Bulgaria men's national basketball team explained

Country:Bulgaria
Nickname:Лъвовете / Lavovete
(The Lions)
Coach:Rosen Barchovski
Joined Fiba:1935
Fiba Zone:FIBA Europe
National Fed:Bulgarian Basketball Federation
Oly Appearances:4
Oly Medals:None
Wc Appearances:1
Wc Medals:None
Zone Championship:EuroBasket
Zone Appearances:25
Zone Medals: Silver: (1957)
Bronze: (1961)
H Body:FFFFFF
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H Shorts:FFFFFF
H Pattern S:_redsides
A Body:00966e
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First Game: 42–23
(Geneva, Switzerland; 2 May 1935)
Largest Win: 55–133
(Heerlen, Netherlands; 4 May 1972)
Largest Loss: 60–104
(Botevgrad, Bulgaria; 21 February 2019)

The Bulgaria men's national basketball team (Bulgarian: Български национален отбор по баскетбол|Balgarski natsionalen otbor po basketbol) represents Bulgaria in international basketball. The governing body is the Bulgarian Basketball Federation.

Bulgaria's first appearance at an international tournament came at the EuroBasket in 1935. They have reached the premier European basketball competition 25 times, with their best results coming in 1957 as the runners-up on home soil, and their bronze medal finish in 1961 respectively. Bulgaria has also qualified for the FIBA World Cup, where they finished seventh in their lone appearance in 1959. Competing at the Olympic Games multiple times, the national team had their top performance in 1956. Bulgaria has also competed at smaller events, such as the Balkan Championship, winning gold medals in 1959, 1960, and 1971.

History

EuroBasket 1935

Bulgaria debuted on the international stage at the first EuroBasket (European Basketball Championship), which was held in Geneva, in 1935. The Bulgarian side started the tournament off with a loss to Italy in the preliminary round, but bounced back to defeat Hungary in their next match. Following this, Bulgaria lost their classification matches to Belgium, and to Italy again. The national team would finishing off their tournament debut in 8th place.

EuroBasket 1947

Twelve years later, the Bulgarian national team reached the tournament once again, for their second appearance overall. At the EuroBasket 1947, Bulgaria split their two preliminary round matches against Austria, and France advancing to the upper bracket semifinal groups. There they lost all three of their games, putting them in a 7th/8th place classification match versus Hungary, which they lost. The national team would once again end the tournament reaching the quarterfinals.

EuroBasket 1951

Bulgaria's third appearance was at EuroBasket 1951 in Paris. They won their two contested preliminary games, outscoring opponents 145–70, and gained a third win by Romania's forfeit. In the semifinal round, the national team became enmeshed in a three-way tie for first place in the four-team group after losing to France but winning the other two matches, and ended up finishing in second place in the group. This pitted them against the Soviet Union in a semifinal matchup, which the Bulgarians lost. The national team then went on to lose again, in the bronze medal game to France.

EuroBasket 1953

The national team's next appearance was in Moscow for EuroBasket 1953. They found themselves on the unfortunate end of a three-way tiebreaker after finishing 3–1 in their preliminary group, and their 3rd place rank in the group sent them to the classification round, a disappointing turn of events for Bulgaria which had expected to do at least as well as they had two years prior. They won their next five matches to take the highest place available, after the preliminary round. Thus, reaching the quarterfinals in the tournament with an 8–1 record.

EuroBasket 1955

At EuroBasket 1955 in Budapest, the Bulgarian side open up their campaign at the tournament with a 107-33 dismantling of Denmark. They would go on to only drop one match in their preliminary group to finish with a 2–1 record, which allowed them to advance to the final round along with group leader Czechoslovakia. After losing to the three eventual medalists in the final round, Bulgaria finished the round with a 4–3 record while once again reaching the semifinals.

EuroBasket 1957

Bulgaria hosted the EuroBasket 1957, in Sofia. The national team breezed through their three preliminary round matches, and kept their win streak through the first six of the final round games, including an 82–80 victory over Czechoslovakia. In their final game of the tournament, which by chance was against the similarly undefeated Soviet Union squad, Bulgaria led by 4 points at halftime, 23–19. Their lead did not last through the second half though, however, as the Soviets powered to a 60–57 final, Bulgaria finished as the runners-up with the silver medal.

