Montenegro men's national basketball team

The Montenegro national basketball team (Montenegrin and Serbian: Košarkaška reprezentacija Crne Gore / Кошаркашка репрезентација Црне Горе) represents Montenegro in international basketball tournaments. The supervising body is the Basketball Federation of Montenegro.

This article is about the men's team. For the women's team, see Montenegro women's national basketball team.

Montenegro
FIBA ranking26 (3 March 2020)[1]
Joined FIBA2006
FIBA zoneFIBA Europe
National federationKošarkaški Savez Crne Gore (KSCG)
CoachBoško Radović
Nickname(s)Hrabri sokoli
(The Brave Falcons)
FIBA World Cup
Appearances1
MedalsNone
EuroBasket
Appearances3
MedalsNone
Games of the Small States of Europe
Appearances3
Medals Gold: (2015, 2019)
Silver: (2017)
Light
Dark
First international
 Netherlands 63–70 Montenegro
(Almere, Netherlands; 6 September 2008)
Biggest win
 San Marino 37–100 Montenegro
(Serravalle, San Marino; 2 June 2017)
Biggest defeat
 Spain 99–60 Montenegro
(Cluj-Napoca, Romania; 1 September 2017)

Montenegro joined FIBA in 2006, following the restoration of Montenegrin independence the same year. Since 2006 the national team has qualified for EuroBasket on three occasions (2011, 2013, 2017). Montenegro also qualified for their first appearance to the FIBA World Cup in 2019. The team also takes part in smaller tournaments such as the Games of the Small States of Europe.

History

2006–2014
Nikola Peković with Montenegro in 2010

In 2006, the Basketball Federation of Montenegro along with this team joined the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) on its own following the Independence of Montenegro.

The Montenegrin national team entered international competition in 2008,[2] and appointed Duško Vujošević as the national coach. Montenegro started from FIBA Division B, where they won first place in their first competitive season. Since becoming a separate team, Montenegro has won 13 official games in a row, until losing to Israel in August 2010.

At that time, NBA players like Nikola Vučević and Nikola Peković became the most known players of Montenegrin national team.

In their first qualifiers for EuroBasket, Montenegro finished first in the group. So, the team qualified for Eurobasket 2011, where they played five games in the first phase - with one win and four losses. The Coach of Montenegro at their first-ever EuroBasket was Dejan Radonjić.

In August 2012, with the new coach Luka Pavićević, Montenegro started qualifiers for Eurobasket 2013. Again, they won first place, but without any defeat from 10 matches. Notable matches were against Serbia, first after the two countries separated. Montenegro won both games, and victory in Belgrade (73:71), in front of 18,000 spectators, is gained by Nikola Ivanović three-point shot from the center, one second before the end of the match.[3][4]

As the first-place team in qualifiers, Montenegro participated at Eurobasket 2013 in Slovenia. They made better results than 2011, with two wins and three defeats, but that was not enough for the second phase of EuroBasket.

First unsuccessful qualifying campaign since independence, Montenegro had during the 2014. Surprisingly, group stage at the EuroBasket 2015 qualification, Montenegro finished third, so they failed to qualify for the final tournament.

2015–present
Nikola Vučević

In 2015, Montenegro named Bogdan Tanjević new head coach of the national team. Prior to taking the reigns of the national team, he was the head coach of Fenerbahçe. As the national team earlier failed to qualify for EuroBasket 2015, they participated in the Games of the Small States of Europe (European countries with less than a million citizens) in Iceland and easily won the gold medal.

In summer 2016, Montenegro started competition in EuroBasket 2017 qualifiers, with the only ambition to qualify for their third final tournament since independence. In a group with Georgia, Slovakia and Albania, Montenegro finished as a second-place team, with one defeat, and qualified for EuroBasket 2017.

For the first time in their history, in Eurobasket 2017, Montenegro finished as a third-place team in the group stage and qualified to the knockout stage. At that time, that was the biggest success of the Montenegrin national team since its independence in 2006.

