Croatia_men's_national_basketball_team
Croatia men's national basketball team
Men's national basketball team representing Croatia
The Croatia men's national basketball team (Croatian: Hrvatska košarkaška reprezentacija)[3] represents Croatia in international basketball matches. The team is controlled by the Croatian Basketball Federation (HKS).[4]
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| FIBA ranking | 30  (1 March 2024)[1] | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Joined FIBA | 1992 | ||
| FIBA zone | FIBA Europe | ||
| National federation | HKS | ||
| Coach | Josip Sesar | ||
| Nickname(s) | Kockasti (The Chequered Ones) | ||
| Olympic Games | |||
| Appearances | 4 | ||
| Medals |  Silver: (1992) | ||
| FIBA World Cup | |||
| Appearances | 3 | ||
| Medals |  Bronze: (1994) | ||
| EuroBasket | |||
| Appearances | 14 | ||
| Medals |  Bronze: (1993, 1995) | ||
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| First international | |||
 Germany 86–74 Croatia  (Murcia, Spain; 22 June 1992)[2] | |||
| Biggest win | |||
Croatia 124–51 Iceland  (Murcia, Spain; 24 June 1992) | |||
| Biggest defeat | |||
Croatia 70–103 United States  (Barcelona, Spain; 27 July 1992) | |||
The biggest success Croatia has achieved was at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics when the team reached the final against the United States and won the silver medal. Croatia has also won one bronze medal at the FIBA World Cup and two bronze medals at EuroBasket.
Croatia's Krešimir Ćosić, Dražen Petrović, Dino Rađa, Mirko Novosel and Toni Kukoč are members of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. Ćosić was inducted in 1996, Petrović in 2002, Rađa in 2018 and Kukoč in 2021, all as players. Novosel was inducted in 2007 as a coach. Petrović, Ćosić, Kukoč and Novosel are members of the FIBA Hall of Fame. Ćosić is also the only Croatian to have received the FIBA Order of Merit. Ćosić, however, never played for the Croatia national team. As he was only a member of the Yugoslavia national team, holding the record for number of medals (including Olyimpic gold) and the most games played by a player.
Prior to Croatian independence
Croatia played its first unofficial friendly game on 2 June 1964 in Karlovac.[5] Croatian team played against US All Star Team and lost 65–110 (31–50). USA players coached by Red Auerbach were Bob Cousy, Tom Heinsohn, K. C. Jones, Jerry Lucas, Bob Pettit, Oscar Robertson and Bill Russell and Croatian team was Giuseppe Gjergja, Nemanja Đurić, Živko Kasun, Zlatko Kiseljak, Slobodan Kolaković, Dragan Kovačić, Boris Križan, Stjepan Ledić, Mirko Novosel, Marko Ostarčević, Petar Skansi and Željko Troskot.[6][7]
Independent Croatia
After independence of Croatia in 1991, the first official tournament played by Croatians were the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona. Croatia defeated the CIS team 75–74 and reached the final against the USA Dream Team led by Michael Jordan. The USA won 85–117, but Croatia won its first medal at a major tournament in history.[8]
The next competition for Croatia was the 1993 EuroBasket in Germany. Tragically, before the tournament Dražen Petrović died in a car accident on 7 June 1993 at the age of 28. Croatia still managed to reach the bronze medal game to defeat Greece 99–59.[9]
Croatia earned its third medal at the 1994 FIBA World Cup in Canada. Croatia lost their semi-finals match against Russia 64–66, but beat Greece once again 78–60 for the bronze medal. A similar occurrence happened at the EuroBasket 1995 in Greece. Croatia lost in the semi-finals 80–90 against Lithuania, but beat Greece 73–68 for the third time in a row in a bronze medal match. That medal to date was the last Croatian medal from any major tournament. At the 1996 Summer Olympics Croatia finished in a subpar seventh place.[10]
Decline
At the EuroBasket 1997 in Spain, the new Croatian generation emerged, but ended in 11th place. Croatia failed to qualify for the 2000, 2004 and 2012 Summer Olympics, but finished sixth in 2008. Croatia also failed to qualify for the 1998, 2002 and 2006 World Cups. Although the team did manage to qualify in 2010, before falling in the Round of 16. However, at the EuroBasket 2013, Croatia had its best tournament appearance since 1995, where the team finished in fourth place.[11]
The Croatia national team's all-time medal table:
| Games | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Summer Olympics | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| FIBA World Cup | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| EuroBasket | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Mediterranean Games | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| Stanković Cup | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| Total | 3 | 3 | 3 | 9 |
FIBA World Cup
Olympic Games
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EuroBasket
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Win Loss
2023
| 19 July 2023 | Croatia |
89–49 |  Ireland |
Opatija, Croatia | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20:00 (UTC+2) | Scoring by quarter: 24–5, 32–12, 14–16, 19–16 | ||||
| Pts: Badžim 18 Rebs: Perković 8 Asts: Kapusta 9 |
Boxscore | Pts: Quinn 12 Rebs: Alajiki 5 Asts: Quinn 4 |
Arena: Sportska dvorana Marino Cvetković Attendance: 970 Referees: Georgios Poursanidis (GRE), Luis Castillo (ESP), Oskars Lūcis (LAT) |
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| 22 July 2023 | Croatia |
98–62 |  Luxembourg |
Opatija, Croatia | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20:00 (UTC+2) | Scoring by quarter: 31–14, 26–20, 23–12, 18–16 | ||||