1959 World Cup

Bulgaria made its debut at the World Cup in 1959. They were placed in Group C, where they went undefeated (3-0) and advanced to the final round. There, they finished with a 2–4 record, but after controversy struck. As they along with the Soviets refused to play Formosa, due to political reasons. This mishap caused the national team to be relegated to seventh place at the tournament.

EuroBasket 1961

At the EuroBasket 1961, the national team returned to the top European basketball tournament looking to place better than their last trip at the event. In their preliminary round group they finished with a 2–0 record to move on to the second round. There they finished with an impressive 4–1 record to advance to the semifinals with a matchup against the Soviet Union. The outcome did not turn out in the favour of the Bulgarian side though, as they were manhandled 77–54. The devastating loss sent the Bulgarians to the bronze medal match versus France, where they came away with a victory to end the tournament on a high note.

Later years

Bulgaria would go on to qualify to the European Basketball Championship 16 more times after 1961, but never came away with a top three finish at the event. The Bulgarian side have endured multiple droughts without qualifying as well, e.g. not reaching the tournament for 12 years after EuroBasket 1993 until EuroBasket 2005. As well as not having qualified to the tournament since 2011. They have also attempted to qualify for the World Cup on numerous occasions since 1959, although they have yet to succeed in their bid.

Competitive record

FIBA World Cup

World CupQualification
YearPositionwidth=30width=30width=30width=30width=30width=30
1950Did not enterDid not enter
1954Did not qualifyEuroBasket served
as qualifiers
19597th954
1963Did not qualify
1967
1970
1974
1978
1982
1986624
1990EuroBasket served
as qualifiers
1994
1998
2002
2006
2010
2014
20191688
2023615
2027To be determinedTo be determined
Total1/1995428 11 17

Olympic Games

Olympic GamesQualifying
YearPositionwidth=30width=30width=30width=30width=30width=30
1936Did not enter
19527th1055
19565th853
196016th615Direct qualification
1964Did not qualify853
196810th945871
1972Did not qualify1275
1976633
1980303
1984312
1988Did not enterDid not enter
1992Did not qualify523
1996Did not qualify
2000
2004
2008
2012
2016
2020
2024303
Total4/2133 15 18 48 25 23

EuroBasket

EuroBasketQualification
YearPositionwidth=30width=30width=30width=30width=30width=30
19358th413
1937Did not enter
1939
1946
19478th615
1949Did not enter
19514th853
19539th981
19554th1064
1957bgcolor=silverbgcolor=silver10bgcolor=silver9bgcolor=silver1
19595th853
1961862
19635th972Direct qualification
19655th963
19674th945
19697th743431
19716th743440
19736th734Direct qualification
19755th734
19776th743
197911th716
1981Did not qualify514
1983954
19858th83514104
1987Did not qualify954
19897th514972
19918th505642
199316th303642
1995Did not qualify1046
19971055
19991037
20011046
20031697
200513th303642
2007Did not qualify1046
200913th303844
201113th523844
2013Did not qualify844
20151477
2017624
202220th514624
2025To be determinedTo be determined
Total25/41169 84 85 188 99 89

Results and fixtures

2025

Team

Current roster

Roster for EuroBasket 2025 Qualifiers matches on 22 and 25 February 2024 against Sweden and Germany.[1]

Depth chart

Head coach position

Notable players

Past rosters

1935 EuroBasket

finished 8th among 10 teams

3 Krum Konstantinov, 4 Pinkas, 5 Etropolski, 6 Rogachev, 7 Tsankov, 8 Kevorkjan, 9 Khaimov (Coach: Krum Konstantinov)----1947 EuroBasket

finished 8th among 14 teams

3 Veselin Temkov, 4 Krhisto Khajtov, 5 Ljudmil Katerinski, 6 Aleksandar Damjanov, 7 Sharkov, 8 Kosanov, 9 Peev, 10 Konstantin Georgiev, 11 Nikola Kolev, 12 Rajkov, 13 Bozhidar Takev, 14 Ilija Asenov, 15 Stefan Bankov (Coach: Georgi Petkov)----1951 EuroBasket

finished 4th among 17 teams

3 Iliya Georgiev, 4 Stefan Bankov, 5 Neycho Neychev, 6 Vladimir Savov, 7 Ilija Asenov, 8 Petar Shishkov, 9 Kiril Semov, 10 Konstantin Totev, 11 Anton Kuzov, 12 Gencho Khristov, 13 Ivan Nikolov, 14 Dimitar Popov, 15 Metodi Tomovski, 16 Konstantin Georgiev (Coach: Veselin Temkov)----1952 Olympic Games