Two years later, Montenegro qualified for the 2019 FIBA World Cup for the first time, after a winner-take-all game in Podgorica against Latvia. Montenegro lost the game 80-74 but still went through as they had won the away game 84-75, thus holding the tiebreaker on points difference. With that result, Montenegro became the smallest state by population and territory to qualify for the FIBA World Cup since the establishing of competition.

Competitive record

Montenegro made their first appearance at the FIBA World Cup in 2019. The national team has also appeared three times at the EuroBasket (2011, 2013, 2017). Among the other competitions, as a country with less than a million inhabitants, Montenegro participated at the Games of the Small States of Europe winning the gold medal in 2015 and 2019.

Results and fixtures

EuroBasket 2021 Qualifiers

Group G
Pos Team Pld W L PF PA PD Pts Qualification
1  Germany 2 1 1 156 150 +6 3 EuroBasket 2021 as host
2  France 2 1 1 154 149 +5 3 EuroBasket 2021
3  Great Britain 2 1 1 155 154 +1 3
4  Montenegro 2 1 1 147 159 −12 3
Updated to match(es) played on 24 February 2020. Source: FIBA
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Head-to-head; 3) Points difference; 4) Points scored.

Team

Current roster

Roster for the EuroBasket 2021 Qualifiers matches played on 21 and 24 February 2020 against Great Britain and France.[5]

Montenegro national basketball team roster
PlayersCoaches
Pos.No.NameAge – Date of birthHeightClubCtr.
PG 1 Justin Cobbs 28 – (1991-03-16)16 March 1991 1.90 m (6 ft 3 in) Budućnost
F 6 Suad Šehović 33 – (1987-02-19)19 February 1987 1.97 m (6 ft 6 in) Budućnost
F 8 Dino Radončić 21 – (1999-01-08)8 January 1999 2.02 m (6 ft 8 in) Murcia
PG 9 Ognjen Čarapić 21 – (1998-09-01)1 September 1998 1.90 m (6 ft 3 in) Bourg-en-Bresse
C 11 Marko Todorović 27 – (1992-04-19)19 April 1992 2.10 m (6 ft 11 in) Tianjin Pioneers
G 12 Jovan Kljajić 18 – (2001-09-11)11 September 2001 1.95 m (6 ft 5 in) Gran Canaria
C 19 Marko Simonović 20 – (1999-10-15)15 October 1999 2.14 m (7 ft 0 in) Mega Bemax
PG 20 Nikola Ivanović 26 – (1994-02-19)19 February 1994 1.90 m (6 ft 3 in) Budućnost
SG 30 Petar Popović 23 – (1996-09-13)13 September 1996 1.95 m (6 ft 5 in) Budućnost
PF 34 Danilo Nikolić 26 – (1993-04-08)8 April 1993 2.05 m (6 ft 9 in) Budućnost
F 42 Nemanja Đurišić 27 – (1992-02-23)23 February 1992 2.03 m (6 ft 8 in) Beşiktaş
PF 51 Milko Bjelica 35 – (1984-06-04)4 June 1984 2.07 m (6 ft 9 in) Mornar
Head coach
  • Boško Radović
Assistant coach(es)
Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • Club – describes last
    club before the competition
  • Age – describes age
    on 21 February 2020

Depth Chart
Pos. Starting 5 Bench
C
PF
SF
SG
PG

Head coaches

Since independence, all head coaches were Montenegrin-born. The first head coach of Montenegro was Duško Vujošević. With him, Montenegro won the FIBA B division championship (2009). From 2010 to 2012, Montenegro was coached by Dejan Radonjić, who led the national team to their first EuroBasket (2011). At their next Eurobasket participation (2013), Montenegro was led by Luka Pavićević. From 2015 to 2017, the head coach of Montenegro was Bogdan Tanjević, who led Montenegro to their first-ever Second phase games at the Eurobasket (2016). After that tournament, the Basketball Federation of Montenegro named Zvezdan Mitrović new head coach of the national team. During his mandate, Montenegro for the first time qualified for the World Cup (2019), as the smallest state to ever play at the global tournament.

