Belgium | |||
---|---|---|---|
FIBA ranking | 44 7 | ||
Joined FIBA | 1932 | ||
FIBA zone | FIBA Europe | ||
National federation | Royal Belgian Basketball Federation | ||
Coach | Eddy Casteels | ||
Nickname(s) | Belgian Lions | ||
Olympic Games | |||
Appearances | 3 | ||
EuroBasket | |||
Appearances | 17 | ||
Uniforms | |||
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The Belgian national basketball team is the basketball side that represents Belgium in international competitions.
They have qualified for the FIBA EuroBasket 13 times, having their best result at the EuroBasket 1947 when they finished 4th. Further, they entered the Basketball Olympic Tournament on three occasions, in 1936, 1948 and 1952. Their best result was 11th place at the 1948 Olympic Games, in London. Their qualification for the EuroBasket 2011 marked their first qualification in almost 20 years.
The team is nicknamed the Belgian Lions.
The Belgian side came in sixth place at the first European basketball championship, the EuroBasket 1935 held by the International Basketball Federation's FIBA Europe continental federation. They lost to Romania in the preliminary round. In the 5th to 8th place classification match, the Belgians defeated Bulgaria to advance to the 5th/6th playoff. There they were defeated by the French, 49–30.
The next European championship that Belgium contested was EuroBasket 1946. In the most competitive of the preliminary groups, Belgium lost close contests to Switzerland and eventual champions Czechoslovakia. Their third-place finish in the group relegated them to the 7th–10th place semifinals, where they defeated Poland handily. In the 7th/8th place final, the Belgians were victorious over the Luxembourg team,in 7th place.