Serbia men's national basketball team

Serbia
FIBA ranking4 Increase 1 (1 March 2024)[1]
Joined FIBA1936[2]
FIBA zoneFIBA Europe
National federationKSS
CoachSvetislav Pešić
Nickname(s)Орлови, Оrlovi
(The Eagles)
Olympic Games
Appearances4
MedalsSilver Silver: (1996, 2016)
FIBA World Cup
Appearances7
MedalsGold Gold: (1998, 2002)
Silver Silver: (2014, 2023)
EuroBasket
Appearances13
MedalsGold Gold: (1995, 1997, 2001)
Silver Silver: (2009, 2017)
Bronze Bronze: (1999)
First international
FR Yugoslavia 93–87 Bulgaria 
(Sofia, Bulgaria; 31 May 1995)[3]
Biggest win
FR Yugoslavia 128–61 China 
(Atlanta, United States; 30 July 1996)[4]
Biggest defeat
 Serbia 92–129 United States 
(Madrid, Spain; 14 September 2014)

The Serbia men's national basketball team (Serbian: Кошаркашка репрезентација Србије, romanizedKošarkaška reprezentacija Srbije) represents Serbia in international basketball competition, and is controlled by the Basketball Federation of Serbia. Serbia is currently ranked fourth in the FIBA World Ranking.[5]

From 1992 to 2003, the national team played under the name of FR Yugoslavia and from 2003 to 2006, under the name of Serbia and Montenegro in international tournaments. Following the Montenegrin declaration of independence in 2006, Basketball Federation of Serbia retained the place of Basketball Federation of Serbia and Montenegro as a FIBA member.[6] Therefore, all the results and medals from this period are succeeded by the Serbia national team.

History

Serbia and Montenegro

With the start of Yugoslav Wars in 1991, and subsequent breakup of Yugoslavia, the Yugoslavia national team was disbanded. The team consisted of players selected from the population of over 23 million people, and the basketball infrastructure was evenly distributed among the six states which formed the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

In 1992, FR Yugoslavia was established as the federation of the two remaining Yugoslav republics, Serbia and Montenegro. The newly established country had less than half the population of the former country. The Basketball Federation of FR Yugoslavia became the governing body of basketball for the new country. After the adoption of UNSCR 757, the national team was suspended from participating in international tournaments. Due to these sanctions and ongoing war, the national team was prevented from participating at the 1992 Summer Olympics, EuroBasket 1993 and 1994 FIBA World Cup.

1995–2002: Golden generation

Without much sponsorship for the war-impoverished country, the national team made its comeback to the international scene at the EuroBasket 1995 in Greece, where it won the gold medal; after defeating Lithuania in the final. At the 1996 Summer Olympics, the team lost 69–95 to the United States in the gold-medal game. After the defeat, the national team would go on to claim the gold medal in their next two international competitions, EuroBasket 1997 and the 1998 FIBA World Cup; while winning the bronze medal at EuroBasket 1999 and reclaiming gold once again at the EuroBasket 2001.

One of the most notable wins for the Yugoslavia national team came in the quarter-finals of the 2002 FIBA World Cup, where the host nation of the tournament, the United States was eliminated 81–78.[7] The significance of the win was tremendous for the Serbian people in general, as the public in Serbia perceived the United States political leadership responsible for the breakup of Yugoslavia, and destruction of the country's infrastructure; as well as civil victims during the 1999 NATO bombing of Yugoslavia.[8] Thereafter, the Yugoslavia national team went on to win the competition, by defeating New Zealand in the semi-finals and Argentina in the final 84–77 in OT to win the gold medal.[7]

2003–2006: Underwhelming results

In 2002, FR Yugoslavia consisted of the states of Serbia and Montenegro. The merged nations came to a new agreement regarding continued co-operation, which, among other changes, promised the end of the name Yugoslavia. On 4 February 2003, the federal assembly of Yugoslavia created a loose state union—the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro. The following years were underwhelming as the national team failed to make the podium at international tournaments, after decades of winning medals.

