Contents

Croatia men's national basketball team

Croatia

FIBA ranking	30 (1 March 2024)[1]
Joined FIBA	1992
FIBA zone	FIBA Europe
National federation	HKS
Coach	Josip Sesar
Nickname(s)	Kockasti (The Chequered Ones)
Olympic Games
Appearances	4
Medals	Silver: (1992)
FIBA World Cup
Appearances	3
Medals	Bronze: (1994)
EuroBasket
Appearances	14
Medals	Bronze: (1993, 1995)
Home Away
First international
Germany 86–74 Croatia  (Murcia, Spain; 22 June 1992)[2]
Biggest win
Croatia 124–51 Iceland  (Murcia, Spain; 24 June 1992)
Biggest defeat
Croatia 70–103 United States  (Barcelona, Spain; 27 July 1992)
Medal record Olympic Games 1992 Barcelona Team FIBA World Cup 1994 Canada EuroBasket 1993 Germany 1995 Greece Mediterranean Games 2009 Pescara Team 1993 Languedoc-Roussillon Team

The Croatia men's national basketball team (Croatian: Hrvatska košarkaška reprezentacija)^[3] represents Croatia in international basketball matches. The team is controlled by the Croatian Basketball Federation (HKS).^[4]

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[edit]

Prior to Croatian independence[edit]

Croatia played its first unofficial friendly game on 2 June 1964 in Karlovac.^[5] 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.^[6][7]

Independent Croatia[edit]

After independence of Croatia in 1991, the first official tournament played by Croatians were the 1992 Summer OlympicsinBarcelona. 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.^[8]

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.^[9]

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.^[10]

Decline[edit]

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.^[11]

Honours[edit]

The Croatia national team's all-time medal table:

Competitive record[edit]

FIBA World Cup[edit] World Cup Qualification Year Position Pld W L Pld W L 1950to1990 Part of Yugoslavia Part of Yugoslavia 1994 8 7 1 EuroBasket served as qualifiers 1998 Did not qualify 2002 2006 2010 14th 6 2 4 2014 10th 6 3 3 2019 Did not qualify 12 4 8 2023 6 1 5 2027 To be determined To be determined Total 3/8 20 12 8 18 5 13 Olympic Games[edit] Olympic Games Qualifying Year Position Pld W L Pld W L 1936to1988 Part of Yugoslavia Part of Yugoslavia 1992 8 6 2 11 10 1 1996 7th 8 4 4 Direct qualification 2000 Did not qualify Did not qualify 2004 2008 6th 6 3 3 4 4 0 2012 Did not qualify Did not qualify 2016 5th 6 3 3 4 3 1 2020 Did not qualify 3 1 2 2024 9 7 2 Total 4/9 28 16 12 31 25 6

EuroBasket[edit] EuroBasket Qualification Year Position Pld W L Pld W L 1935to1991 Part of Yugoslavia Part of Yugoslavia 1993 9 8 1 7 6 1 1995 9 8 1 6 5 1 1997 11th 8 2 6 10 7 3 1999 9th 6 3 3 10 7 3 2001 7th 7 3 4 10 10 0 2003 11th 4 1 3 10 8 2 2005 7th 7 4 3 4 3 1 2007 6th 9 3 6 6 5 1 2009 6th 9 4 5 Direct qualification 2011 13th 5 2 3 2013 4th 11 8 3 8 8 0 2015 9th 6 3 3 Qualified as co-host 2017 10th 6 4 2 Direct qualification 2022 12th 6 3 3 6 4 2 2025 To be determined To be determined Total 14/14 102 56 46 77 63 14

Results and fixtures[edit]

  Win   Loss

2023[edit]

Croatia v Ireland

19 July 2023 EuroBasket 2025 pre-qualifiers – 3rd round	Croatia	89–49	Ireland	Opatija, Croatia
20:00 (UTC+2)	Scoring by quarter: 24–5, 32–12, 14–16, 19–16
	Pts: Badžim18 Rebs: Perković8 Asts: Kapusta9	Boxscore	Pts: Quinn12 Rebs: Alajiki5 Asts: Quinn4	Arena: Sportska dvorana Marino Cvetković Attendance: 970 Referees: Georgios Poursanidis (GRE), Luis Castillo (ESP), Oskars Lūcis (LAT)

Croatia v Luxembourg

22 July 2023 EuroBasket 2025 pre-qualifiers – 3rd round	Croatia	98–62	Luxembourg	Opatija, Croatia
20:00 (UTC+2)	Scoring by quarter: 31–14, 26–20, 23–12, 18–16
	Pts: Kapusta, Prkačin16 Rebs: Branković, Mazalin6 Asts: Badžim6	Boxscore	Pts: Laurent18 Rebs: Laurent, Rugg9 Asts: Grün, Gutenkauf4	Arena: Sportska dvorana Marino Cvetković Attendance: 600 Referees: Paulo Marques (POR), Geert Jacobs (BEL), Ivor Matějek (CZE)

