TITLE GOES WEST
After many years of dominance of East European
countries, the 1983 edition brought about the first gold medal for a Western
country: Italy. This time neither the Soviet Union nor Yugoslavia made it to
the final: the former lost in semifinals with Spain and the Balkans ended the
competition in a very disappointing seventh place. So, for the first time in
the history of the European Championship, the final was decided between two
Western countries, Italy and Spain, marking a new era in European basketball,
with more candidates to the gold medal.
Italy, Olympic silver medallists in 1980, continued
their success with their first European Championship gold in 1983. Led by Dino
Meneghin, Antonello Riva, Pierluigi Marzorati and Renato Villalta, the azzurri
defeated Yugoslavia and Spain in the preliminary round, before beating Spain
again in the final. Despite this defeat, the Spanish team showed that they were
also a legitimate power in European basketball, thanks to a new generation of
players such as Juan Antonio San Epifanio “Epi”, Juan Antonio Corbalán and
Fernando Martín (the first two of them were selected to the All-Tournament
team).
STUTTGART (FRG) 1985: THE EUROPEAN
CHAMPIONSHIP REACHES THE NBA
The 1985 edition of the tournament saw the debut of
two important innovations in basketball rules: the three-point shot and the one-and-one
foul shot rule. Although the three-pointer was first introduced in the United
States by the ABA in 1967, and it was later adopted by the NBA in 1981 and the
Olympic Games in 1984, it wasn’t until the European Championship of 1985 when
it gained international approval. The one-and-one foul shot rule was another
breakthrough in basketball rules. In previous years, foul shooters were given
as many as three attempts to make two free throws. The new rule was a trickier
proposition for players, as a second free throw would only be earned if the
first one was made.
With European players improving at breakneck speed, it
was not long before the NBA began to reach out its feelers for international
talents. The 1985 European Championship in West Germany was the first time when
different NBA scouts were present to assess Europe’s best players. They were
obviously impressed with what they saw, and following the championship Rik
Smits (Netherlands), Detlef Schrempf and Uwe Blab (West Germany), Fernando
Martín (Spain) and Georgi Glushkov (Bulgaria) all went to the USA to pursue NBA
careers.
The greatest surprise of this championship was
Czechoslovakia, a team of old but experienced players led by Brabenec and
Kropilák that narrowly qualified through the preliminary round (they clinched
the last qualifying position in their group on basket average ahead of Israel),
but then went on to shock Yugoslavia in quarterfinals (102-91) and Spain in
semifinals (98-95). In the final, however, they were an easy prey for the Soviet
Union (120-89).
The MVP of the tournament was Arvydas Sabonis. The
2.20 m, 21-year-old Lithuanian center of the Soviet Union was at the height of
his powers before knee injuries robbed him of most of his athletic ability.
Also on the All-Tournament team was Dražen Petrović (Yugoslavia), Detlef
Schrempf (West Germany), Fernando Martín (Spain) and Valdis Valters (Soviet
Union).
ATHENS (GREECE) 1987: GALLIS AND GREECE
REACH OLYMPUS
The gold medal won by Greece in the 1987 edition of
the European Championship meant an unprecedented success for Greek basketball.
In an isolate context it can be considered a great surprised that a team with a
nonimpressive basketball tradition went all the way to win the final, but
taking into account the fact that Greece played in front of their own fans and,
above all, the leadership of Nikos Gallis, it comes to no surprise at all.
Greece’s pedigree in European basketball up until 1987
was not overtly impressive. In fact, their only previous European Championship
participation in the decade was in 1981, where they finished in an unheralded
10th position. But all that changed with the arrival of Nikos Gallis into the
Greek national side and the fact that the 1987 championship would be hosted on
Greek soil. Gallis, who was arguably the top scorer in the history of European
basketball, came together with fellow guard Panagiotis Giannakis, center
Panagiotis Fassoulas and power forward Fanis Christodoulou in a formidable
line-up.
After an inauspicious start, which included two preliminary
round losses, the Greeks clicked into gear beating Italy in the quarterfinals
(90-78) and Yugoslavia in the semifinals (81-77) before they faced the Soviet
Union in the final. The gold medal game was played in front of 17,000 Greek
fans, and it proved to be a thriller. Gallis scored 40 points for Greece,
but it was center Kabouris who was the hero of the night. His two last second
free throws gave Greece a last-gasp overtime victory and the finest hour in
the country’s basketball history.