At the EuroBasket 2003, the team came in sixth place, but due to their world champion status, were automatically qualified for the 2004 Summer Olympics in Greece. Entering 2004, the national team participated in the less important Diamond Ball tournament, prior to the 2004 Olympic Games where they won the gold medal. Although the team was unable to carry over the momentum heading into the Olympics, and were eliminated in the group stage with a (1–4) record, finishing in 11th place.

After two consecutive tournament disappointments, hopes of getting back on the podium returned for the EuroBasket 2005 where Serbia and Montenegro was the host nation. Heading into the tournament, Željko Obradović was brought back for a second stint as head coach of the national team. However, they were eliminated in the play-off stage by France 74–71, and finished in ninth place. After the tournament, Obradović stepped down, and blamed a bad atmosphere among the team's star players for the failure. The team then participated at the 2006 FIBA World Cup on a wild card, due to the results in the past on the initiative by FIBA prominent administrator Borislav Stanković. Although the national team of Serbia and Montenegro came up short once again, with another ninth-place finish.

On 21 May 2006, Montenegrins voted in an independence referendum, with 55.5% supporting independence. The subsequent Montenegrin proclamation of independence in June 2006 and the Serbian proclamation of independence on 5 June ended the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro and thus the last remaining vestiges of the former Yugoslavia.

Serbia

Following the dissolution of the state union of Serbia and Montenegro, the national team participated at the EuroBasket 2007. There, the team finished the competition failing to make it out of the group stage after three close losses. The result failed to qualify the team for the 2008 Summer Olympics, which was their first time missing the Olympic tournament after missing it in 1992 due to suspension.

In December 2007, the legendary Dušan Ivković hinted that he would take the helm as head coach of the national team.[9]

2009–2013: Flashes of old glory

Duško Savanović in 2011

Under Ivković's coaching, a new generation of players led by Nenad Krstić and Miloš Teodosić returned some of the old glory by taking the silver medal at Eurobasket 2009. At the 2010 FIBA World Cup, after narrowly defeating Croatia in the Round of 16, Miloš Teodosić hit a deep three-point shot to upset the favourites of the tournament Spain in the quarter-finals.[10] Entering the semis, Serbia would come up short, after a controversial referee's error to the tournament's host Turkey 83–82.[10] With the youngest team in the competition, Serbia eventually finished in fourth place after losing to Lithuania 99–88 in the bronze-medal game.[10][11]

At the EuroBasket 2011, the team failed to reach the semi-finals, finishing the tournament in eighth place; thus failing to qualify for the 2012 Summer Olympics. At the EuroBasket 2013, the team was once again eliminated in the quarter-finals and finished in seventh place.

2014–2019: Silver generation

Following the EuroBasket 2013, Ivković stepped away from the position, and Serbian basketball hall of famer Aleksandar Đorđević stepped into his place.[12]

Đorđević led the team to the silver medal at the 2014 FIBA World Cup, where they lost in the final to the United States.[13][14] At the EuroBasket 2015, Serbia finished in fourth place, with their only tournament loses coming in the semi-finals to Lithuania and in the bronze-medal game to France.

After winning the 2016 Olympic Qualifying Tournament held in Belgrade, the national team won the silver medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, losing in the final to the United States.[15][16]

With the absence of team captains Miloš Teodosić, and Nikola Jokić, rising star Bogdan Bogdanović emerged as team leader at the EuroBasket 2017. The national team went on to earn their third silver medal in four years, after falling to a Goran Dragić-led Slovenia 93–85 in the final.[17]

Facing a different qualification system introduced by FIBA for the 2019 FIBA World Cup, the national team was forced to play without their key players in nearly all of their qualification matches. However, they narrowly secured the last spot for the World Cup in their second round qualification group.[18] Prior the World Cup, Serbia was dubbed as one of the favourites to win the tournament;[19] but was eventually defeated in the quarter-finals by Argentina.[20] With the team relegated to the classification phase, they would pick up wins against the United States and Czech Republic to finish in fifth place.[21][22][23] After the tournament, head coach Đorđević announced his decision to leave the position after six years.[24]

2021–present: Recent tournaments

Serbia after winning their semi-final match against Canada at the 2023 FIBA World Cup.

