Basketball has a long history and tradition in Greece (Greece is one of the eight founding members of FIBA), but the achievements of the Greek national team did not stand out until the mid-1980s. Starting from 1986, the national team insisted on participating in the 2 1 youth championship and the 19 youth championship, and the youth team also won medals in European and world competitions.
The Greek team first appeared in the international competition in 1948 at the European Basketball Championship in Cairo, Egypt. The Greek team successfully made its debut in the international arena, winning 4 wins and 2 losses among the seven teams in a single cycle and winning the bronze medal in this competition, only losing to the Egyptian national team and the French national team.
Greece once again appeared in the European Championship in Paris at 195 1. It advanced to the semi-finals with a score of 2 wins 1 loss in the preliminary round, but lost these three matches against three super teams, namely the Soviet Union, the Czech Republic and Italy, and then lost to Turkey and Belgium in the qualifying round, and finally ranked first among the 18 teams in that tournament.
In the next 20 years, the Greek national team only participated in several European championships sporadically, with no dazzling achievements, but during this period, the team still failed to qualify for the World Championships and the Olympic Games. This situation changed in the mid-1980s. A group of players with extremely high basketball talent emerged in Greece, which promoted the progress of the Greek national team and paved the way for the revival of Greek basketball culture.
The first landmark event was that the Greek team qualified for the 1986 World Basketball Championship and ranked tenth in that tournament. For an inexperienced team, this achievement is very positive.
1987 Greece hosted the European Championship. Following the good results of the Greek national team in the World Championships the previous year, people's expectations for the Greek national team in this tournament have been continuously increased, but no one can expect the following results.
1987 European Championship is the 25th regional championship of European Basketball Association. There are 12 countries participating in this tournament, and Athens is the host of this tournament.
In the unfavorable situation of fourth place in the group, Greece played well in the knockout stage, and even defeated the traditional strong teams including Italy, Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union, thus winning the European basketball championship for the first time in history. At that time, the lineup of the Greek national team included Panagiotis Giannakis, Panagiotis FarSolas, Farnis Chris Todoro, nikos Stavro poros, Aghily Cambris and nikos Linados. Panagio Otis Caraza, Challis Nittis, nikos Filippo, Volges Andrezzo, Memo Ioannou and nick galis, the most valuable player in the European Championship, were all coaches at that time.
At the moment when the Greek national team made a triumphant progress in the fierce competition with the then powerful rival Soviet Union, the national team beat the Soviet Union by two points (103- 10 1) in overtime.
In this tournament, nick galis scored 296 points (37 points per game-the top scorer and most valuable player in this tournament, Janakis scored 10 1 0/point, Panagiotis FarSolas scored 98 points, Fanis Chris Todoro scored 70 points and Aghily Cambris scored 53 points. 24 points for Andrezo, Cazalis Nittis 18, 0/6 for Ioannou/KLOC, and 0/6 for Philip/KLOC, nikos. Leonardo scored 4 points, Karatezas scored 2 points, and Stavro poros 1.
The following year 1988 Before the Seoul Olympic Games, the Greek national men's basketball team was ready to appear in the Olympic Games for the first time in 36 years, but failed to do so. The team's performance in the Olympic qualifiers was disappointing and was eliminated, but they quickly proved that Greece was not a passing meteor. 1989 European Championship, the team immediately proved this point, and the team reached the final, which proved that the Greek team could not achieve good results by relying on the miracle of light, nor by relying on home court advantage. The Greek national team defeated the Soviet Union in the semi-final, but then surrendered to Yugoslavia in the final.
In the next decade, Greece won a series of successful international competitions at the national team and club level. The Greek national team participated in almost all international competitions (except1Barcelona Olympic Games in 1992) and achieved good results. The rankings of various events have never fallen out of the top six (and always stopped at the top four). But at the same time, the team also encountered great setbacks. After entering the semi-finals, the team failed to qualify for the final and won the bronze medal in the third place battle.
Argentina 1990 World Championships, the team met new challenges. Nick galis, the team's core player and top scorer, was unable to participate in the game for the first time in ten years due to injury. Despite this, the team still achieved a good ranking-sixth place under the mixed establishment of old guards and young players.
