The Egyptian national basketball team is organized and run by the Egyptian Basketball Federation. Team Egypt has a legacy of remarkable achievements. Winning the title of the EuroBasket 1949 is its most celebrated achievement. In addition its 5th-place finish at the 1950 FIBA World Championship as well as its 9th-place finish at the 1952 Summer Olympics, remain the best results ever of an African nation at each tournament. Further, the title of the EuroBasket 1949, is the most prestigious basketball title of an African nation as well. At the FIBA Africa Championship, Egypt holds a record number of 17 medals. Egypt joined the International Federation of Basketball in 1934 and has Africa's longest basketball tradition.
The Egyptians finished last at the second European basketball championship, the EuroBasket 1937 held by FIBA Europe continental federation. They had lost their first two preliminary round games against Estonia and Lithuania before withdrawing from the tournament. Their remaining matches were lost by default, including the final preliminary match, the classification semifinal, and the 7th/8th playoff.
Egypt was much more successful in their next appearance, the EuroBasket 1947. They won all three of their preliminary group matches and their first semifinal group game. Their only loss of the tournament came to eventual gold medallist Soviet Union in the second semifinal group game, before Egypt won their third. Their 2–1 record in the semifinal group placed them second and set up a bronze medal match against Belgium, whom Egypt had defeated in the preliminary round. Egypt won again in a close 50–48 match, winning their first European medal.
EuroBasket 1949
The following championship was both hosted and won by Egypt. In a relatively small event with seven teams, none of which had placed better than third previously, the Egyptians had little trouble winning their first five games. By the luck of the draw, Egypt did not face France until the last game of the tournament, so while the standings were based entirely on the seven-team round robin, the two undefeated teams found themselves facing each other in the last game of the tournament. Dominating 36–16 after the first half, the Egyptians added another point to their lead in the second half to win the game 57–36. The star player and captain Albert Tadros, earned praise for his great skill and excellent leadership. Overall, some of the prominent players include winners of the event were the Albert Tadros & Hussain Montasser. Later, Tadros was honored as the best player in what was considered the world basketball championship at the time and Montasser was the top-scorer.
In Moscow, the Egyptian team once again competed. The EuroBasket 1953 saw the Egypt squad win their preliminary group easily, scoring more points in the round than anyone save the Soviet Union and Bulgaria, the latter of which had had one more game than Egypt. The final round was less conducive to Egyptian success, however; they defeated only Italy on their way to a 1–6 record. Their six losses included a forfeit to Israel, whom Egypt refused to play. The squad took 8th place of the 8 teams in the final round and 17 overall.
1947 EuroBasket: finished 3rd among 14 teams Albert Tadros, Gabriel "Gaby" Catafago, Youssef Abbas, Fouad Abdelmeguid el-Kheir, Abdelrahman Ismail, Hussein Montasser, Wahid Saleh, Zaki Harari, Hassan Moawad, Zaki Yehia, Guido Acher, Maurice Calife EuroBasket 1949: finished 1st among 7 teams Gabriel "Gaby" Catafago, Albert Tadros, Youssef Abouaouf, Fouad Abdelmeguid el-Kheir, Abdelrahman Ismail, Hussein Montasser, Nessim Salah el-Dine, Wahid Saleh, Medhat Youssef, Mohammed Soliman, Youssef Abbas, Mohammed Ali el-Rashidi, Team captain: Albert Tadros Team for the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup. Team for the 2015 FIBA Africa Championship.
