# Montenegro men's national basketball team

The Montenegro men's national basketball team (Montenegrin: Кошаркашка репрезентација Црне Горе, romanized: Košarkaška reprezentacija Crne Gore) represents Montenegro in international basketball tournaments. The supervising body is the Basketball Federation of Montenegro.
Montenegro joined FIBA in 2006, following the restoration of Montenegrin independence in the same year. Since 2006, Montenegro has qualified for EuroBasket five times (2011, 2013, 2017, 2022, 2025). They have reached the global stage at the FIBA World Cup twice, in 2019 and 2023. The national team has also taken part in smaller tournaments such as the Games of the Small States of Europe.

## History
### 2006–2014

In 2006, the Basketball Federation of Montenegro along with this team joined the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) on its own following the Independence of Montenegro.
The Montenegrin national team entered international competition in 2008, and appointed Duško Vujošević as the national coach. Montenegro started from FIBA Division B, where they won first place in their first competitive season. Since becoming a separate team, Montenegro has won 13 official games in a row, until losing to Israel in August 2010.
At that time, NBA players like Nikola Vučević and Nikola Peković became the most known players of Montenegrin national team.
In their first qualifiers for EuroBasket, Montenegro finished first in the group. So, the team qualified for Eurobasket 2011, where they played five games in the first phase – with one win and four losses. The Coach of Montenegro at their first-ever EuroBasket was Dejan Radonjić.
In August 2012, with the new coach Luka Pavićević, Montenegro started qualifiers for Eurobasket 2013. Again, they won first place, but without any defeat from 10 matches. Notable matches were against Serbia, first after the two countries separated. Montenegro won both games, and victory in Belgrade (73:71), in front of 18,000 spectators, is gained by Nikola Ivanović three-point shot from the center, one second before the end of the match.
As the first-place team in qualifiers, Montenegro participated at Eurobasket 2013 in Slovenia. They made better results than 2011, with two wins and three defeats, but that was not enough for the second phase of EuroBasket.
First unsuccessful qualifying campaign since independence, Montenegro had during the 2014. Surprisingly, group stage at the EuroBasket 2015 qualification, Montenegro finished third, so they failed to qualify for the final tournament.

### 2015–present

In 2015, Montenegro named Bogdan Tanjević new head coach of the national team. Prior to taking the reins of the national team, he was the head coach of Fenerbahçe. As the national team earlier failed to qualify for EuroBasket 2015, they participated in the Games of the Small States of Europe (European countries with less than a million citizens) in Iceland and easily won the gold medal.
In summer 2016, Montenegro started competition in EuroBasket 2017 qualifiers, with the only ambition to qualify for their third final tournament since independence. In a group with Georgia, Slovakia and Albania, Montenegro finished as a second-place team, with one defeat, and qualified for EuroBasket 2017.
For the first time in their history, in Eurobasket 2017, Montenegro finished as a third-place team in the group stage and qualified to the knockout stage. At that time, that was the biggest success of the Montenegrin national team since its independence in 2006. Two years later, Montenegro qualified for the 2019 FIBA World Cup for the first time, after a winner-take-all game in Podgorica against Latvia. Montenegro lost the game 80–74 but still went through as they had won the away game 84–75, thus holding the tiebreaker on points difference. With that result, Montenegro became the smallest state by population and territory to qualify for the FIBA World Cup since the establishing of competition.

## Competitive record

Montenegro made their first appearance at the FIBA World Cup in 2019. The national team has also appeared five times at the EuroBasket (2011, 2013, 2017, 2022, 2025). Among the other competitions, as a country with less than a million inhabitants, Montenegro participated at the Games of the Small States of Europe winning the gold medal in 2015 and 2019.

## Results and fixtures

Win  Loss

### 2025
## Team
### Current roster

Roster for the EuroBasket 2025 Qualifiers matches on 20 and 23 February 2025 against Germany and Sweden.

### Depth chart

| Pos. | Starting 5 | Bench 1 | Bench 2 | Bench 3 | Inactive |
| C | Nikola Vučević | Bojan Dubljević | Zoran Nikolić | Vasilije Baćović | Radosav Spasojević |
| PF | Nemanja Radović | Marko Simonović | Aleksa Ilić | Andrija Grbović | David Mirković |
| SF | Dino Radončić | Emir Hadžibegović | Andrija Slavković | Zoran Vučeljić | Đorđije Jovanović |
| SG | Vladimir Mihailović | Jonah Radebaugh | Petar Popović | Fedor Žugić | Balša Živanović |
| PG | Jonah Radebaugh | Nikola Ivanović | Igor Drobnjak | Luka Bogavac | Mašan Vrbica |