Under new head coach Igor Kokoškov, Serbia failed to qualify to the 2020 Summer Olympics after losing in the final game of the Qualifying Tournament to Italy before home crowd. At the EuroBasket 2022, led by legendary head coach Svetislav Pešić, after winning all five group matches, Italy upset Serbia in Round of 16 with 94–86 and Serbia finished in ninth place. At the 2023 FIBA World Cup, despite absence of several star players, Serbia managed to reach the tournament final where they lost to the Germany.[25]

Honours

Medals table

Games Gold Silver Bronze Total
Summer Olympics 0 2 0 2
FIBA World Cup 2 2 0 4
EuroBasket 3 2 1 6
Mediterranean Games 0 1 1 2
Diamond Ball 1 1 0 2
Stanković Cup 0 0 1 1
Total 6 8 3 17

Competitive record

Name of the nation during the tournaments:

Results and fixtures

  Win   Loss

2023

8 August 2023 Greece  64–71  Serbia Athens, Greece
20:00 (UTC+3) Scoring by quarter: 13–16, 22–23, 14–18, 15–14
Pts: Rogkavopoulos 19
Rebs: Mitoglou 10
Asts: Walkup 10
Boxscore Pts: Bogdanović 15
Rebs: Milutinov 12
Asts: Bogdanović 5
Arena: O.A.C.A. Olympic Hall
Referees: Tsolakos, Somos, Tsimpouris
9 August 2023 Italy  89–88  Serbia Athens, Greece
20:00 (UTC+3) Scoring by quarter: 19–32, 25–15, 26–23, 19–18
Pts: Fontecchio 13
Rebs: Polonara 11
Asts: Severini 5
Boxscore Pts: N. Jović 18
Rebs: N. Jović 7
Asts: Gudurić 6
Arena: O.A.C.A. Olympic Hall
Referees: Papapetrou, Tziopanos, Agrafiotis
16 August 2023 Serbia  110–75  Puerto Rico Belgrade, Serbia
20:00 (UTC+2) Scoring by quarter: 26–13, 39–12, 24–21, 21–29
Pts: Dobrić 23
Rebs: N. Jović 8
Asts: S. Jović 11
Boxscore Pts: Waters 11
Rebs: Romero 6
Asts: Thompson 4
Arena: Štark Arena
Attendance: 12,526
Referees: Glišić, Jevtović, Pešić
20 August 2023 China  64–87  Serbia Shenzhen, China
19:30 (UTC+8) Scoring by quarter: 12–23, 16–20, 23–22, 13–22
Arena: Baoan District Gymnasium
21 August 2023 Serbia  89–85  Brazil Shenzhen, China
20:00 (UTC+8) Scoring by quarter: 21–20, 24–18, 19–21, 25–26
Arena: Baoan District Gymnasium
26 August 2023 Serbia  105–63  China Quezon City, Philippines
20:00 (UTC+8) Scoring by quarter: 25–14, 30–20, 22–13, 28–16
Pts: Bogdanović, Marinković 14
Rebs: Milutinov, Ristić 6
Asts: Gudurić, S. Jović 6
Boxscore Pts: Zhao R. 17
Rebs: Cui, Zhou 5
Asts: Zhao J. 6
Arena: Araneta Coliseum
Attendance: 7,292
Referees: Yohan Rosso (FRA), Mārtiņš Kozlovskis (LAT), Rabah Noujaim (LBN)
28 August 2023 Puerto Rico  77–94  Serbia Quezon City, Philippines
20:00 (UTC+8) Scoring by quarter: 15–27, 12–30, 31–18, 19–19
Pts: Piñeiro 14
Rebs: Conditt 11
Asts: Waters 9
Boxscore Pts: Bogdanović, N. Jović 17
Rebs: Milutinov 15
Asts: S. Jović 6
Arena: Araneta Coliseum
Attendance: 2,944
Referees: Yohan Rosso (FRA), Leandro Zalazar (ARG), Carlos Peralta (ECU)
30 August 2023 South Sudan  83–115  Serbia Quezon City, Philippines
