1.
Greece
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Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, historically also known as Hellas, is a country in southeastern Europe, with a population of approximately 11 million as of 2015. Athens is the capital and largest city, followed by Thessaloniki. Greece is strategically located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, situated on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, the Republic of Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to the northeast. Greece consists of nine regions, Macedonia, Central Greece, the Peloponnese, Thessaly, Epirus, the Aegean Islands, Thrace, Crete. The Aegean Sea lies to the east of the mainland, the Ionian Sea to the west, the Cretan Sea and the Mediterranean Sea to the south. Greece has the longest coastline on the Mediterranean Basin and the 11th longest coastline in the world at 13,676 km in length, featuring a vast number of islands, eighty percent of Greece is mountainous, with Mount Olympus being the highest peak at 2,918 metres. From the eighth century BC, the Greeks were organised into various independent city-states, known as polis, which spanned the entire Mediterranean region and the Black Sea. Greece was annexed by Rome in the second century BC, becoming a part of the Roman Empire and its successor. The Greek Orthodox Church also shaped modern Greek identity and transmitted Greek traditions to the wider Orthodox World, falling under Ottoman dominion in the mid-15th century, the modern nation state of Greece emerged in 1830 following a war of independence. Greeces rich historical legacy is reflected by its 18 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, among the most in Europe, Greece is a democratic and developed country with an advanced high-income economy, a high quality of life, and a very high standard of living. A founding member of the United Nations, Greece was the member to join the European Communities and has been part of the Eurozone since 2001. Greeces unique cultural heritage, large industry, prominent shipping sector. It is the largest economy in the Balkans, where it is an important regional investor, the names for the nation of Greece and the Greek people differ from the names used in other languages, locations and cultures. The earliest evidence of the presence of human ancestors in the southern Balkans, dated to 270,000 BC, is to be found in the Petralona cave, all three stages of the stone age are represented in Greece, for example in the Franchthi Cave. Neolithic settlements in Greece, dating from the 7th millennium BC, are the oldest in Europe by several centuries and these civilizations possessed writing, the Minoans writing in an undeciphered script known as Linear A, and the Mycenaeans in Linear B, an early form of Greek. The Mycenaeans gradually absorbed the Minoans, but collapsed violently around 1200 BC and this ushered in a period known as the Greek Dark Ages, from which written records are absent. The end of the Dark Ages is traditionally dated to 776 BC, the Iliad and the Odyssey, the foundational texts of Western literature, are believed to have been composed by Homer in the 7th or 8th centuries BC. With the end of the Dark Ages, there emerged various kingdoms and city-states across the Greek peninsula, in 508 BC, Cleisthenes instituted the worlds first democratic system of government in Athens
2.
O.A.C.A. Olympic Indoor Hall
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It is located in the Athens suburb of Marousi. It is considered to be one of the biggest and most modern sports arenas in all of Europe. The arena also contains a training facility, since 2016, it is named after the well-known Greek basketball player Nikos Galis. Nikos Galis Olympic Indoor Hall is notable for its distinctive A-frame roof that features four huge pillars, each of which is 35 meters tall, according to the Greek Ministry of Sports, it is the largest indoor sporting arena of its kind in the world. The arena is constructed in a unique way so that an abundant amount of natural light comes into the arena during the day. The arena seats up to 17,600 for gymnastics events and it seats up to 18,989 for basketball games, which includes 18,500 regular seats for the fans,300 seats for the media members, and 189 seats for VIPs. A large scale arena renovation was completed in 2004, for the 2004 Summer Olympics, the arena was then renovated again in 2016. The arena was used for gymnastics and trampolining, and also hosted the finals of the basketball matches at the 2004 Summer Olympics. Renovation of the building for the Olympics was completed on June 30,2004, the Indoor Hall is the regular home court for the Greek Basket League professional basketball clubs Panathinaikos Athens and AEK Athens. It is also the home court of the Greek National Basketball Team. On December 9,2007, FIBA announced that the Olympic Indoor Hall was selected as the host of the 2008 FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament for the 2008 Olympics Basketball Tournament. At the qualifying tournament, hosts and favorites Greece, along with the German and Croatian national basketball teams, qualified for the final 2008 Olympic Basketball Tournament. On May 18 and 20,2006, the Hall hosted the 51st Eurovision Song Contest, there were 15,000 seats available for spectators, both for the semifinal and the grand final. gr
3.