ZAGREB (YUGOSLAVIA) 1989: YUGOSLAVIA BACK
ON THE WINNING TRACK
Just as the Soviet Union were able to put together
their best players in 1985, the Yugoslavs achieved the same feat in 1989,
assembling all of their “golden generation” in what would turn into a
three-year dominance of world basketball (European titles in 1989 and 1991 and
a World Championship in 1990). Coached by Dušan Ivković and led on the court by
Dražen Petrović, Yugoslavia also counted on Predrag Danilović, Vlade Divac,
Toni Kukoč, Stojan Vranković, Žarko Paspalj and Dino Rađa to make up a
formidable team.
In an effort to increase the quality of the
competition, the final stage of the European Championship was reduced from 12
to 8 teams, but as Dražen Petrović predicted before the tournament, the only
team that could beat Yugoslavia was themselves. The Balkans had little trouble
progressing to the semifinals, where they cruised past Italy (97-80) to face
Greece in the final (the Hellenic team proved that they were also a competitive
team without the support of their fans by beating again the Soviet Union 81-80,
with a majestic performance by Nikos Gallis, who scored 43 points). But
Yugoslavia proved too much for Greece in the final. The home side had little
trouble beating the Greeks and the 98-77 scoreline reflected their dominance.
Petrović finished the game with 28 points and was also elected MVP of the
tournament.
ROME (ITALY) 1991: YUGOSLAVIAN APOTHEOSIS
AND DISINTEGRATION
The beginning of the 1990s saw major political
upheaval across Europe, as Communist regimes began to collapse and the iron
curtain gradually disintegrated. The effect of this change on the basketball
landscape was profound, as it led to the collapse of the two basketball
superpowers in Europe, the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia.
Yugoslavia were the first to feel the effects of the
new political reality at the 1991 European Championship in Rome, since they
couldn’t gather their traditional constellation of superstars into the national
team, including Croatians Dražen Petrović and Stojan Vranković (even the Slovenian
point guard Jure Zdovc, who played the first three games of the competition
with Yugoslavia, was ordered by his government not to play anymore after Slovenia
declared independence two days into the tournament). But, with Toni Kukoč
and Dino Rađa at the height of their careers, there was really no other team
in Europe that could challenge Yugoslavia on the court, and they completed
their magic three years (1989-1991) with another European title.
The Soviet Union, on the other hand, was much more
affected by the disintegration of the former Soviet republics, as they couldn’t
even qualify for the final stage of the European Championship. Their home
defeat against France in the last competition day of the qualifying round
(84-85) meant that the USSR would miss out on the final stage of the tournament
for the first time in forty years. It was also the last participation of the
team under the Soviet Union flag, before the creation of modern Russia.
MUNICH (GERMANY) 1993: A SURPRISE CALLED
GERMANY
The biggest upset of the 1990s came at the 1993
European Championship, held in Germany, when the home team produced one of the
greatest surprises in the history of the competition by winning the gold medal.
The German side, led by a young Yugoslav coach called Svetislav Pešić, were not
favoured at all going into the championship, despite holding the homecourt
advantage. Their triumph in the final can only be compared with the success
achieved by Greece six years ago, although Germany didn’t have a superstar and
natural born leader like Nikos Gallis. However, the European basketball map had
changed drastically after the collapse of the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia.
Following the disintegration of the traditional superpowers in European
basketball, there was no clear favorite for the gold medal.
Yugoslavia was banned from the competition due to
United Nations sanctions, but the newly created republics of Croatia, Slovenia
and Bosnia-Herzegovina replaced the Yugoslavs in the final stage.
Germany had a host of experienced players on their
roster, led by guards Michael Koch and Henrik Rödl, forward Henning Harnisch
and center Christian Welp. They were, however, without NBA star Detlef
Schrempf, who didn’t participate in the tournament. After preliminary round
action, the Germans finished fourth in their classification round group and
faced a strong Spanish team in the quarterfinals. Despite leading by 6 points
with a minute and a half remaining, some costly Spanish errors allowed Germany back
into the game and some clutch play from Welp saw the Germans tie the game at
the end of regulation and go on to win in overtime (79-77). Then, in the
semifinals, Germany took on Greece, a team that had won European gold just six
years ago, but whose stars (such as Gallis, Giannakis, Fassoulas and
Christodoulou) were approaching the end of their careers. Germany’s inside
players held Fassoulas to just 1 point and the home team grabbed a 76-73 win.