### Head coaches

Since independence, all head coaches were Montenegrin-born. The first head coach of Montenegro was Duško Vujošević. With him, Montenegro won the FIBA B division championship (2009). From 2010 to 2012, Montenegro was coached by Dejan Radonjić, who led the national team to their first EuroBasket (2011). At their next Eurobasket participation (2013), Montenegro was led by Luka Pavićević. From 2015 to 2017, the head coach of Montenegro was Bogdan Tanjević, who led Montenegro to their first-ever Second phase games at the Eurobasket (2016). After that tournament, the Basketball Federation of Montenegro named Zvezdan Mitrović new head coach of the national team. During his mandate, Montenegro for the first time qualified for the World Cup (2019), as the smallest state to ever play at the global tournament.
| Years | Name | Record | Competitions |
| 2007–2010 | Duško Vujošević | 10–0 | None |
| 2010–2012 | Dejan Radonjić | 7–6 | EuroBasket 2011 (21st) |
| 2012–2014 | Luka Pavićević | 15–6 | EuroBasket 2013 (17th) |
| 2015–2017 | Bogdan Tanjević | 15–5 | GSS 2015 (1st); EuroBasket 2017 (13th); GSS 2017 (2nd) |
| 2017–2019 | Zvezdan Mitrović | 12–9 | GSS 2019 (1st); World Cup 2019 (25th) |
| 2019–present | Boško Radović | 26–20 | EuroBasket 2022 (13th); GSS 2023 (4th); World Cup 2023 (11th) |

### Notable former players

* Vlado Šćepanović
* Predrag Drobnjak
* Omar Cook
* Tyrese Rice
* Taylor Rochestie
* Derek Needham
* Nikola Peković
* Goran Jeretin
* Slavko Vraneš
* Bojan Bakić
* Boris Bakić
* Miloš Borisov
* Nebojša Bogavac
* Vladimir Dragičević
* Vladimir Golubović
* Ivan Maraš
* Goran Nikolić
* Blagota Sekulić
* Marko Todorović

### Past rosters

2011 EuroBasket: finished 21st among 24 teams
4 Nikola Vučević, 5 Goran Jeretin, 6 Boris Bakić, 7 Vlado Šćepanović, 8 Miloš Borisov, 9 Vladimir Mihailović, 10 Omar Cook, 11 Slavko Vraneš, 12 Milko Bjelica, 13 Vladimir Dragičević, 14 Nikola Peković, 15 Vladimir Dašić (Coach: Dejan Radonjić)
2013 EuroBasket: finished 17th among 24 teams
4 Nikola Vučević, 5 Bojan Bakić, 6 Suad Šehović, 7 Aleksa Popović, 8 Sead Šehović, 9 Blagota Sekulić, 10 Nikola Ivanović, 11 Milko Bjelica, 12 Tyrese Rice, 13 Marko Popović, 14 Bojan Dubljević, 15 Vladimir Dašić (Coach: Luka Pavićević)
2017 EuroBasket: finished 13th among 24 teams
2 Tyrese Rice, 4 Nikola Vučević, 6 Suad Šehović, 7 Nikola Pavličević, 8 Dino Radončić, 11 Marko Todorović, 14 Bojan Dubljević, 15 Filip Barović, 17 Vladimir Mihailović, 20 Nikola Ivanović, 21 Nemanja Vranješ, 22 Nemanja Đurišić (Coach: Bogdan Tanjević)
2019 FIBA World Cup: finished 25th among 32 teams
4 Nikola Vučević, 5 Derek Needham, 6 Suad Šehović, 7 Nemanja Radović, 8 Sead Šehović, 10 Aleksa Popović, 11 Marko Todorović, 14 Bojan Dubljević, 20 Nikola Ivanović, 23 Dino Radončić, 30 Petar Popović, 51 Milko Bjelica (Coach: Zvezdan Mitrović)
2022 EuroBasket: finished 13th among 24 teams
0 Zoran Vučeljić, 2 Aleksa Ilić, 3 Vladimir Mihailović, 4 Nikola Pavličević, 8 Dino Radončić, 9 Marko Simonović, 11 Nemanja Radović, 14 Bojan Dubljević (C), 19 Zoran Nikolić, 22 Igor Drobnjak, 30 Petar Popović, 55 Kendrick Perry (Coach: Boško Radović)
2023 FIBA World Cup: finished 11th among 32 teams
2 Aleksa Ilić, 3 Vladimir Mihailović, 4 Nikola Vučević, 7 Andrija Slavković, 8 Dino Radončić, 11 Nemanja Radović, 14 Bojan Dubljević (C), 19 Marko Simonović, 20 Nikola Ivanović, 22 Igor Drobnjak, 30 Petar Popović, 55 Kendrick Perry (Coach: Boško Radović)

