Portugal men's national basketball team explained

Country:Portugal
Nickname:A Seleção das Quinas
(Selection of the Quinas)
Coach:Mário Gomes
Joined Fiba:1932 (co-founders)
Fiba Zone:FIBA Europe
National Fed:FPB
Wc Appearances:None
Zone Championship:EuroBasket
Zone Appearances:3
Zone Medals:None
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A Body:CA0014
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First Game: 9–32
(Porto, Portugal; 24 May 1931)
Largest Win: 126–43
(São Lázaro, Macau; 13 October 2006)
Largest Loss: 115–46
(Szombathely, Hungary; 6 May 1973)

The Portugal men's national basketball team (Portuguese: Seleção Portuguesa de Basquetebol) represents Portugal in international basketball competition. The team is controlled by the Portuguese Basketball Federation.

Portugal doesn't have much history on the international stage, although they have qualified for the EuroBasket three times (1951, 2007, 2011).While Portugal has made multiple appearances at the continental level, they continue their quest to qualify for the global stage at the FIBA World Cup.

History

Early years

The Portuguese Basketball Federation was founded in 1927, with the national team playing in their first match on 24 May 1931, a 9–32 defeat to France. Portugal would become a co-founder of FIBA in 1932. Three years later, in 1935, Portugal played in the only qualifying game for the first European Basketball Championship. The Portuguese lost the game 33–12 against Spain, which eliminated the team from qualification.[1]

EuroBasket 1951

After Portugal's failed attempt to qualify for the European Championship in 1935, and declining to enter the competition multiple times thereafter, Portugal made their debut at the Euros for EuroBasket 1951 in Paris. The national team got off to a lethargic start to begin the tournament, as they lost 35–81 in their first ever match in the event to Greece.[2] In Portugal's final two games of the preliminary round, the team would fall once again to Bulgaria, but would pick up their first official victory in the competition with a walkover win after Romania withdrew. With a record of (1–2), and sitting in third place in the group, Portugal could not progress any further; and was relegated to the classification rounds. In the classification phase, Portugal lost its first two matches against West Germany and Austria, but would pullout a close win over Switzerland 49–52.[3] Finishing with a duplicate record of (1–2) once again, Portugal was sent to the classification play-offs to determine 13th–16th place. The national team would go on to lose their match to Denmark, before turning around to defeat Scotland, to end the event placing 15th overall out of the 18 teams.[4]

EuroBasket 2007

At the conclusion of Portugal's first appearance at the European Championship in 1951, the national team would fail to make it back to the competition for the next five decades. However, Portugal would end their drought when they made their second appearance on the continental stage at EuroBasket 2007 (first time through qualification) by finishing first in their group during the qualifiers.

Entering the preliminary round, Portugal's first match of the tournament came against the hosts Spain, where the team suffered a heavy defeat 56–82.[5] After dropping their second game of the competition to Croatia, Portugal earned a crucial victory in their final preliminary phase match against Latvia 77–67.[6] The important win over Latvia ultimately was enough to propel the team into the second round of the tournament for the first time.

Portugal began the second round with a loss against Russia, who eventually went on to become champions of the competition; before picking up a solid victory in their second game of the round versus Israel 94–85.[7] Although with an opportunity to advance to the quarter-finals all but gone, Portugal would easily be defeated by Greece 85–67 in their final game of the event.[8] Nevertheless, the performance displayed by Portugal throughout the tournament was their best showing at the Euros ever to that point; which ensured the national team a top ten finish.[9]

EuroBasket 2011

After missing out on qualification for the EuroBasket in 2009, Portugal was successful during the qualifiers for EuroBasket 2011. Portugal was placed into Group A to begin the tournament, where they would meet Turkey in their first match. However, the team was outplayed from start to finish, in a 79–56 loss.[10] At a record of (0–1), Portugal's task of winning their next match would be even tougher, with a date against Spain. Even with a valiant effort put up by the national team, Spain were just too much to overcome in the 73–87 defeat.[11] For Portugal's final three group stage matches, the team was unable to put together an efficient stretch of basketball for a full game; which resulted in three more losses to prevent the team from advancing.[12]

EuroBasket 2017 qualification

In the attempt for Portugal to reach the European Championship once again, after failed opportunities to qualify in 2013 and 2015; the national team was placed into Group D during the qualifying process. However, Portugal struggled in their first five matches in the qualifiers (0–5), to come away with their only win against Belarus 77–62 before being eliminated.[13]

2019 World Cup qualification

During qualification for Portugal to advance toward making their first appearance in the FIBA World Cup, the team first had to make it through European Pre-Qualifiers in order to realize their chance. Unfortunately, the national team was unable to improve on their performance they would display during qualifying for the prior EuroBasket, and would fail to progress further with a record of (1–3).[14]

2020s–present

After Portugal's failure to qualify for the EuroBasket on multiple occasions after their last appearance in 2011, the team began the procedure to try to qualify for EuroBasket 2022. Portugal began their journey with the Pre-Qualifiers, being drawn into Group C for the first round. In their opening game, the team would lose in a narrow contest to Cyprus, before defeating Luxembourg. With two games left to go in the first round, Portugal put away Cyprus in the rematch before cruising past Luxembourg once again to advance into the second phase of pre-qualifiers at (3–1).[15] In the second round, however, Portugal's fortunes would completely be reversed as the team went (1–3) in this phase to need the third and final round to determine their fate. There, Portugal would only manage to achieve slightly better results at (2–2), but still finished at the bottom of their group again to be eliminated.[16]