The final matched up Russia and the now confident
Germany. It would go down as one of the best finals of all-time, if not for the
quality of play, then for its thrilling climax. After a closely fought 39
minutes, two free throws from Sergej Babkov gave Russia a 70-68 lead with 15
seconds remaining, but Germany still managed to tie the game (70-70). After
Svetislav Pešić called a time-out, Welp got the ball, drove baseline for a dunk
and was fouled. The ensuing free throw gave Germany the gold medal and Welp was
selected tournament MVP.
ATHENS (GREECE) 1995: A CLASSIC FINAL
The 1995 European Championship final in Athens will go
down as one of the greatest ever. It had everything: an electric atmosphere, an
outstanding individual performance, and plenty of controversy.
The final featured two teams that can be considered
the natural heirs of the classic giants Yugoslavia an Soviet Union: the new
Yugoslavia (who was back in the competition with Serbian players after the UN
bans) and Lithuania (with their triumvirate of stars Šarūnas Marčiulionis,
Rimas Kurtinaitis and Arvydas Sabonis). The Yugoslavs were hungry to take off
from where they left world basketball in 1991, and with the likes of Aleksandar
Ðorđević, Žarko Paspalj, Predrag Danilović, Zoran Savić, Dejan Bodiroga and
Željko Rebrača, they had the personnel for the job.
The final between Yugoslavia and Lithuania was marked
by a remarkable performance from Aleksandar Ðorđević, perhaps the finest in any
European Championship final. The 1.88 m guard torched Lithuania with 41 points
on 9/12 three-point shooting. Šarūnas Marčiulionis was almost as spectacular,
tallying 32 points, 6 assists and 6 rebounds, but it was not enough to stop
Yugoslavia from winning (96-90). Besides Ðorđević’s overall performance, the
game also produced one of the most spectacular individual plays in European
Championship history, courtesy of Predrag Danilović. It was in the final
possession of the first half, when the Serbian guard produced a stunning drive
and dunk right over Lithuanian giant Arvydas Sabonis.
The game was marked by controversy in the second half
when the players’ exchanges with the referees became more and more heated. When
Sabonis was called for a foul on what had seemed an innocuous enough post-up
situation (which was exploited expertly by Zoran Savić), that was the last
straw for the Lithuanians: all the players went to the bench and looked as
though they would refuse to continue. It took the intervention of several
Yugoslav players, led by Divac and Ðorđević (who went over to the Lithuanian
bench to talk to their opponents), before common sense prevailed and the
Lithuanians took to the court once again. But, psychologically, the Baltic
players had defeated themselves, and Yugoslavia went on to win and cap a
triumphant return to European Championship action.
BARCELONA (SPAIN) 1997: THE NEW YUGOSLAVIA
BACK TO POWER
The number of participants in the Final Stage was
increased again, this time to 16. Consequently, the competition system
underwent some modifications, but nevertheless the final round remained
basically the same, with a 1/4 final round prior to the cross-matches deciding
the final positions in the tournament. Precisely in this decisive round of 1/4
finals the host team, Spain, was stunned by a more experienced Russia.
Yugoslavia and Italy qualified for the final, and the Balkanic team, led by
Bodiroga, triumphed in a quite defensive game (61-49). Aleksandar Ðorđević was
elected MVP of the tournament.
PARIS (FRANCE) 1999: A CHANGE OF POWERS
Yugoslavia, who had dominated the competition for the
last ten years (except the 1993 edition, when it wasn’t allowed to participate
due to UN sanctions), was stopped in the decisive semifinal game by Italy
(71-62). In the final, the Italians faced an old enemy, Spain, who in time
qualified at the expense of the hosts, France. Curiously enough, the last time
these two teams had played the final of the European Championship was back in
1983, also in French soil. Again, the victory went to a more experienced
Italian team, who based their triumph on an outstanding defense (64-56). The
MVP of the tournament went to the Italian power forward Gregor Fučka.