## Records
### Largest home victory

    102–58, Montenegro – Iceland, 26 August 2009, Podgorica

### Largest away victory

    37–100, San Marino – Montenegro, 2 June 2017, Serravalle

### Largest home defeat

    65–80, Montenegro – Israel, 20 August 2014, Podgorica

### Largest away defeat

    99–60, Spain – Montenegro, 1 September 2017, Cluj-Napoca

### Longest winning streak

    13 matches, (6 September 2008 – 14 August 2010)

### Longest losing streak

    4 matches, (1 September 2011 – 5 September 2011; 1 September 2019 – 9 September 2019)

### Most scored points in a match

    113, Albania – Montenegro 73–113

### Least scored points in a match

    55, Greece – Montenegro 71–55, Netherlands – Montenegro 68–55

### Most conceded points in a match

    104, Slovenia – Montenegro 104–100, (Friendly, 8 August 2023)

### Least conceded points in a match

    37, San Marino – Montenegro 37–100

### Highest home attendance

    5,500, Montenegro – Serbia 72–62, 2 September 2012, Podgorica

### Highest away attendance

    18,000, Serbia – Montenegro 71–73, 18 August 2012, Belgrade

### Head to head record

Below is the list of official performances of the Montenegro national basketball team against every single opponent.
| Opponents | Pld | W | L | PD |
| Albania | 2 | 2 | 0 | +78 |
| Andorra | 2 | 2 | 0 | +61 |
| Austria | 2 | 2 | 0 | +46 |
| Belarus | 2 | 2 | 0 | +35 |
| Belgium | 1 | 1 | 0 | +6 |
| Bosnia and Herzegovina | 4 | 1 | 3 | -3 |
| Brazil | 2 | 0 | 2 | -20 |
| Bulgaria | 5 | 5 | 0 | +54 |
| Cameroon | 1 | 1 | 0 | +4 |
| Croatia | 2 | 0 | 2 | -10 |
| Cyprus | 2 | 1 | 1 | +33 |
| Czech Republic | 3 | 3 | 0 | +40 |
| Denmark | 4 | 4 | 0 | +75 |
| Egypt | 1 | 1 | 0 | +15 |
| Estonia | 2 | 2 | 0 | +22 |
| Finland | 3 | 2 | 1 | +28 |
| France | 4 | 1 | 3 | -26 |
| Georgia | 3 | 2 | 1 | +4 |
| Germany | 5 | 2 | 3 | -36 |
| Great Britain | 2 | 1 | 1 | -9 |
| Greece | 3 | 1 | 2 | -37 |
| Hungary | 3 | 2 | 1 | +36 |
| Iceland | 9 | 9 | 0 | +150 |
| Israel | 6 | 4 | 2 | +8 |
| Italy | 2 | 1 | 1 | +8 |
| Japan | 1 | 1 | 0 | +15 |
| Latvia | 6 | 3 | 3 | +6 |
| Lithuania | 4 | 0 | 4 | -53 |
| Luxembourg | 3 | 3 | 0 | +51 |
| North Macedonia | 2 | 2 | 0 | +6 |
| Malta | 1 | 1 | 0 | +13 |
| Mexico | 1 | 1 | 0 | +20 |
| Netherlands | 4 | 2 | 2 | +14 |
| New Zealand | 1 | 0 | 1 | -10 |
| Portugal | 2 | 2 | 0 | +29 |
| Romania | 1 | 1 | 0 | +17 |
| San Marino | 1 | 1 | 0 | +63 |
| Serbia | 3 | 3 | 0 | +19 |
| Slovakia | 4 | 4 | 0 | +114 |
| Slovenia | 2 | 1 | 1 | +1 |
| Spain | 4 | 0 | 4 | -81 |
| Sweden | 4 | 3 | 1 | +59 |
| Turkey | 4 | 1 | 3 | -14 |
| Ukraine | 2 | 2 | 0 | +8 |
| United States | 1 | 0 | 1 | -12 |
| Total (44) | 125 | 83 | 42 | +847 |
Last updated: 23 February 2025

## Kit
### Manufacturer

* Kappa (2008–2011)
* Peak (2011–2023)
* Dhika (2023–present)

### Sponsor

* VOLI (2008–2011)
* diva (2012–2014)
* EPCG (2014–2015)
* m:tel (2015–present)