Georgia men's national basketball team

Men's national basketball team representing the country of Georgia

Georgia
FIBA ranking23 Steady (1 March 2024)[1]
Joined FIBA1992
FIBA zoneFIBA Europe
National federationGBF
CoachAleksandar Džikić
Nickname(s)ჯვაროსნები
jvarosnebi (Crusaders)
FIBA World Cup
Appearances1
MedalsNone
EuroBasket
Appearances5
MedalsNone
Home jersey
Team colours
Home
Away jersey
Team colours
Away
First international
 Poland 91–68 Georgia 
(Birmingham, England; 24 May 1995)
Biggest win
 Georgia 103–43 Azerbaijan 
(Tbilisi, Georgia; 2 September 2001)
Biggest defeat
 Italy 90–43 Georgia 
(Siena, Italy; 28 February 1998)

The Georgia men's national basketball team (Georgian: საქართველოს ეროვნული საკალათბურთო ნაკრები) represents the country of Georgia in international basketball matches, and is controlled by the Georgian Basketball Federation. Georgia became a member of FIBA in 1992, after they gained independence from the Soviet Union. The national team played their first official match against Poland in 1995.

Georgia's accomplishments on the international level have been clinching qualification to the European Basketball Championship five times. Their best result came at their debut trip to the tournament in 2011. In 2023, Georgia achieved their first qualification on to the global stage at the FIBA World Cup.

History

Soviet era

Until 1991, Georgia was a part of the Soviet Union, with players born in Georgia playing for the Soviet Union national team. Notable players born in Georgia who played for the Soviet Union and won medals at the Olympic Games, FIBA World Cup and EuroBasket include: Nodar Dzhordzhikiya, Otar Korkia, Guram Minashvili, Vladimer Ugrekhelidze, Levan Moseshvili, Zurab Sakandelidze, Mikheil Korkia and Nikolay Deryugin.

Independent Georgia

After gaining independence from the Soviet Union, on several occasions the Georgian national team unsuccessfully tried to qualify for the EuroBasket, Europe's biggest basketball competition and major tournament. Although the national team did play on the EuroBasket Division B level three times and gained promotion in 2009 after defeating Belarus in play-offs.[2] However, after the expansion of the EuroBasket in 2011 from 16 to 24 teams, Georgia qualified to the competition for the first time.

EuroBasket 2011

The national team played five matches in Group D. They finished their preliminary group with an 2–3 record, with wins against Belgium and Ukraine, to advance. In their second round group phase, Georgia lost all five of their matches to finish their maiden voyage to the EuroBasket in 11th place.[3]

EuroBasket 2013

After finishing second in qualifying group, Georgia qualified for its second EuroBasket tournament. After a comfortable 84–67 victory in the opening match over Poland, Georgia lost their four remaining matches and finished the tournament with an 1–4 record.[4] To that point, the Eurobasket 2013 was the only tournament in which Georgia could not win more than one match.

EuroBasket 2015

Georgia qualified to the EuroBasket for the third successive time in 2015. After three consecutive losses to start the tournament, the national team finally earned their first win in group play against Macedonia 90–75. They followed it up with another victory to end the opening phase of the event against Croatia, 71–58[5] to move on to the knockout stages for the first time. There they suffered a narrow hard fought defeat to the tournament favourites, and eventual silver medalist Lithuania 81–85.[6]

EuroBasket 2017

During the EuroBasket 2017 qualification Georgia topped its group after an 90–84 victory over Montenegro, and qualified to EuroBasket for the fourth successive time.[7] Once the competition began, the national team got off to a quick start, avenging their EuroBasket 2015 knockout stage defeat to Lithuania 79–77.[8] The rest of the group stage didn't go as well for the Georgian side though. As the team could only manage to pullout one more victory against Israel, before falling to Italy to finish the tournament with an 2–3 record and being eliminated.[9]