Ireland v Croatia

29 July 2023 EuroBasket 2025 pre-qualifiers – 3rd round	Ireland	61–95	Croatia	Dublin, Ireland
14:30 (UTC+1)	Scoring by quarter: 12–20, 22–22, 8–21, 19–32
	Pts: Murphy12 Rebs: Alajiki5 Asts: Fulton4	Boxscore	Pts: D. Drežnjak17 Rebs: D. Drežnjak5 Asts: five players3	Arena: National Basketball Arena Attendance: 2,000 Referees: Mārtiņš Kozlovskis (LAT), Fernando Calatrava (ESP), Javier Torres (ESP)

Luxembourg v Croatia

2 August 2023 EuroBasket 2025 pre-qualifiers – 3rd round	Luxembourg	79–91	Croatia	Luxembourg City, Luxembourg
20:15 (UTC+2)	Scoring by quarter: 12–25, 25–25, 18–24, 24–17
	Pts: Laurent13 Rebs: Rugg7 Asts: Kovac4	Boxscore	Pts: Perković23 Rebs: Ljubičić7 Asts: Kapusta9	Arena: d'Coque Attendance: 1,650 Referees: Can Mavisu (TUR), Geert Jacobs (BEL), Alexandre Deman (FRA)

2024[edit]

France v Croatia

23 February 2024 EuroBasket 2025 qualifiers	France	73–61	Croatia	Brest, France
20:30 (UTC+1)	Scoring by quarter: 15–14, 20–16, 22–14, 16–17
	Pts: Luwawu-Cabarrot15 Rebs: Cordinier6 Asts: Albicy, Inglis4	Boxscore	Pts: Hezonja22 Rebs: three players5 Asts: three players3	Arena: Brest Arena Attendance: 5,029 Referees: Wojciech Liszka (POL), Michał Proc (POL), Mehmet Karabilecen (TUR)

Croatia v Cyprus

26 February 2024 EuroBasket 2025 qualifiers	Croatia	92–63	Cyprus	Rijeka, Croatia
20:00 (UTC+1)	Scoring by quarter: 22–8, 26–16, 22–26, 22–13
	Pts: Prkačin24 Rebs: Hezonja, Prkačin10 Asts: Kapusta8	Boxscore	Pts: Simitzis17 Rebs: Willis9 Asts: Mantovani, Willis3	Arena: Zamet Sports Centre Attendance: 2,500 Referees: Radomir Vojinović (MNE), Ventsislav Velikov (BUL), Can Mavisu (TUR)

Slovenia v Croatia

2 July 2024 2024 Olympic Qualifying Tournament – Group stage	Slovenia	92–108	Croatia	Piraeus, Greece
21:00 (UTC+3)	Scoring by quarter: 16–31, 25–23, 27–39, 24–15
	Pts: Dončić26 Rebs: Dončić11 Asts: Dončić10	Boxscore	Pts: Filipović21 Rebs: Šarić10 Asts: Šarić10	Arena: Peace and Friendship Stadium Attendance: 4,109 Referees: Luis Vázquez (PUR), Gatis Saliņš (LAT), Daniel García (VEN)

Croatia v New Zealand

3 July 2024 2024 Olympic Qualifying Tournament – Group stage	Croatia	86–90	New Zealand	Piraeus, Greece
17:30 (UTC+3)	Scoring by quarter: 29–28, 31–27, 19–19, 7–16
	Pts: Zubac29 Rebs: Zubac16 Asts: Hezonja6	Boxscore	Pts: Webster21 Rebs: Delany9 Asts: Ili4	Arena: Peace and Friendship Stadium Attendance: 396 Referees: Manuel Mazzoni (ITA), Julio Anaya (PAN), Ahmed Al-Shuwaili (IRQ)

Dominican Republic v Croatia

6 July 2024 2024 Olympic Qualifying Tournament – Semi-finals	Dominican Republic	77–80	Croatia	Piraeus, Greece
21:00 (UTC+3)	Scoring by quarter: 15–16, 17–21, 21–16, 24–27
	Pts: Duarte17 Rebs: Montero, Santos5 Asts: Duarte, Montero4	Boxscore	Pts: Zubac25 Rebs: Zubac9 Asts: Hezonja4	Arena: Peace and Friendship Stadium Attendance: 1,907 Referees: Julio Anaya (PAN), Manuel Mazzoni (ITA), Ahmed Al-Shuwaili (IRQ)

