Estonia men's national basketball team


The Estonia national basketball team represents Estonia in international basketball matches. They are controlled by the Estonian Basketball Association. Estonia first competed internationally at the 1936 Summer Olympics. The national team has also made five appearances at the European Basketball Championship, with their best results coming in 1937 and 1939, where they finished in fifth place.

History

Early years (1930s)

Estonia joined FIBA on 23 November 1934. Coached by Herbert Niiler, Estonia first competed on the international stage at the 1936 Summer Olympics, held in Berlin, the first Olympic tournament to hold basketball as an official medal event. Estonia played in the opening match of the tournament, defeating France 34–29. The national team lost their subsequent second round match to the United States 28–52, but passed the consolation round and faced the Philippines in the third round, losing 22–39.
Estonia participated in their first ever European Basketball Championship in 1937. The team won their first game against Egypt 44–15, but failed to advance past the group stage after suffering a 15–20 defeat against Lithuania and a 20–30 defeat against Italy. Estonia placed fifth in the final rankings after defeating Czechoslovakia 30–20 and Latvia 41–19.
The EuroBasket 1939 used a different format from the previous championship, with eight teams facing off in a round-robin tournament. Estonia finished the tournament with a 4–3 record and another fifth place finish. Heino Veskila was the tournament's scoring leader with 16.7 points per game.
In 1940, Estonia was occupied by the Soviet Union and the team was disbanded.

National team restored (1990s)

After the restoration of independence, the Estonian Basketball Association rejoined FIBA in 1991. The team competed at EuroBasket 1993, held in Germany. Despite missing star players Martin Müürsepp and Tiit Sokk, the team, coached by Jaak Salumets won their group in the preliminary round, finishing ahead of Slovenia, Belgium, and the host and eventual champions Germany. In the second round, Estonia finished third in their group and advanced to the quarter-finals, where the team lost to Russia 61–82 and was knocked out. In the classification rounds, Estonia defeated Bosnia and Herzegovina 99–91 and lost to Spain 80–119, finishing the championship in sixth place with a 6–5 record. Aivar Kuusmaa was the team's scoring leader with 19.9 points per game.

2000s–2010s

Estonia participated in the EuroBasket 2001, held in Turkey. Coached by Üllar Kerde, Estonia lost all three preliminary round matches against Germany, Yugoslavia and Croatia, failing to advance past the group stage and finishing the championship with a disappointing 0–3 record and a 14th place finish. Martin Müürsepp led the team in scoring with 18.3 points per game, while Margus Metstak made 6.0 rebounds per game, and Rauno Pehka and Tanel Tein averaged 2.7 assists per game. After 2001, Estonia failed to qualify for another major international basketball tournament for 14 years. Though, the team competed at the second tier FIBA EuroBasket 2011 Division B tournament, winning their group.
Coached by Tiit Sokk, Estonia qualified for EuroBasket 2015, with preliminary round matches held in Riga, Latvia. Estonia's first two performances were poor as the team suffered heavy defeats in matches against Czech Republic and Belgium. However, the team bounced back with a 78–71 victory over Ukraine, their first EuroBasket victory since 1993. The next game saw Estonia defeated by Lithuania 62–64 in a close game. In the final group phase game, Estonia played against Latvia, losing 64–75 and failing to advance to the knockout stage. Estonia finished the championship in 20th place with a 1–4 record. Gregor Arbet was the team's scoring leader with 11.6 points per game, while Siim-Sander Vene averaged 6.4 rebounds and Sten Sokk contributed 4.2 assists per game.

Competitive record

Olympic Games

FIBA World Cup

FIBA EuroBasket

Team

Current roster

Roster for the EuroBasket 2021 qualification matches against North Macedonia and Italy in February 2020.

Depth chart

Past rosters

1936 Olympic Games: finished 9th among 23 teams
Erich Altosaar, Artur Amon, Aleksander Illi, Vladimir Kärk, Robert Keres, Evald Mahl, Aleksander Margiste, Bernhard Nooni, Leonid Saar, Heino Veskila, Georg Vinogradov
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1937 EuroBasket: finished 5th among 8 teams
Oskar Erikson, Aleksander Illi, Vladimir Kärk, Robert Keres, Evald Mahl, Albert Suurna, Heino Veskila, Ralf Viksten, Alfred Zimmermann
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1939 EuroBasket: finished 5th among 8 teams
Erich Altosaar, Artur Amon, Oskar Erikson, Hans Juurup, Evald Mahl, Herbert Tillemann, Valdeko Valdmäe, Heino Veskila, Ralf Viksten, Georg Vinogradov
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1993 EuroBasket: finished 6th among 16 teams
Sergei Babenko, Toomas Kandimaa, Aleksandr Karavajev, Erki Kivinukk, Gert Kullamäe, Aivar Kuusmaa, Margus Metstak, Andrus Nagel, Marek Noormets, Rauno Pehka, Indrek Rumma, Ivo Saksakulm
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2001 EuroBasket: finished 14th among 16 teams
Toomas Kandimaa, Tarmo Kikerpill, Valmo Kriisa, Toomas Liivak, Margus Metstak, Martin Müürsepp, Marek Noormets, Andre Pärn, Rauno Pehka, Indrek Rumma, Tanel Tein, Indrek Varblane
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2015 EuroBasket: finished 20th among 24 teams
Gregor Arbet, Gert Dorbek, Reinar Hallik, Kristjan Kangur, Erik Keedus, Tanel Kurbas, Sten Sokk, Tanel Sokk, Janar Talts, Joosep Toome, Rain Veideman, Siim-Sander Vene

Coaches

CoachCareerCompetitionResult
Herbert Niiler1929–19401936 Olympic Games9th
Herbert Niiler1929–19401937 EuroBasket5th
Herbert Niiler1929–19401939 EuroBasket5th
Jaanus Levkoi1991–1992
Jaak Salumets1993–19971993 EuroBasket6th
Maarten van Gent1997–1999
Üllar Kerde1999–20012001 EuroBasket14th
Heino Enden2001–2004
Tiit Sokk2004–2007
Üllar Kerde2007–2009
Tiit Sokk2009–20192015 EuroBasket20th
Jukka Toijala2019–