Greece men's national basketball team

Greece

File:EOKbasket.png
FIBA ranking	4
Joined FIBA	1932
FIBA zone	FIBA Europe
National federation	Hellenic Basketball Federation
Coach	Andrea Trinchieri
Olympic Games
Appearances	4
FIBA World Cup
Appearances	6
Medals	Silver: 2006
FIBA EuroBasket
Appearances	25
Medals	Gold: 1987, 2005 Silver: 1989 Bronze: 1949, 2009
Home Away

The Greece national basketball team is the representative for Greece in international men's basketball competitions, organized and run by the Hellenic Basketball Federation. Traditionally, Greece is considered among the world's top basketball powers; they were runners-up in the 2006 FIBA World Championship after beating Team USA in the tournament's semifinal and they have won the FIBA EuroBasket twice, in 1987 and 2005. They are currently placed fourth in the FIBA World Rankings.

History

Basketball has a long tradition in Greece, as the country was one of the eight founding members of the International Basketball Federation, more commonly known by its French acronym FIBA, in 1932. However, the men's national team was considered as a second-class power in international basketball for several decades and only came into prominence in the mid-1980s by winning the EuroBasket 1987. It was the first ever major international title won by a Greek national team in any sports. As a result basketball became extremely popular in the country and since then Greece has been placed in the high level on the basketball stage.

Early years and international debut

Greece was to take part in EuroBasket 1935, the inaugural FIBA European Championship held in Geneva, but were not able to travel to Switzerland due to financial problems. Thus, Greece made their international debut fourteen years later in the EuroBasket 1949 in Cairo, Egypt. That tournament has been marked as the weakest in the history of the competition, as most of the leading European basketball nations at the time refused to travel by plane to Egypt. Greece entered the tournament as a rookie and got through to make their first major success in their very first appearance in the competition, finishing in the third place behind hosts Egypt and strong side France.

After their first international success, the Greeks were also present in the following tournament in 1951, where they qualified to the semi-final round and finally finished 8th among the eighteen nations that participated. They also made their first appearance at the Olympic Games, taking part at the basketball tournament in 1952. They were narrowly eliminated in the preliminary round, finishing at the bottom of the classification along with other six teams, ending the first period in the history of the team as Greece did not enter any major tournament for the rest of the 1950s.

Decades of obscurity

During the 1960s, the 1970s and the first half of the 1980s, Greece appeared in most of the EuroBasket competitions but were never in contention, their best performances being 8th place in 1965 and 9th place in both 1979 and 1981. They also failed to qualify for the Summer Olympic Games and the FIBA World Cup.

Rise to the top level

The history of the national team was not overly impressive until the mid-1980s, when Greece arose as the new power in international basketball spearheaded by top-class players Nikos Galis, the top scorer in the history of European basketball, Panagiotis Giannakis, Panagiotis Fasoulas and Fanis Christodoulou. The beginning was their qualification for the 1986 FIBA World Championship, for the first time in their history and the end of the tournament found them 10th among the twenty-four nations.

In the next year, Greece faced up their biggest challenge, as the country was the host of the EuroBasket 1987 and the team enjoyed a formidable line-up. Qualified from the preliminary round, they eliminated Italy and Yugoslavia, both among the favourites to win the tournament, in the quarter-finals and the semi-finals respectively. In the final, Greece faced the defending champions and heavily favoured Soviet Union. In front of 17,000 Greek fans at the Peace and Friendship Stadium, the hosts won the gold medal after a thrilling win 103–101 over the Soviets. It was the first time that a Greek national team won a major tournament in any sports, thus basketball was made the national team sport overnight and the national team was to be considered the official cherished of the Greek nation.

The European champions failed to qualify for the 1988 Summer Olympic Games for a first time in 36 years, despite a decent performance in the pre-Olympic tournament. In the EuroBasket 1989, the defending champions were under pressure to prove that they could stand at the top level of international basketball and they did so in a convincing way. After they had qualified from the group stage, the Soviet Union stood in their way in the semi-finals but Greece defeated them once again and reached the final. Contrary to what happened two years ago, this time Greece had to overcome Yugoslavia and the latter's home court advantage, as the tournament was held in Zagreb. Eventually, the Greek team bowed to the home side taking the silver medal, their third medal in total and second in a row.

Sustained success but no medals

In the 1990s there was a series of successful results for the national team, which was present in all major international tournaments every year except for the 1992 Summer Olympic Games. In the period between 1990 and 1998, Greece never fell below 6th place and usually ended up 4th. They also qualified for a second Olympic appearance in 1996, where the team reached the 5th position.