İSTANBUL (TURKEY) 2001: THE CHAMPIONSHIP IS
PLAVI AGAIN
A new elimination round was introduced in the
competition format prior to the 1/4 Finals, and it produced some surprises,
like the clear victory of Latvia over neighbors Lithuania (94-76), or the
defeats of Italy and Greece by Germany and Croatia, respectively. The local
team, supported by their fans, made the most of their local advantage and
qualified for the final against… who else? Yugoslavia. The Balkans overcame the
pressure and the noise of a fully
packed Abdi İpekçi in İstanbul to earn yet another gold medal, the eight in the
history of Yugoslavia. Predrag Stojaković was elected MVP of the tournament.
STOCKHOLM (SWEDEN) 2003: THE GREEN TIDE
Lithuania, led by an unstoppable Šarūnas Jasikevičius
(MVP of the tournament), renewed old memories and won the gold medal in the
European Championship (their last such achievement dates back to 1939). A
brilliant generation of players like Jasikevičius, Macijauskas, Štombergas,
Songaila, Lavrinovič and the Žukauskas brothers (Mindaugas and Eurelijus)
brought glory to Lithuania after leaving behind teams like Germany,
Serbia-Montenegro and France. Their rival in the final, Spain, paid the price
of a very intense semifinal against Italy and, in spite of the outstanding game
of Pau Gasol (36 points), could not resist the Lithuanian power.
BELGRADE (SERBIA-MONTENEGRO) 2005: GREECE
RETURNS TO OLYMPUS
Serbia-Montenegro hosted the 34th edition of the
Eurobasket, and much was expected from the local team, composed by very
experienced players in Europe and the NBA (Bodiroga, Rakočević, Rebrača,
Tomašević, Gurović, Jarić…). But these expectations were soon frustrated, after
their first game against Spain resulted in a heavy and somehow unexpected
defeat (89-70). In a country with such a strong basketball tradition as
Serbia-Montenegro, much was criticized about the attitude of some players and
the lack of team spirit that always characterized the Balkanic team. So it
wasn’t so much of a surprise when later France defeated the hosts in the
elimination round and send them away from the fight for the medals. A
surprising Germany (heavily dependant on an incredible Dirk Nowitzki, MVP of
the tournament, who was vital in the semifinal against Spain) and a no less
amazing Greece (with a bench player like Thodoris Papaloukas, who has the rare
ability of always chosing the best alternative to the game) qualified for the
final. Greece proved that their bench depth and team play was better, and
easily won their second gold medal.
MADRID (SPAIN) 2007: A WORLD CHAMPION
FRUSTRATED
Spain, current World Cup champion, had the perfect opportunity
to add to their trophies in the European Championship edition they organized
as hosts. For all the tournament, Pepu Hernández’s men showed the same intensity
and good play that made them win the Worldbasket the year before in Japan,
and when they qualified for the final against Russia they were the favorites
in most bettings. But, after a closely fought game, the Russians broke Spain’s
heart in a dramatic end, when J. R. Holden scored a decisive jumper with 2.1
seconds to go to make it 60-59 for David Blatt’s men, before Gasol’s shot
on the buzzer went in… and out. It was the first European Championship title
for Russia (as Soviet Union they had won previously 14 gold medals) and the
6th silver medal of Spain (who added to the cursing of the Eurobasket hosts,
who don’t win the competition since 1993).
KATOWICE (POLAND) 2009: SPAIN, AT LAST, EUROPEAN
CHAMPION
After six previous
attempts, the best generation of Spanish basketball players finally won the
Eurobasket gold and completed a magical career that started in 2006 with the
World Championship and continued with two more silvers in the European Championship
(2007) and the Olympic Games (2008). Led by Pau Gasol (although by no means
dependant on him), Los Chicos de Oro
ended the tournament on a high which no one could have suspected after their
shaky start.
As in previous
tournaments, Spain had impressed with a perfect preparation stage, with clear
victories and a fluent game, which reinforced their role as top favorites
in the Eurobasket. But then, a few days before the beginning of the competition,
the “ÑBA” was beaten as clearly as unexpectedby by Lithuania in Vilnius
(94-72), and many doubts cropped up in the team. These doubts multiplied after
the first game (and defeat) with Serbia, and all of a sudden Spain seemed
to be not so favorite after all. The second game against Great Britain was
the turning point for Scariolo’s men, as they were virtually eliminated from
the competition when trailing by four points a few minutes from time. They
finally won this game, and in their next match they showed recovery symptoms
when they beat one of the best teams in the Eurobasket so far, Slovenia, to
qualify for the next stage.
