Montenegro’s Fifth Appearance: Host Debut, Matches Across Four Cities, and Final in Riga
Photo from one of the qualifying matches: FIBA
Following pre-qualifications and three qualification windows from February 2024 to February 2025, the team set to captivate basketball fans in Europe from August 27 to September 17 has been finalized.
The four hosts of EuroBasket 2025 – Latvia, Poland, Finland, and Cyprus – have now learned the identities of the remaining 20 national teams vying for the European title.
Montenegro will make its fifth appearance since gaining independence, having only missed the 2015 championship since joining the A division.
This will mark the fifth consecutive major tournament for Bojan Dubljević and his teammates, who have triumphed in three EuroBaskets and two WorldBaskets since 2017.
The 2025 championship is the 42nd edition, with France making its 40th appearance, the most by any team. Italy follows with 39, Spain 33, Israel 31, Poland 30, and Greece 29. Among the teams competing this summer, Portugal (4) and Iceland (3) have fewer tournament participations than Montenegro. Additionally, only one debut team will enter the EuroBasket this year.
That debut team, which qualified as a host, is Cyprus, having only managed one win in 12 games during pre-qualifications and qualifiers.
Poland, another host, struggled in the qualifiers, finishing at the bottom of their group.
Interestingly, the hosts eliminated two former Yugoslav nations from the European Championship: Croatia was bested by Cyprus, and North Macedonia was defeated by Poland. Thus, alongside Montenegro, the former country will also see representation from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, and Slovenia.
Among the qualified teams, Spain holds the most European championships with four titles. Lithuania has three, while Italy and Greece each have two. Serbia has never claimed the title as an independent nation, but as the successor to Yugoslavia, it boasts eight gold medals.
EuroBasket 2025 will feature four groups of six teams, with the top four from each group advancing to the knockout stage.
Group A will compete in Riga (Arena Riga), Group B in Tampere (Nokia Arena), Group C in Limassol (Spiros Kyprianou), and Group D in Katowice (Spodek). The knockout phase will occur entirely in the Latvian capital.
The group draw is set for March 27 in Riga, and in addition to our national team, participants will include Latvia, Poland, Finland, Cyprus, Lithuania, Serbia, Slovenia, Israel, Turkey, Italy, Spain, Belgium, Greece, Georgia, Estonia, Great Britain, Czech Republic, France, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Portugal, Germany, Sweden, and Iceland.
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