Ιn the 1990 FIBA World Championship, the team would face a new challenge as they would have to compete without their leading scorer Nikos Galis who was injured, but performed better than four years ago and were placed 6th. For the next two competitions in 1994 and 1998 Greece finished 4th. In 1994, the team reached the semi-finals but was eliminated by the United States and played for the third place against Croatia to which they lost and were placed 4th, a result that was considered to demonstrate the continued prominence of the team. In 1998, the tournament was held in Athens and the Greeks hoped to qualify for the final, but in the semi-final they were eliminated by Yugoslavia in extra time and their disappointment of missing the chance to reach the final led to an easy defeat to the United States in the bronze medal game, once more leaving Greece 4th.

In the EuroBasket 1991 Greece finished 5th and for the next three competitions in 1993, 1995 and 1997 they reached the semi-finals but ultimately ended up 4th. The 1995 tournament was hosted in Greece but the Greeks failed to repeat the triumph of 1987 and were defeated in the semi-final by Yugoslavia, something that happened again in 1997, while hosts Germany had eliminated Greece in 1993.

Decline and rebirth

The years 1999–2002 were marked by an obvious decline of Greece. The beginning of this era was the shocking 16th and last place of the team in the final standings of the EuroBasket 1999, having suffered three defeats in the preliminary round. Consequently, Greece was absent from the 2000 Summer Olympic Games. In the next European championship in 2001, the Greek team was placed 9th, thus failed to qualify for the 2002 FIBA World Championship. The revival of Greece started in the EuroBasket 2003, where an overhauled team finished 5th; the experiment was partly successful but the public was not very enthusiastic. The 2004 Summer Olympic Games in Athens were considered as the biggest chance of hosts Greece to win their first Olympic medal, but a close loss to eventual gold medalists Argentina in the quarter-finals stopped their way and they were finally placed 5th.

Greece with the silver medal at the 2006 FIBA World Championship.

Greece were considered a strong outsider for the medals at the EuroBasket 2005. They advanced from the group stage with two wins in three games and eliminated Israel and Russia to reach the semi-finals, where they faced France. The French were leading the score by seven points with only one minute left, Greece appeared to have no chance to pull out the win and one more lost semi-final was coming. However, the Greeks managed to get within a two-point distance and won 67–66 with a three-pointer by Dimitris Diamantidis with three seconds remaining, setting off a joyous celebration from the Greek side. At the final and in front of a raucous pro-Greece sold-out crowd of 20,000 at the Belgrade Arena, the Greeks defeated Germany in a convincing way with 78–62 and won the gold medal for a second time in their history.

In the next year, the European champions won the 2006 Stanković Cup going undefeated in the tournament and defeating Germany again at the final with an impressive 84–47 win. In the 2006 FIBA World Championship, Greece were glazed to win a medal that had closely missed in their last two participations in the tournament and reached once more the semi-finals with a record of seven consecutive wins, some of them impressive. In the semi-finals, Greece defeated the popular odds-on United States in a 101–95 upset, rallying back from twelve points down, and qualified for the final, but they proved to be exhausted from their dramatic game with the Americans and lost 70–47 to Spain, ending up with the silver medal. Despite the loss the players were greeted enthusiastically by celebrating fans on their return to Greece, due to their first medal in a World Championship and their glorious win over the United States.

In the EuroBasket 2007, the defending European champions advanced to the semi-finals where they faced up hosts and world champions Spain, in a repeat of the final one year ago. Greece came close to take a revenge but finally lost 82–77 and played in the bronze medal game, where they succumbed to Lithuania. At the 2008 Summer Olympic Games, another last-second defeat 80–78 to Argentina in the quarter-finals led Greece to the 5th place once more. In the EuroBasket 2009, the national team was potently changed; with a bunch of young players and without key players Theodoros Papaloukas and Dimitris Diamantidis, as well as Panagiotis Vasilopoulos and Kostas Tsartsaris, the tournament was perceived as the turning point for Greece after their major recent achievements. However, after their fourth consecutive defeat to Spain in the semi-finals and sixty years after their first, and last, bronze medal they managed to take the podium in the third position against the odds, with a thrilling 57–56 win over Slovenia, ceasing the curse of being defeated in all bronze medal games throughout their history.

Before the 2010 FIBA World Championship, the team exhibited impressive performances during friendly preparation matches, beating Germany 82–54, Russia 101–63, Croatia 90–81, Canada 123–49, Slovenia 96–72, and Serbia 74–73, in a game that ended up in a brawl. That brawl exposed problems within the team, which showed a different face in crucial matches in the World Championship. In the group stage, Greece lost to Turkey and Russia, (being accused of purposely losing the game with Russia, to avoid playing with Spain in the knock-out stage). France's loss to New Zealand meant that Greece had to face Spain anyway in the phase of 16. The two teams met once more, in a dramatic game that Spain won in the last minutes (a game that lead to Greek complaints about critical referee calls). That loss meant that the Greek team was eliminated from the next stage, ending up 11th (its worst performance in a World Cup).

