Israel men's national basketball team explained

Country:	Israel
Nickname:	Hebrew: הכחולים-לבנים (The Blue and Whites)
Coach:	Ariel Beit-Halahmy
Fiba Zone:	FIBA Europe
National Fed:	IBBA
Oly Appearances:	1
Oly Medals:	None
Wc Appearances:	2
Wc Medals:	None
Zone Championship:	EuroBasket
Zone Appearances:	30
Zone Medals:	Silver: (1979)
Zone Championship2:	Asian Games
Zone Appearances2:	3
Zone Medals2:	Gold: (1966, 1974) Silver: (1970)
H Body:	0038b8
H Pattern B:	_thinsidesonwhite
H Shorts:	fff
H Pattern S:	_blue_border
A Body:	0038b8
A Pattern B:	_thinwhitesides
A Shorts:	0038b8
A Pattern S:	_thinwhitesides
First Game:	57–47 (Helsinki, Finland; 14 July 1952)
Largest Win:	116–64 (Granada, Spain; 26 June 1992)
Largest Loss:	90–44 (Istanbul, Turkey; 24 May 1959)

The Israel men's national basketball team (Hebrew: נבחרת ישראל בכדורסל) represents Israel in international basketball tournaments. They are administered by the Israeli Basketball Association. Israel is currently ranked 42nd in the FIBA World Ranking.^[1]

Israel has qualified for the EuroBasket 30 times throughout their history. They have also made two appearances at the World Cup, and one at the Summer Olympics. Israel also participated at the Asian Games from 1966 to 1974. The most success Israel has had on the international stage to date, is finishing as the runners-up at EuroBasket 1979, as well as winning two gold medals (1966, 1974), and one silver medal (1970) at the Asian Games.

History

1952 Olympic Games

See main article: Israel at the Olympics. The Israeli national team played in their first international competition at the 1952 Olympic Games. However, the team would quickly be ousted in the preliminary tournament, with an (0–2) record and loses to the Philippines, and Greece.^[2]

EuroBasket 1953

See main article: Israel at EuroBasket. Israel made their European Basketball Championship debut at EuroBasket 1953 in Moscow. In the preliminary round, the Israeli squad won their group by tie-breaker after being one of three teams to finish with a (3–1) record. They then advanced to the final round, managing to defeat perennial power Czechoslovakia, and getting revenge on Yugoslavia for their only preliminary round loss. Their record in the final round was (4–3), putting them in a 4-way tie for second place behind the undefeated Soviet Union. Israel eventually came out on the bottom of that tie-breaker, finishing in 5th place of the 17 teams.

Israel's overall record of seven wins and four losses included two wins by forfeit over Lebanon (in the preliminary round) and Egypt (in the final round), each of which had refused to play against Israel due to political reasons.^[3]

1954 World Cup

Israel reached the World Cup for the first time in 1954. The national team would be placed in Group D in the preliminary round, where they would finish in a 3-way tie, after splitting their two games. They would ultimately secure a spot in the final round based on point difference. There Israel would be overwhelmed, as they dropped six of their seven matches to accumulate an (1–6) record, with their only win coming in a 48–45 overtime victory against France.^[4] Israel would end their inaugural appearance at the tournament in 8th place.^[5]

1966 Asian Games

See main article: Israel at the Asian Games. Israel appeared at the Asian Games for the first time in 1966. Being drawn into Group B in the preliminary round of the tournament, the national team throttled Iran in the first game 87–55. After that result, Israel would go on to finish out the rest of the round with an (4–1) record, to move on. In the semi-finals, Israel breezed passed Japan 57–34 to reach the title game. In the final, Israel capped their run through the competition by dismantling Thailand 90–42 to capture their first gold medal at the Asian Games.

1970 Asian Games

Heading into the 1970 Asian Games, Israel looked to repeat their performance from 1966. Israel swept their preliminary phase opponents to make it to the final stage. Sitting at (3–0), Israel looked dominant in their first three wins, and appeared poised to become back-to-back Asian Games champions. After winning their first seven games of the final round, Israel needed one more win to finish with a flawless record, and take home the gold. However, South Korea prevented it all from happening, defeating Israel convincingly 81–67. The result landed the team into a second-place finish overall.

1974 Asian Games

The 1974 Asian Games would be the final appearance for Israel at the tournament. The team looked to achieve the gold medal once more before departing. Israel easily made it through the first two rounds to an (3–0) record, setting up an clash in the semi-finals. There the team went up against the Philippines, and outlasted them in a high scoring affair 123–101, to reach the final. In the title game South Korea awaited Israel once again, who was determined to avenge their lost to them at the prior Asian Games in 1970. This time around Israel would come out as champions, winning a hard-fought tussle 92–85 to reclaim the gold medal one last time.