| Pts: Kapusta, Prkačin 16 Rebs: Branković, Mazalin 6 Asts: Badžim 6 |
Boxscore | Pts: Laurent 18 Rebs: Laurent, Rugg 9 Asts: Grün, Gutenkauf 4 |
Arena: Sportska dvorana Marino Cvetković Attendance: 600 Referees: Paulo Marques (POR), Geert Jacobs (BEL), Ivor Matějek (CZE) |
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| 29 July 2023 | Ireland |
61–95 | Croatia |
Dublin, Ireland | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14:30 (UTC+1) | Scoring by quarter: 12–20, 22–22, 8–21, 19–32 | ||||
| Pts: Murphy 12 Rebs: Alajiki 5 Asts: Fulton 4 |
Boxscore | Pts: D. Drežnjak 17 Rebs: D. Drežnjak 5 Asts: five players 3 |
Arena: National Basketball Arena Attendance: 2,000 Referees: Mārtiņš Kozlovskis (LAT), Fernando Calatrava (ESP), Javier Torres (ESP) |
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| 2 August 2023 | Luxembourg |
79–91 | Croatia |
Luxembourg City, Luxembourg | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20:15 (UTC+2) | Scoring by quarter: 12–25, 25–25, 18–24, 24–17 | ||||
| Pts: Laurent 13 Rebs: Rugg 7 Asts: Kovac 4 |
Boxscore | Pts: Perković 23 Rebs: Ljubičić 7 Asts: Kapusta 9 |
Arena: d'Coque Attendance: 1,650 Referees: Can Mavisu (TUR), Geert Jacobs (BEL), Alexandre Deman (FRA) |
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2024
| 23 February 2024 | France  |
73–61 | Croatia |
Brest, France | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20:30 (UTC+1) | Scoring by quarter: 15–14, 20–16, 22–14, 16–17 | ||||
| Pts: Luwawu-Cabarrot 15 Rebs: Cordinier 6 Asts: Albicy, Inglis 4 |
Boxscore | Pts: Hezonja 22 Rebs: three players 5 Asts: three players 3 |
Arena: Brest Arena Attendance: 5,029 Referees: Wojciech Liszka (POL), Michał Proc (POL), Mehmet Karabilecen (TUR) |
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| 26 February 2024 | Croatia |
92–63 |  Cyprus |
Rijeka, Croatia | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20:00 (UTC+1) | Scoring by quarter: 22–8, 26–16, 22–26, 22–13 | ||||
| Pts: Prkačin 24 Rebs: Hezonja, Prkačin 10 Asts: Kapusta 8 |
Boxscore | Pts: Simitzis 17 Rebs: Willis 9 Asts: Mantovani, Willis 3 |
Arena: Zamet Sports Centre Attendance: 2,500 Referees: Radomir Vojinović (MNE), Ventsislav Velikov (BUL), Can Mavisu (TUR) |
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| 2 July 2024 | Slovenia  |
vs. | Croatia |
Piraeus, Greece | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boxscore | Arena: Peace and Friendship Stadium |
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| 3 July 2024 | Croatia |
vs. |  New Zealand |
Piraeus, Greece | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boxscore | Arena: Peace and Friendship Stadium |
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v 
Bosnia and Herzegovina
| 21 November 2024 | Croatia |
vs. | Bosnia and Herzegovina |
Croatia | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boxscore | |||||
| 24 November 2024 | Bosnia and Herzegovina |
vs. | Croatia |
Bosnia and Herzegovina | |
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| Boxscore | |||||
2025
Current roster
Roster for the EuroBasket 2025 Qualifiers matches on 23 and 26 February 2024 against France and Cyprus.[12]
| Croatia men's national basketball team roster | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Players | Coaches | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Depth chart
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Record against teams at the EuroBasket
Record against teams in EuroBasket qualification
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Record against teams at the World Cup
Record against teams in World Cup qualification
Record against teams at the Olympic Games
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Biggest tournament wins
20+ point difference
| Olympic Games | World Cup | EuroBasket |
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- Croatia also defeated Albania (94–70) for a win margin of +24 at the 2009 Mediterranean Games.
Biggest tournament losses
-20> point difference
| Olympic Games | World Cup | EuroBasket |
|---|---|---|
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Biggest qualification wins
20+ point difference
| Olympic qualification | World Cup qualification | EuroBasket qualification |
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- "FIBA Ranking Presented by Nike". FIBA. 1 March 2024. Retrieved 1 March 2024.
- "XIII Olympic Basketball Tournament (Barcelona 1992) Qualifying stage". Linguasport. Retrieved 18 August 2017.
- "Croatia basketball news". eurobasket.com.
- "All Star NBA u Šancu 1964". kafotka.net. Retrieved 8 September 2012.
- "U Šancu haklale NBA zvijezde, a u Draganiću gradili naftnu bušotinu". www.kaportal.hr. Archived from the original on 19 July 2012. Retrieved 8 September 2012.
- "KARLOVAC: 40 GODINA NBA LIGE U KARLOVCU". Index.hr. Retrieved 21 August 2012.
- "Croatia at the 1992 Olympic Games". Archive.fiba.com. 8 August 1992.
- "Croatia v Greece EuroBasket 1993 Bronze medal game results". Archive.fiba.com. 3 July 1993.
- "Croatia at the 1996 Olympic Games". Archive.fiba.com. 2 August 1996.
- "Croatia at the EuroBasket 2013". Archive.fiba.com. 22 September 2013.
- "Croatia during the EuroBasket 2025 Qualifiers in February 2024". Retrieved 23 February 2024.
- "XXVIII European Championship (München 1993) Qualifying stage". Linguasport. Retrieved 18 August 2017.
- Official website
(in Croatian) - Croatia FIBA profile
- Croatia National Team – Men at Eurobasket.com
- Croatia Basketball Records at FIBA Archive