EuroBasket 2022

Georgia was the co-host the EuroBasket 2022, and they automatically qualified for the 2022 finals tournament. This was the fifth successive time that Georgia qualified for the event overall. Tbilisi was one of the host cities, and was used for Group A matches at the brand new Tbilisi Basketball Arena.[10][11]

The Foundation

The core of the national team that has consistently qualified to Europe's biggest basketball competition consisted of captain Zaza Pachulia, Viktor Sanikidze, Manuchar Markoishvili, Tornike Shengelia, Giorgi Tsintsadze and Giorgi Shermadini. These pioneers in the Georgian basketball community have set the standard for future generations of the national team to build upon, and maintain.

Competitive record

FIBA World Cup

World Cup Qualification
Year Position Pld W L Pld W L
1950 to 1990 Part of Soviet Union
Canada 1994 Did not enter Did not enter
Greece 1998 Did not qualify EuroBasket served
as qualifiers
United States 2002
Japan 2006
Turkey 2010
Spain 2014
China 2019 12 5 7
PhilippinesJapanIndonesia 2023 16th 5 2 3 12 7 5
Qatar 2027 To be determined To be determined
Total 1/8 5 2 3 24 12 12

Olympic Games

Olympic Games Qualifying
Year Position Pld W L Pld W L
1948 to 1988 Part of Soviet Union
Spain 1992 Did not enter Did not enter
United States 1996
Australia 2000 Did not qualify Did not qualify
Greece 2004
China 2008
United Kingdom 2012
Brazil 2016
Japan 2020
France 2024 To be determined To be determined
Total 0/8

EuroBasket

EuroBasket Qualification
Year Position Pld W L Pld W L
1947 to 1991 Part of Soviet Union
Germany 1993 Did not enter Did not enter
Greece 1995
Spain 1997 Did not qualify 15 6 9
France 1999 13 2 11
Turkey 2001 5 2 3
Sweden 2003 11 6 5
Serbia and Montenegro 2005 Division B 6 4 2
Spain 2007 Division B 8 6 2
Poland 2009 Division B 10 9 1
Lithuania 2011 11th 8 2 6 8 5 3
Slovenia 2013 17th 5 1 4 8 6 2
FranceCroatiaGermanyLatvia 2015 15th 6 2 4 6 4 2
FinlandIsraelRomaniaTurkey 2017 17th 5 2 3 6 5 1
Czech RepublicGeorgia (country)ItalyGermany 2022 21st 5 1 4 6 4 2
CyprusFinlandPolandLatvia 2025 To be determined To be determined
Total 5/14 29 8 21 102 59 43

