EuroBasket
EuroBasket, also commonly referred to as the European Basketball Championship, is the main international basketball competition that is contested quadrennialy, by the senior men's national teams that are governed by FIBA Europe, which is the European zone within the International Basketball Federation.
History
Beginning
The first championships was held three years after the establishment of FIBA, in 1935. Switzerland was chosen as the host country, and ten countries joined. Only one qualifying match was played between Portugal and Spain. With a complicated formula, the final would see Latvia as champions. According to the rule at the time, the winner had to hold the following games. The following two tournaments would be won by Lithuania and would see the introduction of Egypt which would compete in EuroBasket until 1953 winning one championship at home in 1949 along the way. The 1941 edition of the tournament was scheduled be held in Lithuania as well, but was cancelled due to WWII.Soviet dominance
After the 1946 edition saw the first jump shot performed by Italian player Giuseppe Stefanini, the following edition would see the Soviet Union compete in their first edition in the 1947 edition and would see the Soviets win the first of eleven out of the next thirteen European championships. During the 50s, the Soviet Union won four of the five competitions held during the decade with the only tournament that they did not win being the 1955 edition. This was won by Hungary as they finished top while the Soviets finished in third place. It was also during that edition that the thirty-second shot clock was introduced, which changed the style of basketball.The Soviets would take out all of the championships during the 60s with them having a fifty-five game winning streak which would be broken by Yugoslavia in 1969. For Yugoslavia, they were starting to come to challenge the Soviets with the main player in Radivoj Korac aiding the team to two silvers and a bronze medal, in his career which stopped in 1967. The 1960s would see also a change in how the competition was viewed and run with FIBA putting a limit on the number of countries that entered to 16 with qualifiers being the way to bring them down to that number as it first appeared in 1963. The following edition would see the competition not be held in one city with Tbilisi joining Moscow in hosting games and in 1967 the first modern games were held, because the games were televised and international media were present.
Rise of Yugoslavia
The 1970s were the competition between Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union. During the decade Yugoslavia won three gold medals and the Soviet Union taking out the remaining two. After the Soviets took out 1971, the 1973 edition would finally see Yugoslavia take out their first championship after Spain defeated the Soviets in the semi-finals to qualify for their first final since the first edition way back in 1935. Yugoslavia would finally have a chance to defeat the Soviets as at home, they would get the chance to defeat them and they did as they won by six points to take home 1975 edition. After following that up in 1977, the Soviets would get their revenge in the final round at EuroBasket 1979 when they defeated them 96–77 to qualify through to the final where they would defeat Israel who shocked the basketball world as they defeated Yugoslavia in the opening round by a point.Brewing under the Soviets and Yugoslavs, the west was starting to appear with the 1980s seeing the change happen. In 1983, the western side of Europe tasted success with Italy defeating Spain in the final to record their first of two titles. An important development happened in the following edition which was held in Germany. That edition saw the first three-point arc being used.
New winners emerge
would win the next edition in 1987 at home and followed that with a silver medal at the 1989 edition in Yugoslavia.EuroBasket 1991 was the first EuroBasket tournament in which currently active NBA players, that had also already played in an official NBA regular season game were allowed to participate. It would also be the first edition where the Soviets weren't entered into the competition, as the USSR didn't qualify for the main tournament and afterwards collapsed. Yugoslavia would take the title, but afterwards war would split the country up with Jure Zdovc being a "casualty" after Slovenia declared independence, two days into the tournament. 1993 saw a shock winner, with Germany taking the championship at home with a one-point victory over Russia. After being suspended in 1993, FR Yugoslavia came back and took the trophy after defeating Lithuania, which was making its first appearance, since it had been a country of the Soviet Union. But politics came into play with the crowd protesting "Lithuania is the champions", while the Croatian team who had defeated Greece for bronze step down from the podium in protest of the war that was happening at the time.Qualification
24 European teams take part in the final competition. The qualification format that existed until the 2011 EuroBasket permitted 16 teams to compete. Eight spots were determined by the host nation and the top seven finishers of the previous EuroBasket. The remaining Division A teams compete in a qualification tournament. There, they were divided into four groups. Each group played a double round-robin. The top team in each group qualified for EuroBasket. The best three of the four runners-up also qualified.Of the ten teams that did not qualify in the qualification tournament, the six best got another chance in the additional qualification round. The remaining four competed in a relegation round, with two being sent to Division B for the next qualification cycle.