In the European Championship of 199 1, Greece ranked fifth. In the following three games (1993, 1995, 1997), the team entered the semi-finals, but only finished fourth.
1994 World Basketball Championship, the team reached the semi-final, but the semi-final was eliminated by American Dream Team 3. In the subsequent third-place battle, Greece lost to Croatia 60-78. The results of the top four in the World Championships can be equivalent to the European Championship won by the team 1987, which proves that the Greek basketball team is still an excellent team.
1998 Greece became the host of the World Championships. This time, the team successfully reached the semi-finals. In the battle for the right to the finals, it played overtime with Yugoslavia fiercely, and finally disappointingly lost the chance to enter the finals. In the subsequent third-place battle, the bronze medal had been reserved by the American team, and the Greek national team finally lost to the American team 6 1-84, only finishing fourth once.
Although the team has made some excellent achievements in the past twenty years, the Greek basketball team always loses the opportunity to advance to the Olympic Games for many reasons. The inexplicable dream of appearing in the Olympic Games for the second time came true in 1996, and the team won the qualification for the Atlanta Olympic Games in 1996, and finally achieved the excellent result of the fifth place. The Greek national basketball team consists of some veterans (yannakis, Chris Todoro, Fa Solas, Pata Vokas) and some new stars ().
The brilliant achievements of more than 20 years and the extremely rapid decline in the performance of the national team are unacceptable to many fans, partly because fans cannot accept the sudden decline of the country. The Greek national basketball team lost in the European Championship 1999 and 200 1, and lost the qualification to advance to the Sydney Olympic Games and the 2002 World Championships. The poor record led to problems in the relationship between the team and the Greek Basketball Association. Finally, the Greek national basketball team made a big adjustment before the 2003 European Championship, hired a new coach, Joannidis, and promoted a number of new young players. This adjustment attempt was partially successful. In the 2003 European Championship, Greece finally won the fifth place, but the public was not very satisfied, because the fifth place was far from success.
A year later, Greece, as the host of the Athens Olympic Games, participated in the basketball match of this Olympic Games. In the first round, Greece won 3 wins and 2 losses in the group stage, ranking second in the group, second only to Lithuania in the quarter-finals. However, in the quarter-finals, they were eliminated by Argentina, which finally won the gold medal, with a slight advantage of 69-64. Although the Greek national team is eager to win a medal, in fact, Greece only finished fifth, which is the same as Atlanta Olympic Games 1996. Greece played last time.
In the 2005 European Basketball Championship, Greece advanced to the play-offs as the second in the group with a score of 2 wins/KLOC-0-0. In the play-offs, the team beat Israel 67-6 1 cleanly and entered the quarter-finals. In the match with Russia, the team beat its opponent 66-6 1 and entered the semi-finals of the European Championship again. This time, the Greek team grasped it. It is difficult to eliminate the French team in good form, 67-66. The French team still led by seven points with 1 minute left, but the Greek team relied on two arc-top three-pointers by Dimitrios D 'Amantidis at the last minute, especially one before the final whistle. In the end, the team narrowly beat France and entered the final. Greece easily defeated Germany 78-62 in the final.
In this World Championships, Greece was divided into a very strong group, Group C.. However, they won five consecutive victories with a score very close to the game and advanced to the top 16 as the first in the group. In the 16 semi-finals, they eliminated the China team led by Yao Ming with a score of 95-64 and continued to advance to the quarter-finals. In the quarter-finals, the Greek men's basketball team beat France, a strong European team, cleanly with a big advantage of 73-56. In the semi-final, the Greek team faced the powerful and undisputed champion American Dream team 7. In this game, the Greek team showed ingenious basketball skills and high basketball literacy, both in offense and defense. In the end, the team of 10 1-95 defeated the American men's basketball team and entered the finals of the world basketball championship for the first time in history. However, in the final, when the public opinion unanimously agreed with the Greek team before the game, the Greek team did not play well and lost 47-70 to the Spanish team lacking the core player Pau Gasol. In the end, the Greek team won the silver medal in this World Championships with unexpected regret. Anyway, the Greek national basketball team, which won the silver medal and eliminated the American team, was given a hero's welcome in China when it returned to Greece.
20 10 world basketball championship
In this World Championships, Greece was divided into a very strong group, Group C..