Results and fixtures

  Win   Loss

2023

Cape Verde  v  Georgia
26 August 2023 Cape Verde  60–85  Georgia Okinawa City, Japan
17:00 (UTC+9) Scoring by quarter: 11–20, 11–28, 15–22, 23–15
Pts: Mendes 11
Rebs: W. Tavares 12
Asts: Da Rosa 6 		Boxscore Pts: Shengelia 16
Rebs: Bitadze 11
Asts: Andronikashvili 6 		Arena: Okinawa Arena
Attendance: 5,669
Referees: Jorge Vázquez (PUR), Martin Horozov (BUL), Wael Mostafa (EGY)
Georgia  v  Slovenia
28 August 2023 Georgia  67–88  Slovenia Okinawa City, Japan
20:30 (UTC+9) Scoring by quarter: 17–16, 16–29, 17–18, 17–25
Pts: Mamukelashvili 21
Rebs: Mamukelashvili 7
Asts: Tsintsadze 7 		Boxscore Pts: Dončić 34
Rebs: Dončić 10
Asts: Dončić 6 		Arena: Okinawa Arena
Attendance: 6,042
Referees: Jorge Vázquez (PUR), Omar Bermúdez (MEX), Blanca Burns (USA)
Georgia  v  Venezuela
30 August 2023 Georgia  70–59  Venezuela Okinawa City, Japan
17:00 (UTC+9) Scoring by quarter: 24–19, 18–4, 17–21, 11–15
Pts: Shengelia 25
Rebs: Bitadze 11
Asts: Sanadze, Shengelia 3 		Boxscore Pts: Colmenares 16
Rebs: Colmenares 12
Asts: Guillent 7 		Arena: Okinawa Arena
Attendance: 5,807
Referees: Matthew Kallio (CAN), Amy Bonner (USA), Wojciech Liszka (POL)
Germany  v  Georgia
1 September 2023 Germany  100–73  Georgia Okinawa City, Japan
17:30 (UTC+9) Scoring by quarter: 22–16, 21–25, 27–16, 30–16
Pts: Lô 18
Rebs: M. Wagner 6
Asts: Schröder 7 		Boxscore Pts: Mamukelashvili 19
Rebs: Bitadze 6
Asts: McFadden 7 		Arena: Okinawa Arena
Attendance: 5,852
Referees: Ademir Zurapović (BIH), Omar Bermúdez (MEX), Martin Horozov (BUL)
Australia  v  Georgia
3 September 2023 Australia  100–84  Georgia Okinawa City, Japan
16:30 (UTC+9) Scoring by quarter: 23–17, 31–20, 25–30, 21–17
Pts: Mills 19
Rebs: Kay 9
Asts: Ingles 6 		Boxscore Pts: Bitadze 20
Rebs: Mamukelashvili 9
Asts: McFadden 9 		Arena: Okinawa Arena
Attendance: 6,126
Referees: Matthew Kallio (CAN), Blanca Burns (USA), Wojciech Liszka (POL)

2024

Denmark  v  Georgia
23 February 2024 Denmark  75–69  Georgia Næstved, Denmark
18:30 (UTC+1) Scoring by quarter: 12–23, 16–14, 22–16, 25–16
Pts: Lundberg 19
Rebs: Knudsen 6
Asts: Lundberg 7 		Boxscore Pts: Shengelia 27
Rebs: Shermadini 8
Asts: Thomasson,
Tsintsadze 4 		Arena: Næstved Arena
Attendance: 2,153
Referees: Zafer Yılmaz (TUR), Yener Yılmaz (TUR), Juozas Barkauskas (LTU)
Georgia  v  Serbia
26 February 2024 Georgia  63–76  Serbia Tbilisi, Georgia
21:00 (UTC+4) Scoring by quarter: 12–21, 19–17, 21–22, 11–16
Pts: Shengelia 19
Rebs: Shermadini 9
Asts: Tsintsadze 6 		Boxscore Pts: Gudurić 16
Rebs: Petrušev 8
Asts: Avramović 7 		Arena: Tbilisi Arena
Attendance: 9,400
Referees: Yohan Rosso (FRA), Martin Horozov (BUL), Michał Proc (POL)
Georgia  v  Latvia
2 July 2024 Georgia  vs.  Latvia Riga, Latvia
19:00 (UTC+3)
Boxscore Arena: Arena Riga
Philippines  v  Georgia
4 July 2024 Philippines  vs.  Georgia Riga, Latvia
15:30 (UTC+3)
Boxscore Arena: Arena Riga
Denmark  v  Serbia
21 November 2024 Denmark  vs.  Serbia Denmark
Boxscore
Serbia  v  Denmark
24 November 2024 Serbia  vs.  Denmark Serbia
Boxscore

2025

Finland  v  Serbia
21 February 2025 Finland  vs.  Serbia Finland
Boxscore
Serbia  v  Georgia
24 February 2025 Serbia  vs.  Georgia Serbia
Boxscore

Team

Current roster

Roster for the EuroBasket 2025 Pre-Qualifiers matches on 23 and 26 February 2024 against Denmark and Serbia.[12]