The final spot was determined by the additional qualifying round. The six teams were divided into two groups of three, with each group playing a double round-robin. The top team in each group played in the final against the other group's top team; the winner of that game received the final EuroBasket qualification spot.
In 2015, the national team of Iceland became the smallest nation to ever qualify for a EuroBasket final stage at the population of around 330.000 people. The team was led by the former Dallas Maverick, Jón Arnór Stefánsson followed by a great performance which drove them through the qualifiers. In 2017, Iceland made back to back qualification to a EuroBasket final stage, then led by the young Martin Hermansson.
Competition format
EuroBasket has used a number of different formats, ranging from the simple round-robin used in 1939, to a three-stage tournament, and now a two-stage tournament that is currently in use.The current format begins with a preliminary round. The twenty-four qualified teams are placed into four groups of six, and each group plays a round-robin tournament. The top four teams in each group advance to the knockout stage. The knockout stage is a 16-team single-elimination tournament, with a bronze medal game for semi-final losers and classification games for the quarterfinal losers to determine fifth to eighth places.
Results
Medal table
The medal table below lists the national teams according to the respective table published by FIBA. Countries in italics no longer compete at the EuroBasket.;Notes
- According to FIBA, Yugoslavia competed until 2001.
Participating nations
- According to FIBA, Yugoslavia competed until 2001.
Most successful players
Multiple gold medalists
| Rank | Player | Country | From | To | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
| 1 | Gennadi Volnov | 1959 | 1969 | 6 | – | – | 6 | |
| 2 | Sergei Belov | 1967 | 1979 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 7 | |
| 3 | Predrag Danilović | 1989 | 1999 | 4 | – | 1 | 5 | |
| 3 | Modestas Paulauskas | 1965 | 1973 | 4 | – | 1 | 5 | |
| 3 | Zurab Sakandelidze | 1965 | 1973 | 4 | – | 1 | 5 | |
| 6 | Armenak Alachachian | 1953 | 1965 | 4 | – | – | 4 | |
| 6 | Aleksandr Petrov | 1959 | 1965 | 4 | – | – | 4 | |
| 8 | Krešimir Ćosić | 1969 | 1981 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 7 | |
| 9 | Pau Gasol | 2001 | 2017 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 7 | |
| 10 | Felipe Reyes | 2001 | 2015 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 6 |
Multiple medalists
The table shows those who have won at least 6 medals in total at the EuroBasket.| Rank | Player | Country | From | To | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
| 1 | Sergei Belov | 1967 | 1979 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 7 | |
| 2 | Krešimir Ćosić | 1969 | 1981 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 7 | |
| 3 | Pau Gasol | 2001 | 2017 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 7 | |
| 4 | Gennadi Volnov | 1959 | 1969 | 6 | – | – | 6 | |
| 5 | Felipe Reyes | 2001 | 2015 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 6 | |
| 6 | Alexander Belostenny | 1977 | 1989 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 6 | |
| 7 | Valdemaras Chomičius | 1979 | 1995 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 6 | |
| 7 | Juan Carlos Navarro | 2001 | 2017 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 6 |
Awards
Below are the lists of all players voted as the MVPs and the Top Scorers of each EuroBasket edition. Krešimir Ćosić and Pau Gasol are the only players to win the MVP award twice. Nikos Galis and Radivoj Korać were the Top Scorers 4 times each.| Bronze | Member of the FIBA Hall of Fame. |
| Silver | Member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. |
