Croatia men's national basketball team

Croatia men's national basketball team
The Croatia men's national basketball team represents Croatia in international basketball matches. The team is controlled by the Croatian Basketball Federation (HKS).
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
Prior to Croatian independence
Croatia played its first unofficial friendly game on 2 June 1964 in Karlovac. 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Honours
The Croatia national team's all-time medal table:
Competitive record
FIBA World Cup
Olympic Games
EuroBasket
Results and fixtures
2023
2024
2025
Team
Current roster
Roster for the 2024 FIBA Men's Pre-Qualifying Olympic Qualifying Tournament in August 2023.
Depth chart
Head coaches
1990s and 2000s
2010s and 2020s
Past rosters
EuroBasket 1993
EuroBasket 1995
EuroBasket 1997
EuroBasket 1999
EuroBasket 2001
EuroBasket 2003
EuroBasket 2005
EuroBasket 2007
EuroBasket 2009
EuroBasket 2011
EuroBasket 2013
EuroBasket 2015
EuroBasket 2017
EuroBasket 2022
1994 FIBA World Cup
2010 FIBA World Cup
2014 FIBA World Cup
1992 Summer Olympics
1996 Summer Olympics
2008 Summer Olympics
2016 Summer Olympics
Notable players and coaches
Players
Individual awards
FIBA World Cup MVP
Dražen Petrović – 1986
Toni Kukoč – 1990
EuroBasket MVP
Krešimir Ćosić – 1971, 1975
Dražen Petrović – 1989
Toni Kukoč – 1991
FIBA World Cup All-Tournament Team
Krešimir Ćosić – 1970, 1978
Vinko Jelovac – 1974
Dražen Petrović – 1986
Toni Kukoč – 1990
Dino Rađa – 1994
EuroBasket All-Tournament Team
Krešimir Ćosić – 1969, 1971, 1973, 1975, 1979
Dražen Petrović – 1985, 1989
Dino Rađa – 1989, 1993
Toni Kukoč – 1991, 1995
Damir Mulaomerović – 2001
Bojan Bogdanović – 2013
Other notable achievements
FIBA Order of Merit
Krešimir Ćosić
FIBA Hall of Fame
Krešimir Ćosić
Dražen Petrović
Toni Kukoč
Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame
Krešimir Ćosić
Dražen Petrović
Dino Rađa
Toni Kukoč
Euroscar
Toni Kukoč – 1991, 1994, 1996, 1998
Dražen Petrović – 1992, 1993
Mr. Europa
Toni Kukoč – 1991, 1992, 1996
Dražen Petrović – 1993
NBA champion
Toni Kukoč – 1996, 1997, 1998
Žan Tabak – 1995
All-NBA Team
Dražen Petrović – 1993
NBA Sixth Man of the Year Award
Toni Kukoč – 1996
NBA All-Rookie First Team
Dario Šarić – 2017
NBA All-Rookie Second Team
Toni Kukoč – 1994
Gordan Giriček – 2003
Bojan Bogdanović – 2015
EuroLeague Final Four MVP
Dino Rađa - 1989
Toni Kukoč – 1990, 1991, 1993
EuroLeague Top Scorer
Zdravko Radulović – 1993
50 Greatest EuroLeague Contributors (2008)
Krešimir Ćosić
Dražen Petrović
Toni Kukoč
Dino Rađa
FIBA's 50 Greatest Players (1991)
Krešimir Ćosić
Toni Kukoč
Dražen Petrović
Dino Rađa
Petar Skansi
FIBA All-Star Games
Krešimir Ćosić
Josip Gjergja
Vinko Jelovac
Željko Jerkov
Andro Knego
Toni Kukoč
Veljko Mršić
Dino Rađa
Dražen Petrović
Nikola Plećaš
Dino Rađa
Petar Skansi
Damir Šolman
Ratomir Tvrdić
Stojko Vranković
Coaches
Individual achievements
FIBA Hall of Fame
Mirko Novosel
Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame
Mirko Novosel
Head-to-head record
Record against teams at the EuroBasket
Record against teams in EuroBasket qualification
Record against teams at the World Cup
Record against teams in World Cup qualification
Record against teams at the Olympic Games
Biggest tournament wins
20+ point difference
Croatia also defeated Albania (94–70) for a win margin of +24 at the 2009 Mediterranean Games.
Biggest tournament losses
-20> point difference
Biggest qualification wins
20+ point difference
See also
Sport in Croatia
Croatia women's national basketball team
Croatia men's national under-20 basketball team
Croatia men's national under-18 and under-19 basketball team
Croatia men's national under-16 and under-17 basketball team
References
External links
Croatia FIBA profile
Croatia National Team – Men at Eurobasket.com
Croatia Basketball Records at FIBA Archive
Men's national basketball teams