Croatia v Greece

7 July 2024 2024 Olympic Qualifying Tournament – Final	Croatia	69–80	Greece	Piraeus, Greece
21:00 (UTC+3)	Scoring by quarter: 22–22, 17–23, 14–21, 16–14
	Pts: Zubac19 Rebs: Šarić, Zubac12 Asts: Smith7	Boxscore	Pts: G. Antetokounmpo23 Rebs: G. Antetokounmpo8 Asts: Calathes11	Arena: Peace and Friendship Stadium Attendance: 11,810 Referees: Roberto Vázquez (PUR), Gatis Saliņš (LAT), Julio Anaya (PAN)

Croatia v Bosnia and Herzegovina

21 November 2024 EuroBasket 2025 qualifiers	Croatia	vs.	Bosnia and Herzegovina	Croatia
		Boxscore

Bosnia and Herzegovina v Croatia

24 November 2024 EuroBasket 2025 qualifiers	Bosnia and Herzegovina	vs.	Croatia	Bosnia and Herzegovina
		Boxscore

2025[edit]

Croatia v France

21 February 2025 EuroBasket 2025 qualifiers	Croatia	vs.	France	Croatia
		Boxscore

Cyprus v Croatia

24 February 2025 EuroBasket 2025 qualifiers	Cyprus	vs.	Croatia	Cyprus
		Boxscore

Team[edit]

Current roster[edit]

Roster for the 2024 FIBA Men's Olympic Qualifying Tournament matches in Piraeus.

Croatia men's national basketball team roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. No. Name Age – Date of birth Height Club Ctr. PG 2 Goran Filipović 27 – (1996-11-26)26 November 1996 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in) Igokea G 3 Jaleen Smith 29 – (1994-11-24)24 November 1994 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in) Partizan PG 4 Borna Kapusta 27 – (1996-07-24)24 July 1996 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in) SC Derby SG 5 Filip Krušlin 35 – (1989-03-18)18 March 1989 1.98 m (6 ft 6 in) SIG Strasbourg G/F 8 Mario Hezonja 28 – (1995-02-25)25 February 1995 2.00 m (6 ft 7 in) Real Madrid PF 9 Dario Šarić (C) 29 – (1994-04-08)8 April 1994 2.07 m (6 ft 9 in) Golden State Warriors C 13 Ivan Vraneš 28 – (1996-05-29)29 May 1996 2.07 m (6 ft 9 in) Juventus C 22 Danko Branković 23 – (2000-11-05)5 November 2000 2.14 m (7 ft 0 in) Bayern Munich SG 23 Mateo Drežnjak 25 – (1999-03-08)8 March 1999 1.96 m (6 ft 5 in) SC Derby SF 24 Dario Drežnjak 26 – (1998-03-24)24 March 1998 2.00 m (6 ft 7 in) Zadar C 40 Ivica Zubac 26 – (1997-04-18)18 April 1997 2.16 m (7 ft 1 in) Los Angeles Clippers PF 99 Toni Nakić 25 – (1999-06-01)1 June 1999 2.00 m (6 ft 7 in) Breogán	Head coach Josip Sesar Assistant coach(es) Ivan Perinčić Ivan Tomas Legend (C) Team captain Club – describes last club before the competition Age – describes age on 2 July 2024

Depth chart[edit]

Head coaches[edit]

1990s and 2000s Years Name Competition 1992 Petar Skansi 1992 Summer Olympics 1993 Mirko Novosel 1993 EuroBasket 1994 Josip Gjergja 1994 World Cup 1995 Aleksandar Petrović 1995 EuroBasket 1996–1998 Petar Skansi 7th 1996 Summer Olympics 11th 1997 EuroBasket 1999 Boško Božić 9th 1999 EuroBasket 1999–2001 Aleksandar Petrović 7th 2001 EuroBasket 2001–2005 Neven Spahija 11th 2003 EuroBasket 7th 2005 EuroBasket 2005–2009 Jasmin Repeša 6th 2007 EuroBasket 6th 2008 Summer Olympics 6th 2009 EuroBasket

2010s and 2020s Years Name Competition 2010–2011 Josip-Jerko Vranković 14th 2010 World Cup 13th 2011 EuroBasket 2012–2014 Jasmin Repeša 4th 2013 EuroBasket 10th 2014 World Cup 2015 Velimir Perasović 9th 2015 EuroBasket 2016–2017 Aleksandar Petrović[12] 5th 2016 Summer Olympics 10th 2017 EuroBasket 2017–2018 Ivica Skelin — 2018–2019 Dražen Anzulović 2019–2022 Veljko Mršić 2022 Damir Mulaomerović 12th 2022 EuroBasket 2022–2023 Aleksandar Petrović (interim) — 2023–present Josip Sesar

Past rosters[edit]

Notable players and coaches[edit]

Head-to-head record[edit]