Years Name Record Competitions
2007–2010 Duško Vujošević 10–0 none
2010–2012 Dejan Radonjić 7–6 EuroBasket 2011 (21st)
2012–2014 Luka Pavićević 15–6 EuroBasket 2013 (17th)
2015–2017 Bogdan Tanjević 15–5 GSS 2015 (1st); EuroBasket 2017 (13th); GSS 2017 (2nd)
2017–2019 Zvezdan Mitrović 12–9 GSS 2019 (1st); World Cup 2019 (25th)

Notable former players

Records
Largest home victory
102-58,  Montenegro –  Iceland, 26 August 2009, Podgorica
Largest away victory
37-100,  San Marino –  Montenegro, 2 June 2017, Serravalle
Largest home defeat
65-80,  Montenegro –  Israel, 20 August 2014, Podgorica
Largest away defeat
99-60,  Spain –  Montenegro, 1 September 2017, Cluj-Napoca
Longest winning streak
13 matches, (6 September 2008 - 14 August 2010)
Longest losing streak
4 matches, (1 September 2011 - 5 September 2011; 1 September 2019 - 9 September 2019)
Most scored points in a match
113,  Albania –  Montenegro 73-113
Least scored points in a match
55,  Greece –  Montenegro 71-55,  Netherlands –  Montenegro 68-55
Most conceded points in a match
100,  Latvia –  Montenegro 100-68
Least conceded points in a match
37,  San Marino –  Montenegro 37-100
Highest home attendance
5,500,  Montenegro –  Serbia 72-62, 2 September 2012, Podgorica
Highest away attendance
18,000,  Serbia –  Montenegro 71-73, 18 August 2012, Belgrade

List of official matches

Montenengro played its first official match at September 2008. There is a List of official matches of the Montenegro national basketball team.

Opponents

Below is the list of performances of Montenegro national basketball team against every single opponent.

Opponents' country G W L PD
 Albania
2
2
0
+78
 Andorra
2
2
0
+61
 Austria
2
2
0
+46
 Belarus
2
2
0
+35
 Bosnia and Herzegovina
2
0
2
-14
 Brazil
1
0
1
-11
 Bulgaria
2
2
0
+17
 Croatia
2
0
2
-10
 Cyprus
2
1
1
+33
 Czech Republic
1
1
0
+13
 Denmark
2
2
0
+52
 Estonia
2
2
0
+22
 Finland
3
2
1
+28
 France
1
0
1
-19
 Georgia
2
1
1
-4
 Great Britain
1
1
0
+7
 Greece
2
0
2
-41
 Hungary
1
1
0
+24
 Iceland
7
7
0
+134
 Israel
6
4
2
+8
 Italy
2
1
1
+8
 Japan
1
1
0
+15
 Latvia
6
3
3
+6
 Lithuania
1
0
1
-7
 Luxembourg
3
3
0
+51
 Macedonia
2
2
0
+6
 Malta
1
1
0
+13
 Netherlands
4
2
2
+14
 New Zealand
1
0
1
-10
 Romania
1
1
0
+17
 San Marino
1
1
0
+63
 Serbia
3
3
0
+19
 Slovakia
4
4
0
+114
 Slovenia
2
1
1
+1
 Spain
3
0
3
-64
 Sweden
2
2
0
+37
 Turkey
3
1
2
-10
 Ukraine
2
2
0
+8
OVERALL
87
60
27
+759

Last update: 28 February 2020

Kit

Manufacturer
  • VOLI (2008-2011)
  • diva (2012-2014)
  • EPCG (2014-2015)
  • m:tel (2015–present)

See also

References
  1. "FIBA Ranking Presented by Nike". FIBA. 3 March 2020. Retrieved 3 March 2020.
  2. Eurobasket – Montenegro Profile Archived 29 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  3. http://www.vijesti.me/sport/cudo-crna-gora-trojkom-ivanovica-sa-pola-terena-srusila-srbiju-88110
  4. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QFeZfpVkxo
  5. "Montenegro during the EuroBasket 2021 Qualifiers in Feb. 2020". Retrieved 21 February 2020.
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