EuroBasket 1979

The EuroBasket 1979 was the 12th appearance for Israel at the European Basketball Championship. The team began their tournament journey with an opening phase defeat against France. Although the team would refocus, and win their next two matches against Poland, and Yugoslavia. The (2–1) record the team achieved was enough to advance to the final stage of the competition. There, the team won three out of their five games to finish in second place in the group, only behind the Soviet Union. This result gave Israel their first medal finish at the tournament.^[6]

1986 World Cup

Israel qualified for their second World Cup appearance in 1986.^[7] The national team was drawn into Group B in the preliminary phase. Their first game of the tournament was an 79–84 win against Uruguay.^[8] Israel would go on to attain second place in group play with an (3–2) record, to move on to the next round. However, Israel was not as successful in this phase, as they would finish up with a losing record (2–3) to be relegated to the classification round. There they went (1–1) to come in 7th place at the competition overall.^[9]

EuroBasket 2017

Israel won the rights to be one of four co-hosts for EuroBasket 2017.^[10] With Israel hosting Group B in Tel Aviv, the team went up against Italy in their first game, and were thoroughly dominated in an 69–48 defeat. Heading into their second game of the tournament, Israel had Lithuania standing in their way. Israel ran out to an early first period lead, but the team could not maintain the momentum, as they fell to (0–2) and desperately needing a win in their next game. Germany was the opponent for the national team in their third match of group play, and they were victorious in a remarkable 80–82 win.^[11] Sitting with an (1–2) record, Israel were intent to even it all up with their game against Georgia. However, even behind the strong performance from Gal Mekel, and his 23 points were not enough. Israel would lose a heartbreaker in overtime 91–104.^[12] Their last game of group play, and positions nearly determined, Israel would fall once more. This time at the hands of Ukraine, 88–64, to end the tournament with an (1–4) record.^[13]

2019 World Cup qualification

During the process for Israel to reach the 2019 World Cup, the team went through World Cup qualifiers, where they were drawn into Group H for the first round of qualifiers. Israel's first game was a comfortable 88–68 win at home against Estonia. Heading to play Greece on the road in their next game, the team looked to move to (2–0). Although Greece would have none of it, as they dominated Israel 82–61, dropping the team to a record of (1–1). Israel would eventually get things on track, as they finished the rest of group play at (3–3), enough to advance to the second and final round of qualifying.

For the second round of World Cup qualifying, Israel was placed into Group L. Their first two matches of group play were tough loses against Georgia, and Germany. Although they eventually picked up an impressive win in their third game at home versus Serbia.^[14] Unfortunately, the national team would only earn one more victory during the rest of the qualifiers, which saw their hopes at (5–7) and clinching qualification vanish.^[15]

Honours

Medals table

Event
Summer Olympic Games	0	2	0	0	0
FIBA World Cup	7	11	0	0	0
EuroBasket	77	113	0	1	1
Asian Games	19	2	2	1	3
Total	103	128	2	2	4

Competitive record

FIBA World Cup

World Cup					Qualification
Year	Position	width=30		width=30		width=30		width=30	width=30	width=30	width=30
1950	Did not enter				Did not enter
1954	8th	9	2	7	Directly qualified
1959	Did not enter				Did not enter
1963	Did not qualify	EuroBasket served as qualifiers
1967
1970
1974
1978
1982
1986	7th	10	5	5	Q	6	5	1
1990	Did not qualify	EuroBasket served as qualifiers
1994
1998
2002
2006
2010
2014
2019		12	5	7
2023		12	4	8
2027	To be determined				To be determined
Total	2/19	19	7	12		30	14	16

Olympic Games

Olympic Games					Qualifying
Year	Position	width=30		width=30		width=30		width=30	width=30	width=30
1948	Did not enter
1952	20th	2	0	2
1956	Did not qualify
1960	7	3	4
1964	8	4	4
1968	8	3	5
1972	7	4	3
1976	10	4	6
1980	10	6	4
1984	9	3	6
1988	3	1	2
1992	12	5	7
1996	Did not qualify
2000
2004
2008
2012
2016
2020
2024	4	2	2
Total	1/20	2	0	2	78	35	43

Asian Games

Asian Games
Year	Position	width=30		width=30		width=30
1966	bgcolor=gold		bgcolor=gold	7	bgcolor=gold	6	bgcolor=gold	1
1970	bgcolor=silver		bgcolor=silver	8	bgcolor=silver	7	bgcolor=silver	1
1974	bgcolor=gold		bgcolor=gold	6	bgcolor=gold	6	bgcolor=gold	0
Total		21	19	2

EuroBasket

EuroBasket					Qualification
Year	Position	width=30		width=30		width=30		width=30		width=30	width=30	width=30
1939	Did not enter
1946
1947
1949
1951
1953	5th	11	7	4
1955	Did not enter
1957
1959	11th	8	3	5
1961	11th	7	2	5
1963	9th	9	4	5	Directly qualified
1965	6th	9	5	4		3	2	1
1967	8th	9	4	5		3	2	1
1969	11th	7	1	6		4	3	1
1971	11th	7	1	6		3	2	1
1973	7th	7	3	4		11	10	1
1975	7th	7	5	2		Directly qualified
1977	5th	7	4	3
1979	bgcolor=silver		bgcolor=silver	9		bgcolor=silver	5	bgcolor=silver	4
1981	6th	8	3	5
1983	6th	7	3	4
1985	9th	7	3	4
1987	11th	7	2	5		12	10	2
1989	Did not qualify	3	2	1
1991		10	5	5
1993	15th	3	1	2		6	5	1
1995	9th	6	2	4		6	5	1
1997	9th	8	4	4		10	6	4
1999	9th	6	2	4		10	7	3
2001	10th	4	1	3		10	8	2
2003	7th	7	3	4		10	5	5
2005	9th	4	2	2		12	9	3
2007	11th	6	2	4		14	9	5
2009	15th	3	0	3		6	3	3
2011	13th	5	2	3		8	5	3
2013	21st	5	1	4		10	6	4
2015	10th	6	3	3	1st	6	4	2
2017	21st	5	1	4	Qualified as co-host
2022	17th	5	2	3		6	5	1
2025	To be determined				To be determined
Total	30/39	199	81	118		163	113	50