Record against teams at the EuroBasket[edit] As of 11 September 2022 National team Pld W L PF PA PD Belgium 1 1 0 106 74 +32 Bosnia and Herzegovina 3 2 1 243 229 +14 Bulgaria 2 2 0 192 165 +27 Czech Republic 4 3 1 322 266 +56 Estonia 3 3 0 252 219 +33 Finland 4 3 1 350 313 +37 France 7 3 4 566 566 0 Georgia 2 1 1 135 147 −12 Germany 7 3 4 559 559 0 Greece 9 3 6 710 684 +26 Great Britain 1 1 0 86 65 +21 Hungary 1 1 0 67 58 +9 Israel 2 1 1 161 159 +2 Italy 7 5 2 500 475 +25 Latvia 2 1 1 170 176 −6 Lithuania 5 0 5 356 417 −61 Montenegro 2 2 0 173 153 +20 Netherlands 1 1 0 78 72 +6 North Macedonia 3 2 1 230 204 +26 Poland 2 1 1 150 147 +3 Portugal 1 1 0 90 68 +22 Romania 1 1 0 74 58 +16 Russia 8 3 5 628 648 −20 Serbia 2 0 2 128 144 −16 Slovenia 5 3 2 392 386 +6 Spain 7 2 5 500 572 −72 Turkey 6 3 3 503 430 +73 Ukraine 4 3 1 355 323 +32 Total 27 teams Record against teams in EuroBasket qualification[edit] As of 26 February 2024 National team Pld W L PF PA PD Austria 4 4 0 344 298 +46 Belarus 1 1 0 112 72 +40 Belgium 2 2 0 176 129 +47 Bosnia and Herzegovina 4 2 2 295 267 +28 Bulgaria 2 1 1 173 148 +25 Cyprus 5 5 0 460 287 +173 Denmark 2 2 0 183 146 +37 England 2 2 0 163 149 +14 Estonia 5 4 1 417 350 +67 France 1 0 1 61 73 −12 Germany 2 0 2 144 159 −15 Hungary 4 4 0 316 268 +48 Iceland 2 2 0 193 151 +42 Ireland 4 4 0 349 255 +94 Latvia 5 5 0 466 371 +95 Lithuania 2 1 1 137 140 −3 Luxembourg 2 2 0 189 141 +48 Netherlands 6 5 1 457 389 +68 North Macedonia 3 3 0 312 232 +80 Poland 2 1 1 151 156 −5 Romania 3 3 0 342 206 +136 Russia 2 1 1 151 138 +13 Slovakia 4 4 0 355 277 +53 Slovenia 1 0 1 90 94 −4 Sweden 6 5 1 479 417 +62 Switzerland 4 4 0 324 236 +88 Turkey 4 2 2 290 267 +23 Ukraine 5 4 1 416 370 +46 Total 28 teams

Record against teams at the World Cup[edit] As of 6 September 2014 National team Pld W L PF PA PD Argentina 1 1 0 90 85 +5 Australia 1 1 0 83 69 +14 Brazil 1 0 1 74 92 −18 Canada 1 1 0 92 61 +31 China 1 1 0 105 73 +32 Cuba 1 1 0 85 65 +20 France 1 0 1 64 69 −5 Greece 3 2 1 224 191 +33 Iran 1 1 0 75 54 +21 Philippines 1 1 0 81 78 +3 Puerto Rico 1 1 0 103 82 +21 Russia 1 0 1 64 66 −2 Senegal 1 0 1 75 77 −2 Serbia 1 0 1 72 73 −1 Slovenia 1 0 1 84 91 −7 South Korea 1 1 0 104 53 +51 Tunisia 1 1 0 84 64 +20 United States 1 0 1 78 106 −28 Total 18 teams Record against teams in World Cup qualification[edit] As of 3 July 2022 National team Pld W L PF PA PD Finland 2 0 2 150 158 −8 Hungary 2 1 1 139 153 −14 Italy 2 1 1 142 152 −10 Lithuania 2 0 2 145 163 −18 Netherlands 2 1 1 143 146 −3 Poland 2 0 2 143 156 −13 Romania 2 1 1 146 121 +25 Slovenia 2 0 2 143 173 −30 Sweden 2 1 1 169 168 +1 Total 9 teams Record against teams at the Olympic Games[edit] As of 17 August 2016 National team Pld W L PF PA PD Angola 2 2 0 144 112 +32 Argentina 3 1 2 225 242 −17 Australia 3 2 1 266 220 +46 Brazil 3 2 1 243 230 +13 China 2 2 0 208 163 +45 CIS 1 1 0 75 74 +1 Germany 1 1 0 99 78 +21 Iran 1 1 0 91 57 +34 Lithuania 3 1 2 244 250 −6 Nigeria 1 0 1 76 90 −14 Russia 1 1 0 85 78 +7 Serbia 1 0 1 83 86 −3 Spain 3 2 1 219 221 −2 United States 3 0 3 226 322 −96 Total 14 teams