Macedonia | |||
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FIBA ranking | 34 | ||
Joined FIBA | 1936/1993 | ||
FIBA zone | FIBA Europe | ||
National federation | Basketball Federation of Macedonia | ||
Coach | Jordanco Davitkov | ||
Nickname(s) |
Лавови (Lions) Црвено-Жолти (Red-Yellows) Фаланга (Phalanx) |
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EuroBasket | |||
Appearances | 5 | ||
Uniforms | |||
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First international | |||
Estonia 74–60 Macedonia (Wrocław, Poland; 30 May 1993) |
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Biggest win | |||
Macedonia 105–66 Luxembourg (Skopje, Macedonia; 3 September 2005) |
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Biggest defeat | |||
Croatia 128–72 Macedonia (Wrocław, Poland; 1 June 1993) |
The Macedonia national basketball team (Macedonian: Кошаркарска репрезентациjа на Македониjа / Košarkarska reprezentacija na Makedonija) represents the Republic of Macedonia in international basketball. The Macedonian national basketball team is run by the Basketball Federation of Macedonia, the governing body of basketball in Macedonia, which was created in 1992 and joined FIBA in 1993. Prior to 1993, Macedonia was part of the Yugoslavia national basketball team.
Before 1991, Macedonia was a Federal Republic of Federation SFRJ and part of the national basketball team .
After qualifying for EuroBasket 1999, the basketball team was placed in Group A, along with FR Yugoslavia, France and Israel. First game, Macedonia came out firing showing solid competitive play against the French Team, however, eventually lost by a narrow margin of 67–71. Next up, was Group A favorites FR Yugoslavia, showing superior play with their post up offense, Macedonia lost 68–83. With the final game of the group, Macedonia played a fairly even match, however, luck was not on their side, losing 82–84, henceforth, being eliminated from the tournament. Even though Macedonia lost all 3 games, the team showed heart and talent with their impressive play against France and Israel. Due to their small margin of the losses Macedonia ended the tournament ranked as 13th overall.
After qualifying for EuroBasket 2009, the Macedonian national basketball team was placed in Group A, along with Greece, Croatia and Israel. Macedonia began the tournament with a heavy 54–86 loss to rivals Greece, but rebounded with an 82–79 victory over Israel. Despite dropping their last game against Croatia, the Israel result was enough to secure second round qualification. In the second round, Macedonia was placed in Group E alongside France, Germany and Russia. Macedonia lost to France in the second round opener, but famously defeated Germany in the next game. Against Russia, Macedonia was narrowly defeated by a score of 69–71. This performance was not enough to secure a berth in the knockout round. Nevertheless, Macedonia considers this as a historic success for the national team, since it was only the country's second appearance in EuroBasket and the team advanced past the first round. In the final tournament rankings, Macedonia ranked 9th place with a record of 2–4.