The second round
started with a narrow defeat against Turkey (63-60), with a last play in which
young Sergi Llull had the winning basket but missed. After the game, the Italian
coach of the Spanish team, Sergio Scariolo, was criticized in the local media
for choosing Llull for the last play instead of more experienced players like
Gasol, Navarro or Rubio. That defeat meant that Spain had to win their last
two games in order to qualify for the quarterfinals. It might be the fear
of early elimination, it might be the suffering during the competition, it
might be the physical recovery of some key players, but from that moment on
Spain started to play their best basketball, improving with every game and
culminating in a spectacular first half in the final against Serbia (52-29)
which boosted them to their first European gold medal. One by one, their rivals
succumbed to the flurry of the Spanish game, with impressive displays both
in attack and defense. Teams like France, Greece and Serbia, who had played
some of the best basketball in the competition so far, looked depleted and
minimized when they crossed their way with Spain, as their key players were
completely neutralized by the Spanish defense (Parker in France, Spanoulis
in Greece, Teodosić in Serbia).
The best generation
of Spanish players was finally vindicated with this triumph, and proved they
are a solid block that, over recent years, has learned to play as a group
and doesn’t need the individual effort of key players. Calderón was missing
(but not missed) and Pau Gasol didn’t need to play many minutes to become
the top scorer of the competition and be chosen MVP.
KAUNAS (LITHUANIA) 2011: THE “ÑBA” BECOMES
LEGEND
The
greatest generation of Spanish basketball players confirmed their dominance
in European basketball with a second consecutive Eurobasket gold. As if history
repeated itself, after a very positive warm-up stage the “ÑBA”—who was billed
as the indisputable favorite as it could finally muster all its best players
in good shape (the Gasol brothers, Rudy Fernández, Calderón, Navarro and the
reinforcement of the naturalized Congolese center Serge Ibaka)—had a shaky
start in the tournament, with unconvincing victories over minor opposition
and many doubts around its potential. The match against host Lithuania, however,
seemed to be the turning point for Scariolo men, who completed one of the
best first halfs ever witnessed in European basketball (36-62). After an almost
unimportant defeat against Turkey in the last group game (with a rested Pau
Gasol missing the game), Spain cruised to the gold with the same ease as two
years before in Poland (although the tournament’s biggest surprise, Macedonia,
showed a very strong opposition in the semifinal).
For
many reasons, Eurobasket 2011 can be considered as one of the best editions
in the history of the tournament. The pending NBA lockout meant that European
stars in the North American league (Pau Gasol, Dirk Nowitzki, Tony Parker,
Andrej Kirilenko, Hidayet Türkoğlu…) could concentrate all their efforts in
the competition. In addition, the selection of Lithuania as host country was
also a guarantee of success, as this Baltic country has a long tradition in
basketball and lives and breathes the sport like few others. As in previous
editions, there were several surprises in the tournament, both positive (Macedonia
and Finland) and negative (Italy, Turkey, Slovenia and Serbia); some star
players confirmed the expectations around them (Pau Gasol, Dirk Nowitzki,
Juan Carlos Navarro, Tony Parker, Nicolas Batum), others became revelations
(like the naturalized Georgian point guard Bo McCalebb, who was the main boost
behind his team’s magnificent performance in the tournament) and some others
failed to live up to expectations (Miloš Teodosić ahead of a disappointing
Serbian team, as well as Turkish forward Hidayet Türkoğlu).
LJUBLJANA (SLOVENIA) 2013: FRANCE COMES OF
AGE
For the first time in their long history of participations in the competition—missing only two editions since 1935—the best generation of French players (led by Parker, Batum and Diaw) became European champions at last. In order to achieve this success, France had to set their recent demons aside and defeat two-time defending champion and arch-rivals Spain in an epic semifinal, with Les Bleus rallying from a 14-point halftime deficit to overcome the Spaniards in overtime. In the final against Lithuania, although France was not generally favored once again, the team led on the court by NBA superstar Tony Parker (named MVP of the tournament) proved they were finally ripe for success: after dynamiting the game with a spectacular second quarter (31-12) they cruised to their first ever European gold.