16:00 (UTC+8) Scoring by quarter: 20–30, 19–26, 26–27, 18–32
Pts: Jok 21
Rebs: Omot 5
Asts: Jones 6
Boxscore Pts: N. Jović 25
Rebs: Milutinov 10
Asts: S. Jović 13
Arena: Araneta Coliseum
Attendance: 5,848
Referees: Yohan Rosso (FRA), Kerem Baki (TUR), Rabah Noujaim (LBN)
1 September 2023 Serbia  76–78  Italy Quezon City, Philippines
16:00 (UTC+8) Scoring by quarter: 19–23, 23–17, 20–19, 14–19
Pts: Bogdanović 18
Rebs: Milutinov 12
Asts: Bogdanović 4
Boxscore Pts: Fontecchio 30
Rebs: Fontecchio 7
Asts: Pajola 6
Arena: Araneta Coliseum
Attendance: 3,117
Referees: Antonio Conde (ESP), Luis Castillo (ESP), Martin Vulić (CRO)
3 September 2023 Dominican Republic  79–112  Serbia Quezon City, Philippines
20:00 (UTC+8) Scoring by quarter: 15–29, 20–27, 18–31, 26–25
Pts: Towns 25
Rebs: Towns 7
Asts: Montero 4
Boxscore Pts: Bogdanović 20
Rebs: S. Jović 6
Asts: S. Jović 7
Arena: Araneta Coliseum
Attendance: 6,616
Referees: Yohan Rosso (FRA), Luis Castillo (ESP), Gatis Saliņš (LAT)
5 September 2023 Lithuania  68–87  Serbia Pasay, Philippines
16:45 (UTC+8) Scoring by quarter: 25–24, 13–25, 17–24, 13–14
Pts: Sedekerskis 14
Rebs: Sedekerskis 9
Asts: Jokubaitis 9
Boxscore Pts: Bogdanović 21
Rebs: Petrušev 6
Asts: Gudurić 6
Arena: Mall of Asia Arena
Attendance: 6,223
Referees: Omar Bermúdez (MEX), Mārtiņš Kozlovskis (LAT), Johnny Batista (PUR)
8 September 2023 Serbia  95–86  Canada Pasay, Philippines
16:45 (UTC+8) Scoring by quarter: 23–15, 29–24, 23–24, 20–23
Pts: Bogdanović 23
Rebs: Milutinov 10
Asts: S. Jovic 5
Boxscore Pts: Barrett 23
Rebs: five players 3
Asts: Gilgeous-Alexander 9
Arena: Mall of Asia Arena
Attendance: 8,630
Referees: Yohan Rosso (FRA), Julio Anaya (PAN), Manuel Mazzoni (ITA)
10 September 2023 Germany  83–77  Serbia Pasay, Philippines
20:40 (UTC+8) Scoring by quarter: 23–26, 24–21, 22–10, 14–20
Pts: Schröder 28
Rebs: Voigtmann 8
Asts: Voigtmann 3
Boxscore Pts: Avramović 21
Rebs: N. Jović 8
Asts: Bogdanović 5
Arena: Mall of Asia Arena
Attendance: 12,022
Referees: Roberto Vázquez (PUR), Omar Bermúdez (MEX), Gatis Saliņš (LAT)

2024

23 February 2024 Serbia  77–61  Finland Belgrade, Serbia
20:00 (UTC+1) Scoring by quarter: 17–20, 19–14, 22–17, 19–10
Pts: Mitrović 19
Rebs: Mitrović 9
Asts: Petrušev 5
Boxscore Pts: Jantunen 11
Rebs: Valtonen 9
Asts: Maxhuni 6
Arena: Aleksandar Nikolić Hall
Attendance: 8,000
Referees: Mārtiņš Kozlovskis (LAT), Marius Ciulin (ROU), Dariusz Zapolski (POL)
26 February 2024 Georgia  63–76  Serbia Tbilisi, Georgia
21:00 (UTC+4) Scoring by quarter: 12–21, 19–17, 21–22, 11–16
Pts: Shengelia 19
Rebs: Shermadini 9
Asts: Tsintsadze 6
Boxscore Pts: Gudurić 16
Rebs: Petrušev 8
Asts: Avramović 7
Arena: Tbilisi Arena
Attendance: 9,400
Referees: Yohan Rosso (FRA), Martin Horozov (BUL), Michał Proc (POL)
21 November 2024 Denmark  vs.  Serbia Denmark
Boxscore
24 November 2024 Serbia  vs.  Denmark Serbia
Boxscore

