Portugal national basketball team

Portugal Portugal

121px
FIBA ranking	T-84th 33
Joined FIBA	1932 (co-founders)
FIBA zone	FIBA Europe
National federation	FPB
Coach	Mário Palma
Olympic Games
Appearances	None
FIBA World Cup
Appearances	None
EuroBasket
Appearances	3
Medals	None
Uniforms
Home Away
Medal record Lusophony Games 2006 Macau Team 2009 Lisbon Team

The Portuguese national basketball team is the basketball side that represents Portugal in international competition. Portugal never had great success in the past at international level, but have qualified for the Eurobasket three times, more recently in EuroBasket 2011. Portugal has yet to qualify for the Basketball World Championship or the Basketball Olympic Tournament.

Portugal is one of the founding members of the International Federation of Basketball (FIBA) and has one of the world's longest basketball traditions.

Eurobasket 1935

Main article: EuroBasket 1935

Portugal nearly joined the field of the first European championship, but in the only qualification game held for the tournament the Portuguese lost 33–12 to the Spanish team in Madrid. The game was curiously referred by the Spanish coach Mariano Manent.

Eurobasket 1951

Main article: EuroBasket 1951

Portugal's European Championship debut was at Eurobasket 1951 in Paris, where they were invited to play in the tournament. Both of their preliminary round games were losses, though they did get an official win in Romania's forfeit to finish 1–2 and third place in the group.

In the first classification round, Portugal managed a win against Switzerland in a major upset, 51–49, but nevertheless finished in fourth and last place of the classification round group with a 1–2 record. They then lost to Denmark in the second round classification 13–16 game, but defeated Scotland in the 15/16 game to place 15th of 18 teams.

EuroBasket 2007

Main article: EuroBasket 2007

Portugal qualified for its second EuroBasket (but first time through direct qualification) by finishing first in its qualification group, where it beat the likes of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Republic of Macedonia and Israel, who eventually booked the last place in the final tournament through an additional qualifying tournament.

In the preliminary round, Portugal lost its first two matches against Spain and Croatia by 56–82 and 68–90, respectively. Before the third and last match of its group, Portugal had to defeat Latvia by, at least, sixteen points; alternatively, a victory would suffice provided Croatia defeated the World champions, Spain, in their last match. Portugal won by only ten points, but since Croatia grabbed a surprising one-point victory, with a three-pointer in the last three seconds, Portugal qualified for the first time ever to the second round.

Portugal began this round playing against Russia, that had won all games in its preliminary group; the Portuguese were defeated by 65–78. Israel was the next opponent and, like in the qualification, Portugal once again defeated them, by 94–85, putting up their best performance in the tournament. This second victory revived Portugal's chances to reach the quarterfinals; a simple victory in the last match against the holders of the EuroBasket 2005 and 2006 FIBA World Championship runners-up Greece would be enough, if Croatia defeated Russia (otherwise, Greece would have to lose by at least thirteen points). However, Greece displayed a consistent and stronger game play, beating naturally the Portuguese by 67–85 and ending their qualification hopes. Nevertheless, it was the best performance ever by a Portuguese national basketball team at this level, ensuring a spot in the ten best European teams.

Competitive record

At Eurobasket

FIBA EuroBasket
Year	Position	Pld	W	L
1951	15th Place	8	3	5
2007	9th Place	6	2	4
2011	21st Place	5	0	5
TBD 2017	To Be Determined
Total		19	5	14

At Lusophony Games

FIBA EuroBasket
Year	Position	Pld	W	L
2006	Champion	7	7	0
2009	Third place	4	3	1
2014	Did Not Participate
2017	To Be Determined
Total		11	10	1

Roster

Team that represented Portugal in the EuroBasket 2007, their best classification ever.

Coach: Valentin Melnychuk

No	Player	Height	Position	Year born	Current club
4	Miguel Minhava	1.97	Guard	1983	SL Benfica
5	Mário Gil Fernandes	1.74	Guard	1982	CB Plasencia
6	Sérgio Ramos	2.00	Forward	1975	Drac Inca
7	Paulo Cunha	1.99	Forward	1980	FC Porto
8	Francisco Jordão	2.00	Center	1979	1º de Agosto
9	Filipe da Silva	1.93	Guard	1979	CB Villa de los Barrios
10	João "Betinho" Gomes	1.99	Forward	1985	FC Barreirense
11	Jorge Coelho	2.00	Center	1978	Palencia Baloncesto
12	Paulo Simão	1.98	Forward	1976	CF Belenenses
13	Elvis Évora	2.05	Center	1978	Ovarense Aerosoles
14	Miguel Miranda	2.05	Center	1978	Ovarense Aerosoles
15	João Santos	2.03	Forward	1979	Grupo Capitol Valladolid

Notable players

• João Gomes
• Sérgio Ramos
• Nuno Marçal
• Tó Ferreira
• Carlos Lisboa
• Pedro Miguel
• Pedro Nuno
• Rui Pinheiro
• Mike Plowden
• Steve Rocha

Kit

Manufacturer

2012: Reebok

Sponsor

2012: Montepio

External links

• Current Squad