Georgia men's national basketball team roster
Players Coaches
Pos. No. Name Age – Date of birth Height Club Ctr.
PG 2 Otar Pkhakadze 30 – (1993-02-28)28 February 1993 1.90 m (6 ft 3 in) Delta Georgia (country)
G/F 3 Nikoloz Gaprindashvili 21 – (2002-07-03)3 July 2002 1.96 m (6 ft 5 in) Kavkasia Georgia (country)
G 5 Revaz Rogava 31 – (1993-02-01)1 February 1993 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in) Batumi Georgia (country)
G/F 6 Kakhaber Jintcharadze 30 – (1993-07-16)16 July 1993 1.95 m (6 ft 5 in) TSU Georgia (country)
PF 7 Beka Burjanadze 30 – (1994-01-03)3 January 1994 2.03 m (6 ft 8 in) Coruña Spain
PG 8 Giorgi Tsintsadze 38 – (1986-02-07)7 February 1986 1.92 m (6 ft 4 in) TSU Georgia (country)
C 9 Giorgi Shermadini (C) 34 – (1989-04-02)2 April 1989 2.17 m (7 ft 1 in) Tenerife Spain
F 15 Aleksandre Phevadze 25 – (1998-04-15)15 April 1998 2.02 m (6 ft 8 in) TSU Georgia (country)
SG 22 Davit Kakushadze 23 – (2000-06-06)6 June 2000 1.98 m (6 ft 6 in) VSA Georgia (country)
PF 23 Toko Shengelia 32 – (1991-10-05)5 October 1991 2.07 m (6 ft 9 in) Virtus Bologna Italy
G 32 Joe Thomasson 30 – (1993-08-16)16 August 1993 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in) Maccabi Tel Aviv Israel
F/C 33 Beka Bekauri 33 – (1991-01-18)18 January 1991 2.07 m (6 ft 9 in) Delta Georgia (country)
PG 77 Giorgi Ochkhikidze 19 – (2004-06-05)5 June 2004 1.92 m (6 ft 4 in) Kutaisi Georgia (country)
Head coach
Assistant coach(es)
Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • Club – describes last
    club before the competition
  • Age – describes age
    on 23 February 2024

Depth chart

Pos. Starting 5 Bench 1 Bench 2
C Giorgi Shermadini Goga Bitadze Giorgi Turdziladze
PF Tornike Shengelia Sandro Mamukelashvili
SF Duda Sanadze Mikheil Berishvili
SG Joe Thomasson Kakhaber Jintcharadze Giorgi Tsintsadze
PG Rati Andronikashvili Giorgi Ochkhikidze Luka Liklikadze

Head coach history

Past rosters

2011 EuroBasket: finished 11th among 24 teams

4 Giorgi Gamqrelidze, 5 Vladimir Boisa, 6 Anatoli Boisa, 7 Zaza Pachulia, 8 Giorgi Tsintsadze, 9 Giorgi Shermadini,
10 Lasha Parghalava, 11 Manuchar Markoishvili, 12 MarQuez Haynes, 13 Viktor Sanikidze, 14 Tornike Shengelia, 15 Nikoloz Tskitishvili
(Coach: Serbia Igor Kokoškov)

2013 EuroBasket: finished 17th among 24 teams

4 Nika Metreveli, 5 Otar Pkhakadze, 6 Duda Sanadze, 7 Beka Burjanadze, 8 Giorgi Tsintsadze, 9 Giorgi Shermadini, 10 Ricky Hickman,
11 Manuchar Markoishvili, 12 Levan Patsatsia, 13 Viktor Sanikidze, 14 Besik Lezhava, 15 Nikoloz Tskitishvili (Coach: Serbia Igor Kokoškov)

2015 EuroBasket: finished 15th among 24 teams

0 Jacob Pullen, 4 Nika Metreveli, 7 Zaza Pachulia (C), 8 Giorgi Tsintsadze, 9 Giorgi Shermadini, 10 Duda Sanadze,
11 Manuchar Markoishvili, 12 Levan Patsatsia, 13 Viktor Sanikidze, 15 Beka Burjanadze, 23 Tornike Shengelia, 25 Besik Lezhava
(Coach: Serbia Igor Kokoškov)