Brazil national basketball team
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The Brazil national basketball team represents Brazil in FIBAs basketball competitions. The team is governed by the Brazilian Basketball Confederation, abbreviated as CBB and they have been a member of the International Federation of Basketball since 1935. Brazils basketball team remains among the most successful in the Americas and it is the only team besides the United States that has appeared at every Basketball World Cup since it was first held in 1950. Basketball was initially introduced to Brazil by Professor Augusto Shaw in 1896, in 1912, he began organizing the first state tournament and in 1922 the first national team made its debut at games against Argentina and Uruguay. As in the case of football, South America was initially ahead of the rest of the world, in that decade, Brazilian basketball was supported by professional football clubs, to include it as a new sports section, although amateur in nature. Later, these clubs became professional and supported the team with world-class players. In the following years, Brazil became a regular at international competitions. Its basketball squad participated in the first official basketball tournament at the Summer Olympics 1936 in Berlin, in 1939, the first continental championship was held in Rio de Janeiro. In the 40s, basketball was catching on more layers of society, the sport received the ultimate accolade at the 1948 Olympic Games in London. There, against all odds, the directed by Moacyr Daiuto managed to achieve the bronze medal. The team recorded six wins until it stopped due to the semi-final defeat to France. In the bronze match, Brazil beat Mexico. They managed to feature ten amateur players, the pre-Olympic Brazil concentration was very poor in resources. After its time-consuming journey to London, the team was astonishment when they saw how the U. S. team practiced, Brazil only had two for the whole team. One of the pillars of Brazilian basketball was the boldness of its coaches. The father of all is Togo Renan Soares, Kanela. Working in the shadow of the giant football, Kanela understood that basketball would add more followers if it could offer new emotions. He aimed to get the media involved, so the game was conceived as a spectacle based on its dynamism
4.
Greece national basketball team
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The National Basketball Team of Greece is the representative for Greece in international mens basketball competitions, organized and run by the Hellenic Basketball Federation. They were runners-up in the 2006 FIBA World Championship, after beating the United States 101–95 in the tournaments semifinal. They have won the FIBA EuroBasket twice, in 1987, after beating the Soviet Union 103–101 in the final in Athens and in 2005, Greece is currently placed thirteenth in the FIBA World Rankings. Basketball has a tradition in Greece, as the country was one of the eight founding members of the International Basketball Federation, more commonly known by its French acronym FIBA. However, the national team was considered as a second-class power in international basketball for several decades. It was the first ever international title won by a Greek national team in any sports. As a result, basketball became extremely popular in the country, Greece was to take part in EuroBasket 1935, the inaugural FIBA European Championship held in Geneva, but were not able to travel to Switzerland due to financial problems. Thus, Greece made their international debut fourteen years later in the EuroBasket 1949 in Cairo and that tournament has been marked as the weakest in the history of the competition, as most of the leading European basketball nations at the time refused to travel by plane to Egypt. They also made their first appearance at the Olympic Games, taking part at the tournament in 1952. They didnt manage to qualify for the Summer Olympic Games and the FIBA World Cup but in 1979 they managed to win the medal at the Mediterranean Games. The beginning was their qualification for the 1986 FIBA World Championship, for the first time in their history, in the next year, Greece faced up their biggest challenge, as the country was the host of the EuroBasket 1987 and the team enjoyed a formidable line-up. Qualified from the round, they eliminated Italy and Yugoslavia. In the final, Greece faced the champions and heavily favoured Soviet Union. In front of 17,000 Greek fans at the Peace and Friendship Stadium, the European champions failed to qualify for the 1988 Summer Olympic Games for a first time in 36 years, despite a decent performance in the pre-Olympic tournament. In the EuroBasket 1989, the champions were under pressure to prove that they could stand at the top level of international basketball. After they had qualified from the stage, the Soviet Union stood in their way in the semi-finals but Greece defeated them once again. Contrary to what happened two years ago, this time Greece had to overcome Yugoslavia and the home court advantage. Eventually, the Greek team bowed to the side taking the silver medal, their third medal in total
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Athens