2025

21 February 2025 Finland  vs.  Serbia Finland
Boxscore
24 February 2025 Serbia  vs.  Georgia Serbia
Boxscore

Team

Current roster

Roster for the 2023 FIBA World Cup.[26]

Serbia men's national basketball team – 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup roster
Players Coaches
Pos. No. Name Age – Date of birth Height Club Ctr.
C 3 Filip Petrušev 23 – (2000-04-15)15 April 2000 2.11 m (6 ft 11 in) Philadelphia 76ers United States
PF 5 Nikola Jović 20 – (2003-06-09)9 June 2003 2.08 m (6 ft 10 in) Miami Heat United States
SG 7 Bogdan Bogdanović (C) 31 – (1992-08-18)18 August 1992 1.96 m (6 ft 5 in) Atlanta Hawks United States
SG 9 Vanja Marinković 26 – (1997-01-09)9 January 1997 1.98 m (6 ft 6 in) Saski Baskonia Spain
SF 13 Ognjen Dobrić 28 – (1994-10-27)27 October 1994 2.00 m (6 ft 7 in) Virtus Bologna Italy
C 14 Dušan Ristić 27 – (1995-11-25)25 November 1995 2.14 m (7 ft 0 in) Lenovo Tenerife Spain
SG 23 Marko Gudurić 28 – (1995-03-08)8 March 1995 1.96 m (6 ft 5 in) Fenerbahçe Beko Turkey
PG 24 Stefan Jović 32 – (1990-11-03)3 November 1990 1.98 m (6 ft 6 in) Basket Zaragoza Spain
SF 27 Dejan Davidovac 28 – (1995-01-17)17 January 1995 2.03 m (6 ft 8 in) Crvena zvezda Serbia
PF 28 Boriša Simanić 25 – (1998-03-20)20 March 1998 2.11 m (6 ft 11 in) Basket Zaragoza Spain
PG 30 Aleksa Avramović 28 – (1994-10-25)25 October 1994 1.92 m (6 ft 4 in) Partizan Mozzart Bet Serbia
C 33 Nikola Milutinov 28 – (1994-12-30)30 December 1994 2.13 m (7 ft 0 in) Olympiacos Greece
Head coach
Assistant coach(es)
Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • Club – describes last
    club before the tournament
  • Age – describes age
    on 25 August 2023

Depth chart 2024

Pos. Starting 5 Bench 1 Bench 2 Bench 3
C Nikola Jokić Nikola Milutinov Alen Smailagić Dušan Ristić
PF Nikola Jović Filip Petrušev Tristan Vukčević Aleksej Pokuševski
SF Nikola Kalinić Ognjen Dobrić Dejan Davidovac Vladimir Lučić
SG Bogdan Bogdanović Marko Gudurić Vanja Marinkovic Nikola Đurišić
PG Vasilije Micić Aleksa Avramović Stefan Jović Nikola Topić

Past rosters

Head coaches

Since 1992, the national team has been managed by a total of eight different head coaches. Dušan Ivković, Željko Obradović, and Svetislav Pešić are the only coaches with more than one spell.

Player statistics

These tables include player statistics on Olympic games, FIBA World Cup and FIBA Eurobasket matches since 1995.[citation needed]

  • Bold denotes players still playing international basketball.
As of 11 September 2023

Notable players

Multiple medal winners

This is a list of people who have won two or more medals, who represented FR Yugoslavia / Serbia and Montenegro or Serbia since 1995.

