Bosnia and Herzegovina men's national basketball team

The Bosnia and Herzegovina men's national basketball team (Bosnian: KoÃÂ¡arkaÃÂ¡ka reprezentacija Bosne i Hercegovine / ÃÂÃÂ¾ÃÂÃÂ°ÃÂÃÂºÃÂ°ÃÂÃÂºÃÂ° ÃÂÃÂµÃÂ¿ÃÂÃÂµÃÂ·ÃÂµÃÂ½ÃÂÃÂ°ÃÂÃÂ¸ÃÂÃÂ° ÃÂÃÂ¾ÃÂÃÂ½ÃÂµ ÃÂ¸ ÃÂ¥ÃÂµÃÂÃÂÃÂµÃÂ³ÃÂ¾ÃÂ²ÃÂ¸ÃÂ½ÃÂµ) represents Bosnia and Herzegovina in international basketball competitions, and is governed by the Basketball Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Until 1992, Bosnian basketballers played for Yugoslavia.

Bosnia and Herzegovina reached their first international tournament at the EuroBasket in 1993. They have competed 11 times at the event overall. The team has yet to qualify on the global level to play at the FIBA World Cup.

History

Until 1992, Bosnia and Herzegovina was a part of Yugoslavia, which meant players born in Bosnia and Herzegovina played for the Yugoslavia national team. Between 1947 and 1992, the following Bosnia-born players were selected to play for the Yugoslavia national team at the biggest competitions (Olympics, World Cup, and EuroBasket) at least once: Mirza DelibaÃÂ¡iÃÂ, DraÃÂ¾en DalipagiÃÂ, Predrag DaniloviÃÂ, Zoran SaviÃÂ, Ratko RadovanoviÃÂ, Borislav StankoviÃÂ, Milan BjegojeviÃÂ, DragiÃÂ¡a VuÃÂiniÃÂ, Sabit HadÃÂ¾iÃÂ, Emir MutapÃÂiÃÂ, and Mario Primorac. During this time, Bosnia and Herzegovina's capital city, Sarajevo, was one of five locations where games were played during the 1970 FIBA World Cup; where Yugoslavia finished in first place, the team's first gold medal at the FIBA World Cup.

After gaining its independence from Yugoslavia, Bosnia and Herzegovina qualified to the EuroBasket for the first time in 1993. Entering the tournament, Bosnia and Herzegovina earned their first ever EuroBasket victory in their final Group A match against Sweden. The team would go on to make it to the quarter-finals before losing to the eventual bronze medalists Croatia, which sent the team into the classification phase to finish out the competition.

After a positive showing for the national team in their first EuroBasket appearance, they would fail to qualify for the tournament in 1995. However, Bosnia and Herzegovina would turn around to qualify for the continental showpiece five consecutive times (1997, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2005). Although after that stretch for the national team, they would only qualify for the Euros three times after 2005 until 2015. Heading toward qualification for EuroBasket 2017, Bosnia and Herzegovina came up short in their attempt to qualify to the EuroBasket for the first time since 2009.

For qualification to reach the 2019 FIBA World Cup, Bosnia and Herzegovina first went through European Pre-Qualifiers, where the team won four out of their six matches (4Ã¢ÂÂ2) to advance. Entering the first round of the qualifiers, the national team earned a tough win at home against Russia 81Ã¢ÂÂ76. After the win, Bosnia and Herzegovina would pull out one more victory during the rest of the first round of qualifying to position itself to advance. In the second and final round of 2019 World Cup qualifying, the team lost its first five matches by single digits before defeating Bulgaria. However, the five crucial losses ultimately eliminated the team from clinching qualification.

In 2022, Bosnia and Herzegovina were set to play in the EuroBasket 2022 but were in danger on missing out on the tournament due to a lack of funds, just weeks before the start. Eventually, the federation received 150,000 convertible marks in financial aid from the Bosnian government, to ensure participation in the tournament.