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Athens is the capital and largest city of Greece. In modern times, Athens is a cosmopolitan metropolis and central to economic, financial, industrial, maritime. In 2015, Athens was ranked the worlds 29th richest city by purchasing power, Athens is recognised as a global city because of its location and its importance in shipping, finance, commerce, media, entertainment, arts, international trade, culture, education and tourism. It is one of the biggest economic centres in southeastern Europe, with a financial sector. The municipality of Athens had a population of 664,046 within its limits. The urban area of Athens extends beyond its administrative city limits. According to Eurostat in 2011, the Functional urban areas of Athens was the 9th most populous FUA in the European Union, Athens is also the southernmost capital on the European mainland. The city also retains Roman and Byzantine monuments, as well as a number of Ottoman monuments. Athens is home to two UNESCO World Heritage Sites, the Acropolis of Athens and the medieval Daphni Monastery, Athens was the host city of the first modern-day Olympic Games in 1896, and 108 years later it welcomed home the 2004 Summer Olympics. In Ancient Greek, the name of the city was Ἀθῆναι a plural, in earlier Greek, such as Homeric Greek, the name had been current in the singular form though, as Ἀθήνη. It was possibly rendered in the later on, like those of Θῆβαι and Μυκῆναι. During the medieval period the name of the city was rendered once again in the singular as Ἀθήνα, an etiological myth explaining how Athens has acquired its name was well known among ancient Athenians and even became the theme of the sculpture on the West pediment of the Parthenon. The goddess of wisdom, Athena, and the god of the seas, Poseidon had many disagreements, in an attempt to compel the people, Poseidon created a salt water spring by striking the ground with his trident, symbolizing naval power. However, when Athena created the tree, symbolizing peace and prosperity. Different etymologies, now rejected, were proposed during the 19th century. Christian Lobeck proposed as the root of the name the word ἄθος or ἄνθος meaning flower, ludwig von Döderlein proposed the stem of the verb θάω, stem θη- to denote Athens as having fertile soil. In classical literature, the city was referred to as the City of the Violet Crown, first documented in Pindars ἰοστέφανοι Ἀθᾶναι. In medieval texts, variant names include Setines, Satine, and Astines, today the caption η πρωτεύουσα, the capital, has become somewhat common
6.
South Korea national basketball team
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The Korean national basketball team is the team representing South Korea in international mens basketball competitions. It is administered by the Korea Basketball Association, based on the number of overall medals won, South Korea is a major force among basketball teams of FIBA Asia. The team has won a number of 24 medals at the FIBA Asia Championship. Furthermore, South Korea is the nation that has qualified for this event every year since it was first held in 1960. In 1950, the team went through struggles, caused primarily by the Korean War, hence, the top spots at the 1951 Asian Games went to the Philippines and Japan. At the 1954 Asian Games, for the first time ever, the team slowly improved its position within Asia almost every year and qualified for the Basketball World Cup several times. In 1969 and 1970, the team enjoyed a period to shine, when it won the 1969 Asian Championship. There, as the only Asian team, South Korea finished ahead of Australia and Egypt, Koreas Shin Dong-Pa dominated all scorers at the 1970 FIBA World Cup as he averaged 32.6 points per game, almost 13 points more than the second placed Davis Peralta from Panama. At the Asian Championship, South Korea stayed among the top three teams at 21 straight events, a record that is still unmatched until today, the streak finally ended when Qatar defeated South Korea at the 3rd place game at the 2005 event. Between 1975 and 2005, South Korea was the only nation besides the Philippines that was able to seriously challenge Chinas dominance and it interrupted Chinas championship winning streak in 1997, when it defeated its dominant neighbor in the semifinals and ultimately won the crown as 1997 Champion of Asia. At the 2007 FIBA Asia Championship, Korea was able to go on a streak, because of the four centers Ha Seung-jin, Kim Joo-sung, Lee Dong-jun, and Kim Min-soo, South Korea had the tournaments highest 2-point field goal percentage. All these players helped their team to win the bronze medal once again, in the modern era, South Koreas competition from West Asia intensified as countries such as Jordan, Qatar, Lebanon, and especially Iran improved their basketball programs. South Korea is still considered one of Asias major teams but its position among the top three teams in Asia is not guaranteed anymore, in 2014, the team qualified for the Basketball World Cup for the first time in almost 20 years. Even though the team was eliminated in the first round, the qualification itself has been a success, most of the players that played at the 2014 World Cup returned for the 2014 Asian Games where they helped secure the gold medal on home soil. Roster for the 2016 FIBA Asia Challenge Scroll down to see more. com South Korea Basketball Records at FIBA Archive Korea v Iraq - Semi-Final Highlights - FIBA Asia Challenge 2016 Youtube. com video
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Germany national basketball team
