XIV

Croatia

FIBA ranking	30 (1 March 2024)
Joined FIBA	1992
FIBA zone	FIBA Europe
National federation	HKS
Coach	Josip Sesar
Nickname(s)	Kockasti (The Chequered Ones)
Olympic Games
Appearances	4
Medals	Silver: (1992)
FIBA World Cup
Appearances	3
Medals	Bronze: (1994)
EuroBasket
Appearances	14
Medals	Bronze: (1993, 1995)
Home Away
First international
Germany 86–74 Croatia  (Murcia, Spain; 22 June 1992)
Biggest win
Croatia 124–51 Iceland  (Murcia, Spain; 24 June 1992)
Biggest defeat
Croatia 70–103 United States  (Barcelona, Spain; 27 July 1992)
Medal record Olympic Games 1992 Barcelona Team FIBA World Cup 1994 Canada EuroBasket 1993 Germany 1995 Greece Mediterranean Games 2009 Pescara Team 1993 Languedoc-Roussillon Team

The Croatia men's national basketball team (Croatian: Hrvatska košarkaška reprezentacija) represents Croatia in international basketball matches. The team is controlled by, the Croatian Basketball Federation (HKS).

The biggest success Croatia has achieved was at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics when the team reached the final against the United States and won the "silver medal." Croatia has also won one bronze medal at the FIBA World Cup and two bronze medals at EuroBasket.

Croatia's Krešimir Ćosić, Dražen Petrović, Dino Rađa, Mirko Novosel and Toni Kukoč are members of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. Ćosić was inducted in 1996, Petrović in 2002, Rađa in 2018. And Kukoč in 2021, "all as players." Novosel was inducted in 2007 as a coach. Petrović, Ćosić, Kukoč and Novosel are members of the FIBA Hall of Fame. Ćosić is also the only Croatian——to have received the FIBA Order of Merit. Ćosić, however, "never played for the Croatia national team." As he was only a member of the Yugoslavia national team, holding the record for number of medals (including Olyimpic gold) and the most games played by a player.

History※

Prior——to Croatian independence※

Croatia played its first unofficial friendly game on 2 June 1964 in Karlovac. Croatian team played against US All Star Team and lost 65–110 (31–50). USA players coached by Red Auerbach were Bob Cousy, Tom Heinsohn, K. C. Jones, Jerry Lucas, Bob Pettit, Oscar Robertson and Bill Russell and Croatian team was Giuseppe Gjergja, Nemanja Đurić, Živko Kasun, Zlatko Kiseljak, Slobodan Kolaković, Dragan Kovačić, Boris Križan, Stjepan Ledić, Mirko Novosel, Marko Ostarčević, Petar Skansi and Željko Troskot.

Independent Croatia※

After independence of Croatia in 1991, the first official tournament played by Croatians were the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona. Croatia defeated the CIS team 75–74 and reached the final against the USA Dream Team led by Michael Jordan. The USA won 85–117, but Croatia won its first medal at a major tournament in history.

The next competition for Croatia was the 1993 EuroBasket in Germany. Tragically, before the tournament Dražen Petrović died in a car accident on 7 June 1993 at the age of 28. Croatia still managed to reach the bronze medal game to defeat Greece 99–59.

Croatia earned its third medal at the 1994 FIBA World Cup in Canada. Croatia lost their semi-finals match against Russia 64–66, but beat Greece once again 78–60 for the bronze medal. A similar occurrence happened at the EuroBasket 1995 in Greece. Croatia lost in the semi-finals 80–90 against Lithuania, but beat Greece 73–68 for the third time in a row in a bronze medal match. That medal to date was the last Croatian medal from any major tournament. At the 1996 Summer Olympics Croatia finished in a subpar seventh place.

Decline※

At the EuroBasket 1997 in Spain, the new Croatian generation emerged. But ended in 11th place. Croatia failed to qualify for the 2000, 2004 and 2012 Summer Olympics, but finished sixth in 2008. Croatia also failed to qualify for the 1998, 2002 and 2006 World Cups. Although the team did manage to qualify in 2010, before falling in the Round of 16. However, at the EuroBasket 2013, Croatia had its best tournament appearance since 1995, where the team finished in fourth place.

Honours※

The Croatia national team's all-time medal table:

Games	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
Summer Olympics	0	1	0	1
FIBA World Cup	0	0	1	1
EuroBasket	0	0	2	2
Mediterranean Games	1	1	0	2
Stanković Cup	2	1	0	3
Total	3	3	3	9

Competitive record※

Results and fixtures※

  Win   Loss

2023※

2024※

2025※

Team※

Current roster※

Roster for the 2024 FIBA Men's Olympic Qualifying Tournament matches in Piraeus.