2017 EuroBasket: finished 17th among 24 teams

3 Michael Dixon, 4 Giorgi Gamqrelidze, 6 Anatoli Boisa, 7 Zaza Pachulia (C), 8 Giorgi Tsintsadze, 9 Giorgi Shermadini,
10 Duda Sanadze, 11 Manuchar Markoishvili, 17 Mikheil Berishvili, 23 Tornike Shengelia, 35 Goga Bitadze, 99 Ilia Londaridze
(Coach: Greece Ilias Zouros)

2022 EuroBasket: finished 21st among 24 teams[14]

4 Rati Andronikashvili, 5 Sandro Mamukelashvili, 6 Kakhaber Jintcharadze, 7 Beka Burjanadze, 8 Giorgi Tsintsadze,
9 Giorgi Shermadini (C), 10 Duda Sanadze, 17 Mikheil Berishvili, 18 Merab Bokolishvili, 25 Thad McFadden, 33 Beka Bekauri,
35 Goga Bitadze (Coach: Greece Ilias Zouros)

2023 FIBA World Cup: finished 16th among 32 teams[15]

4 Rati Andronikashvili, 5 Sandro Mamukelashvili, 6 Kakhaber Jintcharadze, 7 Luka Liklikadze, 8 Giorgi Tsintsadze, 9 Giorgi Shermadini,
10 Duda Sanadze, 11 Giorgi Turdziladze, 17 Mikheil Berishvili, 23 Tornike Shengelia (C), 25 Thad McFadden, 35 Goga Bitadze
(Coach: Greece Ilias Zouros)

Head-to-head record

Record by opponents

Opponent Played Wins Losses
 Albania 2 2 0
 Australia 2 0 2
 Austria 13 8 5
 Azerbaijan 2 2 0
 Belgium 6 2 4
 Bosnia and Herzegovina 8 4 4
 Belarus 11 8 3
 Bulgaria 8 3 5
 Canada 1 0 1
 Cape Verde 1 1 0
 Central African Republic 1 1 0
 Croatia 2 1 1
 Cyprus 2 1 1
 Czech Republic 11 4 7
 Denmark 5 3 2
 Egypt 1 0 1
 England 3 1 2
 Estonia 7 4 3
 Finland 7 3 4
 France 3 0 3
 Germany 6 0 6
 Great Britain 1 1 0
 Greece 9 1 8
 Hungary 5 1 4
 Iceland 4 2 2
 Ireland 4 4 0
 Israel 11 6 5
 Italy 12 0 12
 Iran 1 1 0
 Jordan 1 1 0
 Latvia 10 6 4
 Lithuania 8 2 6
 Luxembourg 8 7 1
 North Macedonia 9 6 3
 Moldova 1 1 0
 Montenegro 4 2 2
 Netherlands 9 5 4
 Poland 7 2 5
 Portugal 7 6 1
 Romania 8 7 1
 Russia 5 1 4
 Serbia 7 3 4
 Slovakia 7 5 2
 Slovenia 5 0 5
 Spain 4 1 3
 Sweden 7 3 4
  Switzerland 3 2 1
 Tunisia 1 0 1
 Turkey 5 1 4
 Ukraine 10 7 3
 Venezuela 1 1 0
 Wales 1 1 0
Total: 52 countries 277 134 143

Record against teams at the EuroBasket

Team Pld W L PF PA PD
Belgium Belgium 1 1 0 81 59 +22
Bulgaria Bulgaria 1 0 1 69 79 −10
Croatia Croatia 2 1 1 147 135 +12
Czech Republic Czech Republic 1 0 1 79 95 −16
Finland Finland 1 0 1 73 87 −14
Germany Germany 1 0 1 57 67 −10
Greece Greece 2 0 2 128 152 −24
Israel Israel 1 1 0 104 91 +13
Italy Italy 1 0 1 69 71 −2
Lithuania Lithuania 2 1 1 160 162 −2
North Macedonia North Macedonia 2 1 1 153 140 +13
Netherlands Netherlands 1 0 1 72 73 −1
Poland Poland 1 1 0 84 67 +17
Russia Russia 1 0 1 58 65 −7
Slovenia Slovenia 3 0 3 211 238 −27
Spain Spain 1 0 1 59 83 −24
Ukraine Ukraine 2 1 1 150 141 +9
Total: 17 countries 1754 1805 −51