| Gold | Member of both the FIBA Hall of Fame and the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. |
| Player | Denotes the number of times the player was selected the MVP or was the Top Scorer. |
| Tournament | MVP | Top Scorer | PPG |
| EuroBasket 1935 |  Rafael Martín |  Livio Franceschini | |
| EuroBasket 1937 |  Pranas Talzūnas |  Rūdolfs Jurciņš | |
| EuroBasket 1939 | Mykolas Ruzgys |  Heino Veskila | |
| EuroBasket 1946 |  Ferenc Németh |  Paweł Stok | |
| EuroBasket 1947 |  Joann Lõssov |  Jacques Perrier | |
| EuroBasket 1949 |  Hüseyin Öztürk | Hüseyin Öztürk | |
| EuroBasket 1951 |  Ivan Mrázek | Ivan Mrázek | |
| EuroBasket 1953 |  Anatoly Konev |  Ahmed Idlibi | |
| EuroBasket 1955 |  János Greminger | Miroslav Škeřík | |
| EuroBasket 1957 | Jiří Baumruk |  Eddy Terrace | |
| EuroBasket 1959 |  Viktor Zubkov |  Radivoj Korać | |
| EuroBasket 1961 |  Radivoj Korać | Radivoj Korać | |
| EuroBasket 1963 |  Emiliano Rodríguez | Radivoj Korać | |
| EuroBasket 1965 | Modestas Paulauskas | Radivoj Korać | |
| EuroBasket 1967 | Jiří Zedníček |  Giorgos Kolokithas | |
| EuroBasket 1969 | Sergei Belov | Giorgos Kolokithas | |
| EuroBasket 1971 | Krešimir Ćosić |  Edward Jurkiewicz | |
| EuroBasket 1973 | Wayne Brabender |  Atanas Golomeev | |
| EuroBasket 1975 | Krešimir Ćosić | Atanas Golomeev | |
| EuroBasket 1977 | Dražen Dalipagić |  Kees Akerboom | |
| EuroBasket 1979 |  Miki Berkovich | Mieczysław Młynarski | |
| EuroBasket 1981 |  Valdis Valters |  Mieczysław Młynarski | |
| EuroBasket 1983 |  Juan Antonio Corbalán |  Nikos Galis | |
| EuroBasket 1985 | Arvydas Sabonis |  Doron Jamchi | |
| EuroBasket 1987 | Nikos Galis | Nikos Galis | |
| EuroBasket 1989 | Dražen Petrović | Nikos Galis | |
| EuroBasket 1991 | Toni Kukoč | Nikos Galis | |
| EuroBasket 1993 |  Chris Welp |  Sabahudin "Dino" Bilalović | |
| EuroBasket 1995 |  Šarūnas Marčiulionis | Šarūnas Marčiulionis | |
| EuroBasket 1997 |  Saša Đorđević |  Oded Kattash | |
| EuroBasket 1999 |  Gregor Fučka | Alberto Herreros | |
| EuroBasket 2001 | Peja Stojaković | Dirk Nowitzki | |
| EuroBasket 2003 | Šarūnas Jasikevičius | Pau Gasol | |
| EuroBasket 2005 | Dirk Nowitzki | Dirk Nowitzki | |
| EuroBasket 2007 |  Andrei Kirilenko | Dirk Nowitzki | |
| EuroBasket 2009 | Pau Gasol | Pau Gasol | |
| EuroBasket 2011 | Juan Carlos Navarro |  Tony Parker | |
| EuroBasket 2013 | Tony Parker | Tony Parker | |
| EuroBasket 2015 | Pau Gasol | Pau Gasol | |
| EuroBasket 2017 |  Goran Dragić | Alexey Shved |
MVP and Top scorer by country
Most times MVP and Top scorer by Players
EuroBasket records
All-time leading scorers in total points scored
- Counting all games played through the end of EuroBasket 2017, and not counting qualification games.
| Player | Points Scored | Games Played | Scoring Average |
 Pau Gasol | 1,183 | 58 | 20.4 |
 Tony Parker | 1,104 | 68 | 16.2 |
 Dirk Nowitzki | 1,052 | 49 | 21.4 |
 Nikos Galis | 1,030 | 33 | 31.2 |
| Kamil Brabenec | 948 | 62 | 15.3 |
| Miki Berkovich | 917 | 51 | 18.0 |
| Juan Antonio San Epifanio "Epi" | 889 | 58 | 15.3 |
| Emiliano Rodríguez | 864 | 55 | 15.7 |
| Radivoj Korać | 844 | 34 | 24.8 |
| Stanislav Kropilák | 769 | 55 | 14.0 |
| Panagiotis Giannakis | 769 | 58 | 13.3 |
All-time leading scorers in points per game average
- Counting all games played through the end of EuroBasket 2017, and not counting qualification games.
| Player | Points Scored | Games Played | Scoring Average |
| Nikos Galis | 1,030 | 33 | 31.2 |
| Radivoj Korać | 844 | 34 | 24.8 |
 Luol Deng | 123 | 5 | 24.6 |
| Eddy Terrace | 220 | 9 | 24.4 |
| Sabahudin "Dino" Bilalović | 217 | 9 | 24.1 |
| Dražen Petrović | 604 | 26 | 23.2 |
| Dennis Schröder | 271 | 12 | 22.6 |
 Rik Smits | 154 | 7 | 22.0 |
| Mieczysław Młynarski | 482 | 22 | 21.9 |
| Michael Jackel | 347 | 16 | 21.6 |