finished 7th among 23 teams

3 Iliya Georgiev, 4 Kiril Semov, 5 Neycho Neychev, 6 Khristo Donchev, 7 Vasil Manchenko, 8 Petar Shishkov, 9 Georgi Panov, 10 Konstantin Totev, 11 Anton Kuzov, 12 Gencho Khristov, 13 Ivan Nikolov, 14 Veselin Penkov, 15 Konstantin Georgiev, 16 Vladimir Savov (Coach: Veselin Temkov)----1953 EuroBasket

finished 9th among 17 teams

3 Iliya Georgiev, 4 Vladimir Stefanov, 5 Velko Velkov, 6 Khristo Donchev, 7 Vasil Manchenko, 8 Konstantin Georgiev, 9 Georgi Panov, 10 Konstantin Totev, 11 Anton Kuzov, 12 Dimitar Popov, 13 Lyubomir Panov, 14 Veselin Penkov, 15 Iliya Mirchev, 16 Vladimir Savov (Coach: Veselin Temkov)----1955 EuroBasket

finished 4th among 18 teams

3 Vasil Manchenko, 4 Vladimir Ganchev, 5 Iliya Mirchev, 6 Rajkov, 7 Gencho Khristov, 8 Anton Kuzov, 9 Georgi Panov, 10 Konstantin Totev, 11 Cvjatko Barchovski, 12 Metodi Tomovski, 13 Viktor Radev, 14 Emanuil Gyaurov (Coach: Bozhidar Takev)----1956 Olympic Games

finished 5th among 15 teams

3 Atanas Atanasov, 4 Vladimir Savov, 5 Iliya Mirchev, 6 Viktor Radev, 7 Georgi Kanev, 8 Vasil Manchenko, 9 Georgi Panov, 10 Konstantin Totev, 11 Tsvetko Slavov, 12 Lyubomir Panov, 13 Nikolay Ilov (Coach: Ljudmil Katerinski)----1957 EuroBasket

finished 2nd among 16 teams

3 Mikhail Semov, 4 Vladimir Ganchev, 5 Iliya Mirchev, 6 Viktor Radev, 7 Georgi Kanev, 8 Petko Lazarov, 9 Georgi Panov, 10 Konstantin Totev, 11 Tsvetko Slavov, 12 Lyubomir Panov, 13 Metodi Tomovski, 14 Atanas Atanasov (Coach: Ljudmil Katerinski)----1959 FIBA World Cup

finished 7th among 13 teams

3 Mikhail Semov, 4 Gencho Khristov, 5 Iliya Mirchev, 6 Viktor Radev, 7 Georgi Kanev, 8 Petko Lazarov, 9 Georgi Panov, 10 Emanuil Gyaurov, 11 Tsvetko Slavov, 12 Lyubomir Panov, 13 Metodi Tomovski, 14 Atanas Atanasov (Coach: Ljudmil Katerinski)----1959 EuroBasket

finished 5th among 17 teams

3 Angel Shipkov, 5 Iliya Mirchev, 6 Viktor Radev, 7 Georgi Kanev, 8 Petko Lazarov, 9 Georgi Panov, 10 Khristo Donchev, 12 Mikhail Semov, 13 Nikolay Ilov, 14 Atanas Atanasov, 15 Tsvetko Slavov, 16 Gencho Khristov (Coach: Ljudmil Katerinski)----1960 Olympic Games

finished 16th among 16 teams

3 Stefan Stoykov, 5 Iliya Mirchev, 6 Viktor Radev, 7 Georgi Kanev, 8 Petko Lazarov, 9 Georgi Panov, 10 Emanuil Gyaurov, 11 Tsvetko Slavov, 12 Lyubomir Panov, 13 Nikolay Ilov, 14 Atanas Atanasov, 15 Khristo Tsvetkov (Coach: Nikola Kolev)----1961 EuroBasket

finished 3rd among 19 teams

4 Mincho Dimov, 5 Iliya Mirchev, 6 Viktor Radev, 7 Stefan Stoykov, 8 Petko Lazarov, 9 Georgi Panov, 10 Khristo Donchev, 11 Tsvetko Slavov, 12 Lyubomir Panov, 13 Khristo Tsvetkov, 14 Atanas Atanasov, 15 Radko Zlatev (Coach: Veselin Temkov)----1963 EuroBasket