With many top European players missing
out for rest or injury (Pau Gasol, Dirk Nowitzki, Andrej Kirilenko, Juan Carlos
Navarro, Miloš Teodosić, Andrea Bargnani, Joakim Noah, Nikola Peković…), the
expectations for the 2013 edition in Slovenia were seriously downgraded. In
fact, the competition was not remarkable by any standards: with a few exceptions,
the basketball quality of the tournament was poor (especially compared with
the magnificent 2011 edition in Lithuania). In this respect, it was significant
that scores were in general low, although only 60 players fouled out in 90
games (which were also poorly attended, with the exception of those played
by hosts Slovenia). As in previous editions, Eurobasket 2013 saw some unforeseen
surprises (Ukraine, Croatia and Finland performed much better than expected)
and also bitter disappointments (world cup finalists Turkey failed to advance
after the group stage, and a heavily diminished Russian team also suffered
the same fate).
LILLE (FRANCE) 2015: SPAIN AND PAU GASOL BECOME
LEGEND
Against all odds, with some key players like Marc Gasol, Serge Ibaka and Ricky Rubio missing action through injury or rest, a very poor performance for most of the tournament and a tough semifinal against favored hosts France, Spain won their third European title in a similar fashion to 2009 and 2011: a shaky start in the competition gave way to an unstoppable final rush. It was not important this time that Spain couldn’t show their best squad in recent years or that other teams had more talented players, as coach Sergio Scariolo was lucky to have Pau Gasol in his ranks. The Spanish power forward provided yet another impressing display in a major tournament and topped his brilliant career with a new trophy, thus entering the selected elite of legendary players in European basketball.
For the first time in the history of Eurobasket, four nations jointly hosted the final stage of the competition: France, Germany, Croatia and Estonia. It was the former, though, who enjoyed the lion's share, as Montpellier saw early action in one of the preliminary groups and Lille, with its new and impressive Stade Pierre-Mauroy (actually a football stadium with a retractable roof), hosted the complete final round. Originally, Ukraine had been selected to organize the final stage of the tournament, and venues had been assigned to Kharkïv, Donets'k, Dnipropetrovs'k, Odessa, L’vïv and Kyïv, but the country had to give up this task due to the war situation in Eastern Ukraine. As several new candidates applied to host the tournament, FIBA Europe decided to give the green light to an old idea that had been lingering for some time: multiple organization.
As in the two previous editions, 24 teams entered the final stage, divided in four regional groups with venues in Montpellier, Berlin, Zagreb and Rīga. However, the competition system was simplified by the removal of the intermediate classification group stage, so that the qualifiers after the preliminary round entered directly the knock-out stages, played as an X-pairing all the way to the final. In group A (Montpellier), France, as expected, ended on top (altough the European champions were far from impressive) and Russia, quite unexpectedly, were eliminated after a very disappointing performance (plagued by the suspension warning by FIBA after the scandals in the Russian Basketball Federation and an alarming lack of preparation and tactical training). Israel (back on the European elite after several years of frustration), Poland and Finland (confirming their recent progression) joined France in the knock-out stages. Group B (Berlin) was one of the toughest, with Spain, Serbia, Turkey, Italy and Germany, together with newcomers Iceland, competing for the four qualifying spots. An impressive Serbia topped the group with a clean record. Previous European champions Spain struggled to find their usual pace, and after two defeats against Serbia and Italy had to earn their qualification in a heart-stopping game against hosts Germany (who failed to qualify, as Dirk Nowitzki alone was not enough). Italy and Turkey completed the qualifiers in Berlin. Group C (Zagreb) saw few surprises, as Greece, Croatia, Slovenia and Georgia qualified ahead of Macedonia and the Netherlands. The same applied to group D (Rīga), where Belgium was a positive surprise and joined Lithuania, Latvia and the Czech Republic into the next stage.
The real action started in Lille, with an 1/8 final knock-out round that provided the first shocks of the competition, as Latvia defeated Slovenia and the Czech Republic crushed Croatia. Greece, France, Serbia and Italy looked impressive, whereas Spain, still struggling, needed their best defense of the tournament and a Pau Gasol at full throttle to get past a stubborn Polish team. The 1/4 fnals had no surprises, as all the favorites qualified (although Spain, less favored than ever against Greece, had to show all their resilience). Into the semifinals, France and Serbia looked the most likely teams to qualify for the final, as they had provided the best basketball of the tournament up to this stage. However, the hosts suffered a major blow at the hands of Spain, who avenged their last defeat in the 2014 World Cup with a masterly performance by Pau Gasol, who scored half of the points of his team and was simply unstoppable for the French defense. In the other semifinal, Lithuania shocked favorites Serbia after a thrilling game.