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The German national basketball team for men is the basketball side that represents Germany in international competitions. It is organized and run by the German Basketball Federation, the team is the successor of the West Germany national basketball team, the basketball side that represented West Germany in international competition. Between 1955 and 1973, Germany temporarily competed with an East German national basketball team as well, the first German presence in the European basketball championships was at EuroBasket 1951 in Paris. West Germany finished the round with a 1–2 record, third place in their group. They were again 1–2 in the first classification round, but this combined with a three-way tie-breaker put them second in that group and they then lost the classification 9–12 and 11/12 games to finish 12th place of 18 teams. West Germany competed again at the EuroBasket 1953 in Moscow and their 1–2 record in preliminary pool play put them third in their four-team group, relegating them to the classification rounds. In the first round, they again took 3rd of 4 with a 1–2 record and they then beat Lebanon 58–56 in the 13–16 semifinals to advance to the 13/14 game, in which they were defeated by Romania. At the EuroBasket 1955 in Budapest, West Germany again was 1–2 in the preliminary round and their final game was a match-up against Denmark for 17th place, which West Germany won 51–49. West Germany competed in Sofia for the EuroBasket 1957 and they had no success in the preliminary round, losing all three decisions. They were relegated to the round, in which they were able to gather a few victories. They finished the round in the position at 3–4, taking 13th place overall. At the EuroBasket 1959, East Germanys national basketball team entered the tournament when their counterpart from West Germany did not qualify, altogether, East Germanys team only qualified for the EuroBasket five times. Ironically, they finished better than West Germany every time, until the German reunification in 1990, the team played as the West Germany national basketball team. In decades of competitive basketball, West Germany only had moderate success with a few strong showings in the 1980s and this was because in that time, the NBA made it near-impossible for German internationals to play on both their NBA teams and the national team. For this reason, important players like Detlef Schrempf, Uwe Blab or Christian Welp often were unavailable in big tournaments, the win of the 1993 edition of the European Championship at home in Germany, thanks to superb clutch play of tournament MVP Welp, came totally unexpected. The team won the election to Team of the Year by the German press, there was a huge wave of enthusiasm, but arguably due to lack of infrastructure and professionalism, tangible results were rare. German basketball stayed in the shadows, the generation of youth shunning the native league while being glued to the NBA with Michael Jordan. For the next three EuroBaskets, the team did not come close to repeat the success
8.
Canada men's national basketball team
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The Canadian mens national basketball team represents Canada in international basketball competitions. The team is currently ranked 26th by FIBA, athletes for this team are selected by Canada Basketball. The teams head coach is Jay Triano and its manager is Steve Nash. In nine Olympic appearances, Canada has only won one medal in basketball – a silver at the 1936 Games in Berlin, the team finished fourth in 1976 and 1984. Canada has won six medals at the FIBA Americas Championship – two silver medals in 1980 and 1999, as well as four medals in 1984,1988,2001. The team also won its first medal at the Pan American Games, Canada won its only gold medal at a university-level tournament, the 1983 Summer Universiade, which the country hosted in Edmonton, Alberta. As the country credited for bringing forth the inventor of the game, yet, it still waits for its first title at a major international tournament. Especially in the 70s and 80s, Team Canada was consistently placed among the top teams in the world, the emergence of Steve Nash gave another boost to the team in the 90s. Yet, great performances became more scarce when he retired, in September 2009, Canada finished fourth in the FIBA Americas Championship. This guaranteed them a place in the 2010 FIBA World Championship held in Turkey, Canada unfortunately finished last of the Group D, and got ranked 22nd of the FIBA World Championship. Critics blamed the absence of Nash, Dalembert, Jamaal Magloire, on May 9,2012, Steve Nash was named general manager of the national team of Canada. Reserves John Dawson, Alphonse Freer, Donald Grey, Stanley Nantais, Robert Osborne, Thomas Pendlebury, and coach Gordon Fuller were not awarded medals. 1954 FIBA World Championship, finished 7th of 12 teams Roy Burkett, Ken Callis, George Delkers, Doug Gresham, Herb Olafson, Wally Parobec, Carl Ridd, Andy Spack, Mike Spack, Ralph Watts. 1959 FIBA World Championship, finished 12th of 13 teams Doug Brinham, Al Brown, Bob Burtwell, Ed Lutch, Ed Malecki, John McLeod, Peter Mullins, Lance Stephens, Logan Tait, Brian Upson, Ed Wild. 1972 Pre-Olympic Basketball Tournament, finished 6th of 12 teams Partial roster, John Cassidy, Jamie Russell, Derek Sankey, Richie Spears, Phil Tollestrup,1978 FIBA World Championship, finished 6th of 14 teams. Atkins, Tom Bishop, John Cassidy, Tom Kappos, Howard Kelsey, Ross Quakenbush, Leo Rautins, Martin Riley, Jamie Russell, Peter Ryan, Jay Triano, Jim Zoet. Jackson, Martin Keane, Spencer McKay, Ronn McMahon, Steve Nash, William Njoku, Mike Smrek, Dwight Walton, Greg Wiltjer. com - Canada Men National Team Archived records of Canada team participations
9.