Notable results

Date Status Team Result Team
22 July 2004 Friendly  Russia 71–87  Georgia
16 August 2013 Friendly  Serbia 71–75  Georgia
10 September 2015 EuroBasket 2015  Croatia 58–71  Georgia
5 August 2017 Friendly  Lithuania 70–81  Georgia
23 August 2017 Friendly  Greece 71–72  Georgia
24 August 2017 Friendly  Serbia 66–68  Georgia
31 August 2017 EuroBasket 2017  Lithuania 77–79  Georgia
23 February 2020 EuroBasket 2022 Qualification  Serbia 90–94  Georgia
4 July 2022 2023 FIBA World Cup European Qualifiers  Georgia 82–76 (OT)  Spain
4 September 2022 EuroBasket 2022  Georgia 88–83 (2OT)  Turkey

Kit

Manufacturer

  • 2015–present: Spalding[16]

See also

  • Sports portal
  • flagGeorgia (country) portal

References

  1. ^ "FIBA Ranking Presented by Nike". FIBA. 1 March 2024. Retrieved 1 March 2024.
  2. ^ "Montenegro, Georgia promoted to Division A - TalkBasket.net". TalkBasket.net. 10 September 2009. Retrieved 10 February 2017.
  3. ^ "Georgia | EuroBasket (2011) | FIBA Europe". www.fibaeurope.com. Retrieved 22 September 2011.
  4. ^ "Georgia | EuroBasket (2013) | FIBA Europe". www.fibaeurope.com. Retrieved 24 September 2013.
  5. ^ "Georgia – Croatia | EuroBasket (2015) | FIBA Europe". www.fibaeurope.com. Retrieved 19 September 2015.
  6. ^ "Lithuania – Georgia | EuroBasket (2015) | FIBA Europe". www.fibaeurope.com. Retrieved 19 September 2015.
  7. ^ "Georgia during the EuroBasket 2017 Qualifiers". Retrieved 17 September 2016.
  8. ^ "Georgia battle past Lithuania, exact revenge for 2015 loss". Retrieved 31 August 2017.
  9. ^ "Georgia at the EuroBasket 2017". Retrieved 6 September 2017.
  10. ^ "FIBA Europe delegation visits Tbilisi to see progress of new arena". FIBA. 1 April 2021. Retrieved 28 December 2021.
  11. ^ "Georgia to build a new sports complex for European Basketball Championship". Retrieved 31 July 2019.
  12. ^ "Denmark during the EuroBasket 2025 Qualifiers in February 2024". Retrieved 23 February 2024.
  13. ^ "1994 წლის 20 მარტი – საქართველოს კალათბურთელთა ნაკრების დაბადების დღეა / ევრობასკეტი 1997". 1tv.ge (in Georgian). Retrieved 5 April 2023.
  14. ^ "Georgia at the EuroBasket 2022". Retrieved 7 September 2022.
  15. ^ "Georgia at the 2023 FIBA World Cup". Retrieved 3 September 2023.
  16. ^ a b Georgia | EuroBasket 2015 – PHOTO GALLERY Archived 23 October 2015 at the Wayback Machine, eurobasket2015.org. Retrieved 22 October 2015.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Georgia national basketball team.
  • Official website Edit this at Wikidata (in Georgian)
  • Georgia FIBA profile
  • Georgia National Team – Men at Eurobasket.com
  • Georgia Basketball Records at FIBA Archive
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