Individual awards

(including achievements of Serbian players from 1945 to 1991)

International competitions

Other notable achievements

Notable coaches

Individual achievements

(including achievements of Serbian coaches from 1945 to 1991)

See also

References

  1. ^ "FIBA Ranking Presented by Nike". FIBA. 1 March 2024. Retrieved 1 March 2024.
  2. ^ "Profile: Serbia (SRB)". fiba.com. FIBA. Retrieved 24 May 2018.
  3. ^ "Atina, 2.juli 1995". 2 July 2015.
  4. ^ "archive.fiba.com". archive.fiba.com.
  5. ^ "FIBA WORLD RANKING". fiba.basketball. Retrieved 16 September 2019.
  6. ^ "PR no.22: Montenegro becomes 213th FIBA Member". fiba.basketball. Retrieved 28 August 2006.
  7. ^ a b "BASKETBALL; U.S. an Embarrassed Sixth as Yugoslavia Takes the Gold". The New York Times. Associated Press. 9 September 2002. Retrieved 8 April 2017.
  8. ^ "Jugoslavija pobedila 'Dream team'". b92.net (in Serbian). Beta. 6 September 2002. Retrieved 8 April 2017.
  9. ^ Preradović, V. (20 December 2007). "Ivković selektor". Večernje novosti (in Serbian). Retrieved 14 September 2019.
  10. ^ a b c Stojsavljević, Vojislav (30 August 2019). "TURSKA 2010: Povratak Srbije u elitu, SAD konačno do zlata". Danas (newspaper) (in Serbian). Retrieved 14 September 2019.
  11. ^ "Duda otpisao Milosavljevića". B92.net (in Serbian). BETA. 25 August 2010. Retrieved 6 August 2012.
  12. ^ Ranković, Rade (25 December 2013). "Đorđević preuzeo reprezentaciju". glasamerike.net (in Serbian). Retrieved 14 September 2019.
  13. ^ "Srbija srebrna, 'vanzemaljci' Ameri šampioni". B92.net (in Serbian). BETA. 14 September 2014. Retrieved 15 September 2014.
  14. ^ "Serbia at the 2014 FIBA World Cup". Retrieved 14 September 2014.
  15. ^ "Serbia at the 2016 Olympic Qualifying Tournament". Retrieved 9 July 2016.
  16. ^ "Serbia at the 2016 men's Olympic Basketball Tournament". Retrieved 21 August 2016.
  17. ^ "Serbia at the EuroBasket 2017". Retrieved 17 September 2017.
  18. ^ "Serbia during the 2019 FIBA World Cup European Qualifiers". Retrieved 24 February 2019.
  19. ^ Curkovic, Igor (28 August 2019). "FIBA Basketball World Cup Power Rankings, Volume 3". fiba.basketball. Retrieved 14 September 2019.
  20. ^ "Argentina upsets Olympic silver medalist Serbia in FIBA World Cup quarterfinals". nbcsports.com. 10 September 2019. Retrieved 14 September 2019.
  21. ^ "Serbia defeats USA in FIBA World Cup consolation round play". National Basketball Association. 12 September 2019. Retrieved 14 September 2019.
  22. ^ T., P. (14 September 2019). "Bogdanović ponovo briljirao – Srbiji peto mesto u Kini" (in Serbian). Retrieved 14 September 2019.
  23. ^ "Serbia at the 2019 FIBA World Cup". Retrieved 14 September 2019.
  24. ^ T., P. (14 September 2019). "Đorđević više nije selektor Srbije!". b92.net (in Serbian). Retrieved 14 September 2019.
  25. ^ "Serbia at the 2023 FIBA World Cup". Retrieved 15 September 2023.
  26. ^ "Pešić odredio 12 igrača za Mundobasket". mozzartsport.com. 22 August 2023. Retrieved 22 August 2023.
  27. ^ "Team roster: Serbia" (PDF). FIBA. 25 August 2023.

External links

  • Official website (in Serbian)
  • Serbia FIBA profile
  • Serbia National Team – Men at Eurobasket.com
  • Serbia Basketball Records at FIBA Archive
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