That game led to the fifth consecutive Spanish victory over Greece in major international competitions. This actually represents a reversal of the previous situation, as Greece had defeated Spain in the four previous major international competitions, where the two teams had played against each other (1998 FIBA World Championship, EuroBasket 1995, EuroBasket 1993, and the 1990 FIBA World Championship), while the last Greek victory over Spain, was in a friendly in Madrid, in September, 2005. After the elimination in the 2010 FIBA World Championship, top class player, Dimitris Diamantidis, announced his retirement from the national team.

Generation X

During preparations for EuroBasket 2011, new head coach, Ilias Zouros, faced one of the greatest challenges in the history of the Greek basketball team, with the absences of no less than 9 key players (including star players: Dimitris Diamantidis, Theodoros Papaloukas, Sofoklis Schortsanitis, and Vassilis Spanoulis). Zouros had to assemble a team mostly made of young players (half of the team's players had never participated in the EuroBasket), with little time to prepare. The new national team, featuring some of the next generation Greek players ("Generation X"), exhibited promising signs during friendlies, beating Russia 83–80, Germany 69–56, and Turkey 62–38. At the EuroBasket, Greece managed to reach the quarterfinals, where it lost to eventual finalist France (64–56). Subsequently, victory against Serbia (87–77), and a loss to Lithuania (73–69), led Greece to 6th place, thus securing participation in the 2012 FIBA World Olympic Qualifying Tournament. At the 2012 FIBA World Olympic Qualifying Tournament, Greece failed to qualify for the Olympics, after a 80-79 loss to Nigeria.

Roster

Greek national basketball team roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. No. Name Age – Date of birth Height Club Ctr. PG 4 Kostas Sloukas 23 – (1990-01-15)January 15, 1990 1.90 m (6 ft 3 in) Olympiacos B.C. C 5 Ioannis Bourousis 29 – (1983-11-17)November 17, 1983 2.13 m (7 ft 0 in) Olimpia Milan SG 6 Nikos Zisis 29 – (1983-08-16)August 16, 1983 1.97 m (6 ft 6 in) Bilbao Basket PG 7 Vassilis Spanoulis 30 – (1982-08-07)August 7, 1982 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in) Olympiacos B.C. PG 8 Nick Calathes 24 – (1989-02-07)February 7, 1989 1.98 m (6 ft 6 in) Lokomotiv Kuban PF 9 Antonis Fotsis (C) 31 – (1981-04-01)April 1, 1981 2.09 m (6 ft 10 in) Olimpia Milan PF 10 Georgios Printezis 27 – (1985-02-22)February 22, 1985 2.06 m (6 ft 9 in) Olympiacos B.C. SF 11 Kostas Papanikolaou 22 – (1990-08-01)August 1, 1990 2.06 m (6 ft 9 in) Olympiacos B.C. SG 12 Michael Bramos 25 – (1987-05-27)May 27, 1987 1.98 m (6 ft 6 in) Panathinaikos B.C. C 13 Kosta Koufos 23 – (1989-02-24)February 24, 1989 2.13 m (7 ft 0 in) Denver Nuggets SG 14 Kostas Vasileiadis 28 – (1984-03-15)March 15, 1984 2.00 m (6 ft 7 in) Bilbao Basket SF 15 Kostas Kaimakoglou 29 – (1983-03-15)March 15, 1983 2.05 m (6 ft 9 in) UNICS Kazan SF 16 Stratos Perperoglou 28 – (1984-08-07)August 7, 1984 2.03 m (6 ft 8 in) Olympiacos B.C. C 17 Sofoklis Schortsanitis 27 – (1985-06-22)June 22, 1985 2.06 m (6 ft 9 in) Panathinaikos B.C. PF 18 Loukas Mavrokefalidis 28 – (1984-07-25)July 25, 1984 2.10 m (6 ft 11 in) FC Barcelona Bàsquet	Head coach Andrea Trinchieri Assistant coach(es) Dimitrios Papanikolaou Giorgos Limniatis Ilias Kantzouris Legend (C) Team captain Club field describes current pro club

Depth chart

Pos.	Starter	Bench	Bench
C	Ioannis Bourousis	Kosta Koufos	Sofoklis Schortsanitis
PF	Georgios Printezis	Antonis Fotsis	Loukas Mavrokefalidis
SF	Kostas Papanikolaou	Kostas Kaimakoglou	Stratos Perperoglou
SG	Nikos Zisis	Kostas Vasileiadis	Michael Bramos
PG	Vassilis Spanoulis	Nick Calathes	Kostas Sloukas

