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Croatia men's national basketball team

(Redirected from Croatian national basketball team)
This article is about the men's team. For the women's team, see Croatia women's national basketball team.

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]

Croatia
FIBA ranking33 Decrease 3 (15 August 2024)[1]
Joined FIBA1992
FIBA zoneFIBA Europe
National federationHKS
CoachJosip Sesar
Nickname(s)Kockasti
(The Chequered Ones)
Olympic Games
Appearances4
MedalsSilver Silver: (1992)
FIBA World Cup
Appearances3
MedalsBronze Bronze: (1994)
EuroBasket
Appearances14
MedalsBronze Bronze: (1993, 1995)
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)
Medal record
Olympic Games
Silver medal – second place 1992 Barcelona Team
FIBA World Cup
Bronze medal – third place 1994 Canada
EuroBasket
Bronze medal – third place 1993 Germany
Bronze medal – third place 1995 Greece
Mediterranean Games
Gold medal – first place 2009 Pescara Team
Silver medal – second place 1993 Languedoc-Roussillon Team

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.

History

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Prior to Croatian independence

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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

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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

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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]

Honours

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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

Competitive record

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Results and fixtures

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  Win   Loss

2023

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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)
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)
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)
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)

2024

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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)
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)
2 July 2024 Slovenia   92–108   Croatia Piraeus, Greece
21:00 (UTC+3) Scoring by quarter: 16–31, 25–23, 27–39, 24–15
Pts: Dončić 26
Rebs: Dončić 11
Asts: Dončić 10 		Boxscore Pts: Filipović 21
Rebs: Šarić 10
Asts: Šarić 10 		Arena: Peace and Friendship Stadium
Attendance: 4,109
Referees: Luis Vázquez (PUR), Gatis Saliņš (LAT), Daniel García (VEN)
3 July 2024 Croatia   86–90   New Zealand Piraeus, Greece
17:30 (UTC+3) Scoring by quarter: 29–28, 31–27, 19–19, 7–16
Pts: Zubac 29
Rebs: Zubac 16
Asts: Hezonja 6 		Boxscore Pts: Webster 21
Rebs: Delany 9
Asts: Ili 4 		Arena: Peace and Friendship Stadium
Attendance: 396
Referees: Manuel Mazzoni (ITA), Julio Anaya (PAN), Ahmed Al-Shuwaili (IRQ)
6 July 2024 Dominican Republic   77–80   Croatia Piraeus, Greece
21:00 (UTC+3) Scoring by quarter: 15–16, 17–21, 21–16, 24–27
Pts: Duarte 17
Rebs: Montero, Santos 5
Asts: Duarte, Montero 4 		Boxscore Pts: Zubac 25
Rebs: Zubac 9
Asts: Hezonja 4 		Arena: Peace and Friendship Stadium
Attendance: 1,907
Referees: Julio Anaya (PAN), Manuel Mazzoni (ITA), Ahmed Al-Shuwaili (IRQ)
7 July 2024 Croatia   69–80   Greece Piraeus, Greece
21:00 (UTC+3) Scoring by quarter: 22–22, 17–23, 14–21, 16–14
Pts: Zubac 19
Rebs: Šarić, Zubac 12
Asts: Smith 7 		Boxscore Pts: G. Antetokounmpo 23
Rebs: G. Antetokounmpo 8
Asts: Calathes 11 		Arena: Peace and Friendship Stadium
Attendance: 11,810
Referees: Roberto Vázquez (PUR), Gatis Saliņš (LAT), Julio Anaya (PAN)
21 November 2024 Croatia   vs.   Bosnia and Herzegovina Croatia
Boxscore
24 November 2024 Bosnia and Herzegovina   vs.   Croatia Bosnia and Herzegovina
Boxscore

2025

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21 February 2025 Croatia   vs.   France Croatia
Boxscore
24 February 2025 Cyprus   vs.   Croatia Cyprus
Boxscore

Team

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Current roster

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Roster for the 2024 FIBA Men's Olympic Qualifying Tournament matches in Piraeus.

Croatia men's national basketball team roster
Players Coaches
Pos. No. Name Age – Date of birth Height Club Ctr.
PG 2 Goran Filipović 27 – (1996-11-26)26 November 1996 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in) Igokea  
G 3 Jaleen Smith 29 – (1994-11-24)24 November 1994 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in) Partizan  
PG 4 Borna Kapusta 27 – (1996-07-24)24 July 1996 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in) SC Derby  
SG 5 Filip Krušlin 35 – (1989-03-18)18 March 1989 1.98 m (6 ft 6 in) SIG Strasbourg  
G/F 8 Mario Hezonja 28 – (1995-02-25)25 February 1995 2.00 m (6 ft 7 in) Real Madrid  
PF 9 Dario Šarić (C) 29 – (1994-04-08)8 April 1994 2.07 m (6 ft 9 in) Golden State Warriors  
C 13 Ivan Vraneš 28 – (1996-05-29)29 May 1996 2.07 m (6 ft 9 in) Juventus  
C 22 Danko Branković 23 – (2000-11-05)5 November 2000 2.14 m (7 ft 0 in) Bayern Munich  
SG 23 Mateo Drežnjak 25 – (1999-03-08)8 March 1999 1.96 m (6 ft 5 in) SC Derby  
SF 24 Dario Drežnjak 26 – (1998-03-24)24 March 1998 2.00 m (6 ft 7 in) Zadar  
C 40 Ivica Zubac 26 – (1997-04-18)18 April 1997 2.16 m (7 ft 1 in) Los Angeles Clippers  
PF 99 Toni Nakić 25 – (1999-06-01)1 June 1999 2.00 m (6 ft 7 in) Breogán  
Head coach
Assistant coach(es)
Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • Club – describes last
    club before the competition
  • Age – describes age
    on 2 July 2024