FIBA
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A total of 213 national federations are now members, organized since 1989 into five zones or commissions, Africa, Americas, Asia, Europe, and Oceania. The FIBA Basketball World Cup is a tournament for mens national teams held every four years. Teams compete for the Naismith Trophy, named in honor of basketballs Canadian creator James Naismith. A parallel event for teams, the FIBA Womens Basketball World Cup, is also held quadrennially, from 1986 through 2014, it was held in the same year as the mens event. The womens tournament will continue to be held in the year as the FIFA World Cup. In 2009 FIBA announced three new tournaments, two 12-team U-17 World Championships to be played in July 2010, and an eight-team FIBA World Club Championship to be launched in October 2010, however, the FIBA World Club Championship did not materialize. In its place, FIBA instead relaunched its original world club championship for men, the newest worldwide FIBA tournaments for national teams are in the three-player half-court variation, 3x3. The FIBA 3x3 U-18 World Championships were inaugurated in 2011, all events include separate tournaments for mens, womens, and mixed teams. The U-18 championships, held annually, feature 32 teams in each individual tournament, the senior championships have 24 teams in each individual tournament, and are held in even-numbered years. The association was founded in Geneva in 1932, two years after the sport was recognized by the IOC. Its original name was Fédération internationale de basket-ball amateur, eight nations were founding members, Argentina, Czechoslovakia, Greece, Italy, Latvia, Portugal, Romania, and Switzerland. During the 1936 Summer Olympics held in Berlin, the Federation named James Naismith, FIBA has organized a World Championship, now known as World Cup, for men since 1950 and a Womens World Championship, now known as the Womens World Cup, since 1953. From 1986 through 2014, both events were held four years, alternating with the Olympics. As noted above, the mens World Cup will be moved to a new cycle, with tournaments in the year before the Summer Olympics. The Federation headquarters moved to Munich in 1956, then returned to Geneva in 2002, in 1991, it founded the FIBA Hall of Fame, the first induction ceremony was held on 12 September 2007, during EuroBasket 2007. During its 81st anniversary in 2013, FIBA moved into its new headquarters, The House of Basketball, patrick Baumann is the current Secretary General of FIBA. Up until that point, even players from some fully registered and licensed professional leagues could qualify to compete at the Olympics, after making this monumental rules change, the Fédération internationale de basket-ball amateur became the Fédération internationale de basket-ball, but it retained FIBA as an abbreviation. The 1994 FIBA World Championship was the first time that the FIBA World Cup allowed current American NBA players that had played in an official NBA regular season game to play
10.
FIBA Americas
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FIBA Americas is a zone within FIBA. It is one of FIBAs five continental confederations, FIBA Americas is responsible for the organization and governance of the major international tournaments in the Americas. It has 44 FIBA Federations and is headquartered in San Juan, the current FIBA Americas President elect is Usie Richards of the United States Virgin Islands. com FIBA Americas League
11.
Cameroon national basketball team
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Cameroon national basketball team is a basketball team that represents Cameroon in international competitions. It is administered by the Fédération Camerounaise de Basketball, once an only average team, Cameroon has turned into a major force and contender for the title of the African Basketball Championship. Their best achievement was reaching the Silver Medal in 2007, since the late 2000s, the team has competed well against non-African competition, too. Yet to qualify yet to qualify Cameroons final 2015 AfroBasket squad as shown in the website of the competition. Lazare Adingono – 2007–2011 Michel Perrin –2013 Official website FIBA Profile Cameroon Basketball Records at FIBA Archive Afrobasket – Cameroon Men National Team
Greece
Brazil
Lebanon
Germany
New Zealand
Cape Verde
Slovenia
Canada
South Korea
Croatia
Puerto Rico
Cameroon