Participation in international competitions

Summer Olympic Games

Year	Position	W	L
1952	17th	1	2
1996	5th	5	3
2004	5th	4	3
2008	5th	3	3
Total	4/18	13	11

FIBA World Cup

Year	Position	W	L
1986	10th	4	6
1990	6th	4	4
1994	4th	4	4
1998	4th	5	4
2006	2nd	8	1
2010	11th	3	3
Total	6/16	28	22

Mediterranean Games

Year	Position
1951	4th
1955	3rd
1967	4th
1971	3rd
1975	5th
1979	1st
1983	4th
1987	3rd
1991	2nd
1993	4th
1997	4th
2001	2nd
2005	2nd
2009	2nd
Total	14/16

FIBA EuroBasket

Year	Position	W	L
1949	3rd	4	2
1951	8th	2	6
1961	17th	2	4
1965	8th	5	4
1967	12th	3	6
1969	10th	2	5
1973	11th	2	5
1975	12th	1	6
1979	9th	3	4
1981	9th	2	6
1983	11th	2	5
1987	1st	6	2
1989	2nd	3	2
1991	5th	3	2
1993	4th	5	4
1995	4th	5	4
1997	4th	7	2
1999	16th	0	3
2001	9th	2	2
2003	5th	5	1
2005	1st	6	1
2007	4th	5	4
2009	3rd	6	3
2011	6th	7	4
2013	Q
Total	25/38	88	87

Memorable victories

Date			Tournament			Place			Match	Score
May 1981			EuroBasket 1981 Challenge round			Istanbul, Turkey			Greece – Turkey	85 - 84
June 1987			EuroBasket 1987 Group stage			Athens, Greece			Greece – Yugoslavia	84 - 78
June 1987			EuroBasket 1987 Semi-final			Athens, Greece			Greece – Yugoslavia	81 - 77
14 June 1987			EuroBasket 1987 Final			Athens, Greece			Greece – Soviet Union	103 - 101
24 June 1989			EuroBasket 1989 Semi-final			Zagreb, Croatia			Greece – Soviet Union	81 - 80
28 June 1993			EuroBasket 1993 Preliminary round II			Berlin, Germany			Greece – Spain	76 - 75
1 July 1993			EuroBasket 1993 Quarter-final			Berlin, Germany			Greece – France	61 - 59
8 August 1994			1994 FIBA World Championship 2nd round			Toronto, Canada			Greece – Canada	74 - 71
30 June 1995			EuroBasket 1995 Quarter final			Athens, Greece			Greece – Spain	66 - 64
2 August 1996			1996 Summer Olympics 5th place game			Atlanta, USA			Greece – Brazil	91 - 72
25 June 1997			EuroBasket 1997 Group stage			Barcelona, Spain			Greece – Turkey	74 - 52
26 June 1997			EuroBasket 1997 Group stage			Barcelona, Spain			Greece – Russia	74 - 72
31 Aug 2001			EuroBasket 2001 Preliminary round			Antalya, Turkey			Greece – Italy	83 - 82
24 September 2005			EuroBasket 2005 Semi-final			Belgrade, Serbia			Greece – France	67 - 66
25 September 2005			EuroBasket 2005 Final			Belgrade, Serbia			Greece – Germany	78 - 62
20 August 2006			2006 FIBA World Championship Group stage			Hamamatsu, Japan			Greece – Lithuania	81 - 76 (OT)
22 August 2006			2006 FIBA World Championship Group stage			Hamamatsu, Japan			Greece – Australia	72 - 69
27 August 2006			2006 FIBA World Championship Round of 16			Saitama, Japan			Greece – China	95 - 64
9 September 2006			2006 FIBA World Championship Semi-final			Saitama, Japan			Greece – United States	101 - 95
9 September 2007			EuroBasket 2007 Qualifying round			Madrid, Spain			Greece – Croatia	81 - 78
14 September 2007			EuroBasket 2007 Quarter-final			Madrid, Spain			Greece – Slovenia	63 - 62
18 September 2009			EuroBasket 2009 Quarter-final			Katowice, Poland			Greece – Turkey	76 - 74 (OT)
17 August 2010			Acropolis Tournament 2010			Athens, Greece			Greece – Canada	123 - 49

See also

• Greek national basketball team past rosters

External links

• Hellenic Basketball Federation Template:El icon
• Greece at the FIBA Europe official website
• Greece on FIBA.com
• Greece at the EuroBasket 2009 official website