Depth chart

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Pos. Starting 5 Bench 1 Bench 2
C Ivica Zubac Danko Branković
PF Dario Šarić Toni Nakić Ivan Vraneš
SF Mario Hezonja Dario Drežnjak
SG Jaleen Smith Filip Krušlin Mateo Drežnjak
PG Goran Filipović Borna Kapusta

Head coaches

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Past rosters

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See also: List of Croatia men's national basketball team players

Notable players and coaches

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Head-to-head record

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Biggest tournament wins

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20+ point difference

Olympic Games World Cup EuroBasket
  • +34 vs. Iran (91–57) 2008
  • +33 vs. Australia (98–65) 1992
  • +31 vs. China (109–78) 1996
  • +23 vs. Angola (71–48) 1996
  • +21 vs. Germany (99–78) 1992
  • +51 vs. South Korea (104–53) 1994
  • +32 vs. China (105–73) 1994
  • +31 vs. Canada (92–61) 1994
  • +26 vs. Greece (81–55) 1994
  • +21 vs. Iran (75–54) 2010
  • +20 vs. Cuba (85–65) 1994
  • +20 vs. Tunisia (84–64) 2010
  • +50 vs. Turkey (113–63) 1993
  • +40 vs. Greece (99–59) 1993
  • +38 vs. Czech Republic (107–69) 2017
  • +32 vs. Belgium (106–74) 1993
  • +25 vs. Finland (88–63) 2013
  • +22 vs. Turkey (90–68) 1995
  • +22 vs. Czech Republic (86–64) 1999
  • +22 vs. Ukraine (93–71) 2003
  • +22 vs. Portugal (90–68) 2007
  • +21 vs. Bulgaria (104–83) 1993
  • +21 vs. Great Britain (86–65) 2022
  • +20 vs. Bosnia and Herzegovina (98–78) 1993
  • +20 vs. Germany (75–55) 1997

Biggest tournament losses

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-20> point difference

Olympic Games World Cup EuroBasket
  • -33 vs. USA (70–103) 1992
  • -32 vs. USA (85–117) 1992
  • -31 vs. USA (71–102) 1996
  • -24 vs. Argentina (53–77) 2008
  • -28 vs. USA (78–106) 2010
  • -28 vs. Spain (40–68) 2013
  • -26 vs. Spain (66–92) 2013
  • -21 vs. Czech Republic (59–80) 2015

Biggest qualification wins

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20+ point difference

Olympic qualification World Cup qualification EuroBasket qualification
  • +73 vs. Iceland (124–51) 1992
  • +52 vs. Portugal (109–57) 1992
  • +46 vs. Italy (108–62) 1992
  • +39 vs. Greece (102–63) 1992
  • +32 vs. Sweden (99–67) 2024
  • +31 vs. Belgium (86–55) 2024
  • +23 vs. Slovenia (93–70) 1992
  • +20 vs. Tunisia (72–52) 2016
  • +27 vs. Romania (90–63) 2018
  • +60 vs. Romania (115–55) 1997
  • +56 vs. Macedonia (128–72) 1993[13]
  • +40 vs. Belarus (112–72) 1993
  • +40 vs. Ireland (89–49) 2025
  • +36 vs. Luxembourg (98–62) 2025
  • +34 vs. Latvia (113–79) 1993
  • +34 vs. Ireland (95–61) 2025
  • +33 vs. Romania (119–86) 1993
  • +31 vs. Switzerland (84–53) 2025
  • +29 vs. Ukraine (107–78) 1993
  • +29 vs. Cyprus (92–63) 2025
  • +25 vs. Austria (100–75) 2025

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "FIBA Ranking Presented by Nike". FIBA. 15 August 2024. Retrieved 15 August 2024.
  2. ^ "XIII Olympic Basketball Tournament (Barcelona 1992) Qualifying stage". Linguasport. Retrieved 18 August 2017.
  3. ^ "Croatia basketball news". eurobasket.com.
  4. ^ Naslovnica – Hrvatski košarkaški savez
  5. ^ "All Star NBA u Šancu 1964". kafotka.net. Retrieved 8 September 2012.
  6. ^ "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.
  7. ^ "KARLOVAC: 40 GODINA NBA LIGE U KARLOVCU". Index.hr. Retrieved 21 August 2012.
  8. ^ "Croatia at the 1992 Olympic Games". Archive.fiba.com. 8 August 1992.
  9. ^ "Croatia v Greece EuroBasket 1993 Bronze medal game results". Archive.fiba.com. 3 July 1993.
  10. ^ "Croatia at the 1996 Olympic Games". Archive.fiba.com. 2 August 1996.
  11. ^ "Croatia at the EuroBasket 2013". Archive.fiba.com. 22 September 2013.
  12. ^ "ACO PETROVIĆ OTIŠAO, A HRVATSKA EKSPRESNO DOBILA NOVOG IZBORNIKA EVO TKO ĆE VODITI REPREZENTACIJU U KVALIFIKACIJAMA ZA SVJETSKO PRVENSTVO!". Jutarnji.hr. 15 September 2017.
  13. ^ "XXVIII European Championship (München 1993) Qualifying stage". Linguasport. Retrieved 18 August 2017.
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