finished 5th among 16 teams

4 Stefan Filipov, 5 Iliya Mirchev, 6 Viktor Radev, 7 Georgi Kanev, 8 Mincho Dimov, 9 Georgi Panov, 10 Dimitar Donev, 11 Tsvetko Slavov, 12 Lyubomir Panov, 13 Nikola Atanasov, 14 Atanas Atanasov, 15 Kliment Kamenarov (Coach: Kiril Khajtov)----1965 EuroBasket

finished 5th among 16 teams

4 Mincho Dimov, 6 Pando Pandov, 7 Georgi Barzakov, 8 Emil Mikhaylov, 9 Valentin Spasov, 10 Kamen Ilchev, 11 Stefan Filipov, 12 Borislav Kolev, 13 Slavey Raychev, 14 Atanas Atanasov, 15 Radko Zlatev, 16 Boto Paspalanov (Coach: Kiril Semov)----1967 EuroBasket

finished 4th among 16 teams

4 Emil Mikhaylov, 5 Slavey Raychev, 6 Pando Pandov, 7 Khristo Doychinov, 8 Georgi Guenev, 9 Boris Krastev, 10 Mincho Dimov, 11 Cvjatko Barchovski, 12 Ivan Vodenicharski, 13 Boycho Branzov, 14 Temelaki Dimitrov, 15 Georgi Khristov (Coach: Kiril Khajtov)----1968 Olympic Games

finished 10th among 16 teams

4 Emil Mikhaylov, 5 Stanislav Boyadzhiev, 6 Pando Pandov, 7 Khristo Doychinov, 8 Valentin Spasov, 9 Stefan Filipov, 10 Mincho Dimov, 11 Ivaylo Kirov, 12 Dimitar Sakhanikov, 13 Boycho Branzov, 14 Slavey Raychev, 15 Georgi Khristov (Coach: Kiril Khajtov)----1969 EuroBasket

finished 7th among 12 teams

4 Khristo Doychinov, 5 Rumen Pejchev, 6 Atanas Golomeev, 7 Dimitar Galabov, 8 Ivan Rusinov, 9 Georgi Barzakov, 10 Mincho Dimov, 11 Bogomil Chanev, 12 Stancho Kostov, 13 Boycho Branzov, 14 Temelaki Dimitrov, 15 Georgi Khristov (Coach: Dimitar Mitev)----1971 EuroBasket

finished 6th among 12 teams

4 Rumen Pejchev, 5 Stefan Filipov, 6 Pando Pandov, 7 Khristo Doychinov, 9 llija Yankov, 10 Boto Paspalanov, 11 Atanas Golomeev, 12 Docho Petrov, 13 Ivaylo Kirov, 14 Slavey Raychev, 15 Georgi Khristov, 16 Bogomil Chanev (Coach: Dimitar Mitev)----1973 EuroBasket

finished 6th among 12 teams

4 Khristo Doychinov, 5 Georgi Stojanov, 6 Pando Pandov, 7 Rumen Pejchev, 8 Ivaylo Kirov, 9 Khristo Borisov, 10 Marin Romanski, 11 Atanas Golomeev, 12 Boris Krastev, 13 Boycho Branzov, 14 Bogomil Chanev, 15 Georgi Khristov (Coach: Nejcho Nejchev)----1975 EuroBasket

finished 5th among 12 teams

4 Khristo Doychinov, 5 Valentin Petkov, 6 Atanas Stojanov, 7 Docho Petrov, 8 Mikhail Mikhajlov, 9 Valentin Sharkov, 10 Marin Romanski, 11 Atanas Golomeev, 12 Mikhail Dukov, 13 Boycho Branzov, 14 Temelaki Dimitrov, 15 Georgi Khristov (Coach: Ivan Kolev)----1977 EuroBasket

finished 6th among 12 teams

4 Milko Arabadzhijski, 5 Linben Yosifov, 6 Petko Marinov, 7 Stojan Shantov, 8 Ilija Evtimov, 9 Mikail Smochevski, 10 Valentin Sharkov, 11 Atanas Golomeev, 12 Plamen Takev, 13 Atanas Kolev, 14 Todor Bogdanov, 15 Rumen Pejchev (Coach: Nejcho Nejchev)----1979 EuroBasket