Competitive record

FIBA World Cup

World CupQualification
YearPositionwidth=30width=30width=30width=30width=30width=30
1950Did not enterDid not enter
1954
1959
1963
1967
1970
1974Did not qualifyEuroBasket served
as qualifiers
1978
1982
1986Did not enterDid not enter
1990
1994Did not qualifyEuroBasket served
as qualifiers
1998
2002
2006
2010
2014
2019413
20231688
2027To be determinedTo be determined
Total0/1920 9 11

Olympic Games

Olympic GamesQualifying
YearPositionwidth=30width=30width=30width=30width=30width=30
1936Did not enter
1948
1952
1956
1960Did not enter
1964
1968
1972
1976
1980
1984
1988
1992Did not qualify514
1996Did not qualify
2000
2004
2008
2012
2016
2020
2024312
Total0/218 2 6

Lusofonia Games

Lusofonia Games
YearPositionwidth=40width=40width=40
2006bgcolor=gold770
2009431
Total11101

EuroBasket

EuroBasketQualification
YearPositionwidth=30width=30width=30width=30width=30width=30
1935Did not qualify101
1937Did not enter
1939
1946
1947
1949
195115th835
1953Did not enter
1955
1957
1959
1961
1963Did not enter
1965
1967
1969
1971
1973Did not qualify707
1975Did not enterDid not enter
1977Did not qualify514
1979422
1981954
1983505
1985422
1987422
1989Did not enterDid not enter
1991Did not qualify422
19931037
1995523
19971679
19991358
200115411
200316610
20051037
20079th624642
2009Did not qualify1037
201121st5051239
2013Did not qualify808
20151028
2017615
20221266
2025To be determinedTo be determined
Total3/4119514192 63 129

Results and fixtures

2025

Team

Current roster

Roster for the EuroBasket 2025 Qualifiers matches on 22 and 25 February 2024 against Israel and Ukraine.[17] [18]

Depth chart

Past rosters

1951 EuroBasket

finished 15th among 18 teams

3 Mário Almeida, 4 Bernardo Leite, 5 Rui Duarte, 6 Avelino Carmo, 7 Máximo Couto, 8 Lenine Santos, 9 José Oliveira,
10 Antonio Cardoso, 11 César Cardoso, 12 Domingos Diogo, 14 José Almeida, 15 João Coutinho (Coach: Fernando Amaral)----2007 EuroBasket

finished 9th among 16 teams

4 Miguel Minhava, 5 Mário Gil Fernandes, 6 Sérgio Ramos, 7 Paulo Cunha, 8 Francisco Jordão, 9 Filipe da Silva, 10 João Gomes,
11 Jorge Coelho, 12 Paulo Simão, 13 Elvis Évora, 14 Miguel Miranda 15 João Santos (Coach: Valentin Melnychuk)----2011 EuroBasket

finished 21st among 24 teams

4 António Tavares, 5 José Costa, 6 Miguel Minhava, 7 Fernando Sousa, 8 Cláudio Fonseca, 9 Filipe da Silva, 10 Carlos Andrade,
11 José Silva, 12 Elvis Évora, 13 Marco Goncalves, 14 Miguel Miranda, 15 João Santos (Coach: Mário Palma)

Kit

Manufacturer

Sponsor

See also

External links

Videos

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Spain v Portugal EuroBasket 1935 qualification results. linguasport.com. 23 March 2010.
  2. Web site: Portugal v Greece EuroBasket 1951 game results. Archive.fiba.com. 19 June 2011.
  3. Web site: Switzerland v Portugal EuroBasket 1951 game results. Archive.fiba.com. 19 June 2011.
  4. Web site: EuroBasket 1951 tournament results. Archive.fiba.com. 19 June 2011.
  5. Web site: Portugal v Spain EuroBasket 2007 game results. Archive.fiba.com. 3 September 2007.
  6. Web site: Portugal v Latvia EuroBasket 2007 game results. Archive.fiba.com. 5 September 2007.
  7. Web site: Portugal Surprise Israel. fibaeurope.com. 9 September 2007.
  8. Web site: Greece Send Valiant Portugal Home. fibaeurope.com. 11 September 2007.
  9. Web site: Portugal at the EuroBasket 2007. Archive.fiba.com. 11 September 2007.
  10. Web site: Turkey v Portugal EuroBasket 2011 game results. Archive.fiba.com. 31 August 2011.
  11. Web site: Portugal v Spain EuroBasket 2011 game results. Archive.fiba.com. 1 September 2011.
  12. Web site: Portugal at the EuroBasket 2011. Archive.fiba.com. 5 September 2011.
  13. Web site: Portugal during the EuroBasket 2017 Qualifiers. 17 September 2016.
  14. Web site: Portugal during the 2019 FIBA World Cup European Pre-Qualifiers. 19 August 2017.
  15. Web site: Portugal avoid drama against Luxembourg, sail through to the Second Round. 28 June 2018.
  16. Web site: Portugal during the EuroBasket 2022 Pre-Qualifiers. 17 August 2019.
  17. News: “Eleitos” para a primeira janela de qualificação do EuroBasket 2025. fpb.pt. 8 February 2024. pt.
  18. Web site: Portugal during the EuroBasket 2025 Qualifiers in February 2024. 19 February 2024.
  19. http://www.zimbio.com/photos/Elvis+Evora/Standard+Life+Team+GB+Men+v+Portugal+Basketball/nTrE9x_R9X_ 2015 Elvis Evora Photos - Standard Life Team GB Men v Portugal - Basketball