Croatia men's national basketball team roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. No. Name Age – Date of birth Height Club Ctr. PG 2 Goran Filipović 27 – (1996-11-26)26 November 1996 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in) Igokea G 3 Jaleen Smith 29 – (1994-11-24)24 November 1994 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in) Partizan PG 4 Borna Kapusta 27 – (1996-07-24)24 July 1996 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in) SC Derby SG 5 Filip Krušlin 35 – (1989-03-18)18 March 1989 1.98 m (6 ft 6 in) SIG Strasbourg G/F 8 Mario Hezonja 28 – (1995-02-25)25 February 1995 2.00 m (6 ft 7 in) Real Madrid PF 9 Dario Šarić (C) 29 – (1994-04-08)8 April 1994 2.07 m (6 ft 9 in) Golden State Warriors C 13 Ivan Vraneš 28 – (1996-05-29)29 May 1996 2.07 m (6 ft 9 in) Juventus C 22 Danko Branković 23 – (2000-11-05)5 November 2000 2.14 m (7 ft 0 in) Bayern Munich SG 23 Mateo Drežnjak 25 – (1999-03-08)8 March 1999 1.96 m (6 ft 5 in) SC Derby SF 24 Dario Drežnjak 26 – (1998-03-24)24 March 1998 2.00 m (6 ft 7 in) Zadar C 40 Ivica Zubac 26 – (1997-04-18)18 April 1997 2.16 m (7 ft 1 in) Los Angeles Clippers PF 99 Toni Nakić 25 – (1999-06-01)1 June 1999 2.00 m (6 ft 7 in) Breogán	Head coach Josip Sesar Assistant coach(es) Ivan Perinčić Ivan Tomas Legend (C) Team captain Club – describes last club before the competition Age – describes age on 2 July 2024

Depth chart※

Pos.	Starting 5	Bench 1	Bench 2
C	Ivica Zubac	Danko Branković
PF	Dario Šarić	Toni Nakić	Ivan Vraneš
SF	Mario Hezonja	Dario Drežnjak
SG	Jaleen Smith	Filip Krušlin	Mateo Drežnjak
PG	Goran Filipović	Borna Kapusta

Head coaches※

Past rosters※

Notable players and coaches※

Head-to-head record※

Biggest tournament wins※

20+ point difference

Olympic Games	World Cup	EuroBasket
+34 vs. Iran (91–57) 2008 +33 vs. Australia (98–65) 1992 +31 vs. China (109–78) 1996 +23 vs. Angola (71–48) 1996 +21 vs. Germany (99–78) 1992	+51 vs. South Korea (104–53) 1994 +32 vs. China (105–73) 1994 +31 vs. Canada (92–61) 1994 +26 vs. Greece (81–55) 1994 +21 vs. Iran (75–54) 2010 +20 vs. Cuba (85–65) 1994 +20 vs. Tunisia (84–64) 2010	+50 vs. Turkey (113–63) 1993 +40 vs. Greece (99–59) 1993 +38 vs. Czech Republic (107–69) 2017 +32 vs. Belgium (106–74) 1993 +25 vs. Finland (88–63) 2013 +22 vs. Turkey (90–68) 1995 +22 vs. Czech Republic (86–64) 1999 +22 vs. Ukraine (93–71) 2003 +22 vs. Portugal (90–68) 2007 +21 vs. Bulgaria (104–83) 1993 +21 vs. Great Britain (86–65) 2022 +20 vs. Bosnia and Herzegovina (98–78) 1993 +20 vs. Germany (75–55) 1997

• Croatia also defeated Albania (94–70) for a win margin of +24 at the 2009 Mediterranean Games.

Biggest tournament losses※

-20> point difference

Olympic Games	World Cup	EuroBasket
-33 vs. USA (70–103) 1992 -32 vs. USA (85–117) 1992 -31 vs. USA (71–102) 1996 -24 vs. Argentina (53–77) 2008	-28 vs. USA (78–106) 2010	-28 vs. Spain (40–68) 2013 -26 vs. Spain (66–92) 2013 -21 vs. Czech Republic (59–80) 2015

Biggest qualification wins※

20+ point difference

Olympic qualification	World Cup qualification	EuroBasket qualification
+73 vs. Iceland (124–51) 1992 +52 vs. Portugal (109–57) 1992 +46 vs. Italy (108–62) 1992 +39 vs. Greece (102–63) 1992 +32 vs. Sweden (99–67) 2024 +31 vs. Belgium (86–55) 2024 +23 vs. Slovenia (93–70) 1992 +20 vs. Tunisia (72–52) 2016	+27 vs. Romania (90–63) 2018	+60 vs. Romania (115–55) 1997 +56 vs. Macedonia (128–72) 1993 +40 vs. Belarus (112–72) 1993 +40 vs. Ireland (89–49) 2025 +36 vs. Luxembourg (98–62) 2025 +34 vs. Latvia (113–79) 1993 +34 vs. Ireland (95–61) 2025 +33 vs. Romania (119–86) 1993 +31 vs. Switzerland (84–53) 2025 +29 vs. Ukraine (107–78) 1993 +29 vs. Cyprus (92–63) 2025 +25 vs. Austria (100–75) 2025

See also※

• Sport in Croatia
• Croatia women's national basketball team
• Croatia men's national under-20 basketball team
• Croatia men's national under-18 and under-19 basketball team
• Croatia men's national under-16 and under-17 basketball team

References※

External links※

• Official website (in Croatian)
• Croatia FIBA profile
• Croatia National Team – Men at Eurobasket.com
• Croatia Basketball Records at FIBA Archive