finished 11th among 12 teams

4 Georgi Glouchkov, 5 Atanas Kolev, 6 Dimitar Donov, 7 Mikhail Manolov, 8 Ilija Evtimov, 9 Hristo Borissov, 10 Valentin Sharkov, 11 Rumen Pejchev, 12 Ognjan Rusev, 13 Milko Arabadzhijski, 14 Todor Bogdanov, 15 Dimitar Marchin (Coach: Ivan Todorov)----1985 EuroBasket

finished 8th among 12 teams

4 Kojo Koev, 5 Atanas Kolev, 6 Jordan Kolev, 7 Rosen Barchovski, 8 Ilija Evtimov, 9 Saško Vezenkov, 10 Ivan Cenov, 11 Georgi Mladenov, 12 Cvetan Antov, 13 Emil Jonov, 14 Georgi Glouchkov, 15 Ljubomir Amiorkov (Coach: Cvjatko Barchovski)----1989 EuroBasket

finished 7th among 8 teams

4 Kojo Koev, 5 Eduard Vălčev, 6 Jordan Kolev, 7 Robert Gergov, 8 Georgi Glouchkov, 9 Ventsislav Slavov, 10 Ivan Cenov, 11 Saško Vezenkov, 12 Georgi Mladenov, 13 Emil Jonov, 14 Cvetan Antov, 15 Ljubomir Amiorkov (Coach: Kiril Semov)----1991 EuroBasket

finished 8th among 8 teams

4 Ivajlo Ravucov, 5 Cvetan Nedelčev, 6 Jordan Kolev, 7 Robert Gergov, 8 Spas Natov, 9 Plamen Petrov, 10 Ivan Cenov, 11 Saško Vezenkov, 12 Georgi Mladenov, 13 Daniel Dimitrov, 14 Georgi Glouchkov, 15 Lubomir Amiorkov (Coach: Saško Vezenkov)----1993 EuroBasket

finished 16th among 16 teams

4 Stanislav Stankov, 5 Anton Kharalanov, 6 Dimo Kostov, 7 Ivajlo Ravutsov, 8 Spas Natov, 9 Ventsislav Slavov, 10 Daniel Dimitrov, 11 Vladimir Dimitrov, 12 Georgi Mladenov, 13 Vasil Stojanov, 14 Robert Gergov, 15 Lubomir Amiorkov (Coach: Saško Vezenkov)----2005 EuroBasket

finished 13th among 16 teams

4 Dejan Ivanov, 5 Kaloyan Ivanov, 6 Tenčo Banev, 7 Yulian Radionov, 8 Filip Videnov, 9 Yordan Bozov, 10 Georgi Davidov, 11 Dimitar Angelov, 12 Stefan Georgiev, 13 Boyko Mladenov, 14 Hrisimir Dimitrov, 15 Todor Stoykov (Coach: Rosen Barchovski)----2009 EuroBasket

finished 16th among 16 teams

4 Deyan Ivanov, 5 Kaloyan Ivanov, 6 Chavdar Kostov, 7 Earl Rowland, 8 Filip Videnov, 9 Stanislav Slaveykov, 10 Stefan Georgiev, 11 Dimitar Angelov, 12 Vassil Evtimov, 13 Boyko Mladenov, 14 Bozhidar Avramov, 15 Todor Stoykov (Coach: Pini Gershon)----2011 EuroBasket

finished 13th among 24 teams

4 Dejan Ivanov, 5 Kaloyan Ivanov, 6 Earl Rowland, 7 Chavdar Kostov, 8 Filip Videnov, 9 Pavel Marinov, 10 Bozhidar Avramov, 11 Zlatin Georgiev, 12 Aleksandar Yanev, 13 Asen Velikov, 14 Tencho Banev, 15 Nikolay Varbanov (Coach: Rosen Barchovski)----2022 EuroBasket

finished 20th among 24 teams[2]

0 Ivan Alipiev, 1 Dee Bost, 2 Deyan Karamfilov, 9 Chavdar Kostov (C), 12 Aleksandar Yanev, 17 Emil Stoilov, 22 Pavlin Ivanov,
23 Stanimir Marinov, 24 Andrey Ivanov, 34 Dimitar Dimitrov, 41 Sasha Vezenkov, 99 Aleks Simeonov (Coach: Rosen Barchovski)

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Bulgaria during the EuroBasket 2025 Qualifiers in February 2024. 22 February 2024.
  2. Web site: Bulgaria the EuroBasket 2022. 7 September 2022.