In a repetition of the 2003 final, Spain and Lithuania met to decide the supremacy in European basketball. After a rather disappointing tournament, the “ÑBA” had finally recovered their usual pace and confidence following the semifinal game against France, and with the inspirational and impressive Pau Gasol they looked unstoppable again. Lithuania seemed to feel it too, for they were no match for Sergio Scariolo’s men in a quite one-sided final, in which Spain cruised to their third European title. Unsurprisingly, Pau Gasol was named MVP of the tournament after his fabulous display.
İSTANBUL (TURKEY) 2017: GREEN MAGIC
Like in the previous edition, four countries co-hosted the 2017 Eurobasket, with group stage games held in Finland, Israel, Romania and Turkey and the knock-out phase played at Istanbul’s Sinan Erdem Dome. The tournament produced one of the greatest surprises in the recent history of the competition, as underdogs Slovenia won their first ever title after defeating Serbia 93-85 in the final. On the road, the Slovenes completed a perfect 9-0 (becoming the first team to go undefeated and win the championship since 1995), including clear victories over the last two champions, Spain and France. Even after teenage sensation Luka Dončič limped off with an ankle injury in the second half and playmaker Goran Dragič joined him on the bench late in the game with a mix of fatigue and cramps, Slovenia weathered a desperate rally from Serbia thanks to an amazing performance by substitute Klemen Prepelič.
2013 winners France, without inspirational playmaker Tony Parker, had an early exit in the 1/8 Finals round against Germany, whereas current current champions Spain, heavily favored to win the tournament with the likes of the Gasol brothers, Sergio Rodríguez, Ricky Rubio and Juan Carlos Navarro, had to bow out to Slovenia in the semifinals.
BERLIN (GERMANY) 2022: THE INFINITE TEAM
Against all odds and predictions, Spain grabbed yet another Eurobasket gold medal (its fourth) and proved that basketball is a true team game, where individuals can win games, but only a collective effort will overcome difficult situations (and Spain had quite a few during the tournament, specially a -10 deficit in the semifinal against Germany and a dangerous closing of France to -3 in a final which the Spaniards controlled from beginning to end). Stars may come and go (the Gasol brothers, Ricky Rubio, Sergio Rodríguez) or miss out through injury (Sergio Llull), but the fighting spirit remains in the Spanish team, an “infinite” team in all respects which seems to be impervious to time and generational changes. Coach Sergio Scariolo is to be commended for his almost chamaleonic ability to adapt himself to a completely different team (from the glorious ÑBA to the less known FIBA windows players) and get the most out of men who, taken one by one, are far from being basketball stars.
The 2022 Eurobasket (with sub-venues in Georgia, Germany, Italy and the Czech Republic and final stage in Berlin) was one of the best in recent history, which adds special merit to the Spanish triumph. Top players, both in the NBA and in the Old Continent, guaranteed a spectacular tournament. Some of the European bulwarks (the likes of Bulgarian power forward Sasha Vezenkov, Croatian forward Bojan Bogdanović, French power forward Guerschon Yabusele, Greek point guard Nick Calathes, Lithuanian power forward Domantas Sabonis, Polish guard Mateusz Ponitka) joined forces with NBA stars (Finnish power forward Lauri Markkanen, French guard Evan Fournier, French center Rudy Gobert, German point guard Dennis Schröder, Greek power forward Giannis Adetokunbo, Serbian center Nikola Jokić, Slovenian guard Luka Dončić, the Spanish Hernangómez brothers, Willy and Juancho, Turkish forward Cedi Osman) and rising stars of European basketball (Bosnian forward Džanan Musa and Georgian power forward Sandro Mamukelashvili, among others). The 2022 Eurobasket left basketball fans with a collection of unforgettable moments, from spectacular dunks and blocks to superb games (Lithuania-Germany, Spain-Lithuania, Serbia-Italy), thrilling overtimes, outstanding individual displays (Juancho Hernangómez with 27 points in the final, Dennis Schröder's 30 in the semifinal, Mateusz Ponitka's 26 in the quarterfinal, Lauri Markkanen's 43 in the eight final, Luka Dončić's 47 and Giannis Adetokunbo's 41 in the preliminary round), polemic refereeing and timetable decisions (when will the FIBA-Euroleague schism come to an end, so that the best European referees can be at the Eurobasket?) and even a withdrawal threat by the Turkish team after a scuffle with Georgia.
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