Croatia men's national basketball team
Men's national basketball team representing Croatia
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The Croatia men's national basketball team (Croatian: Hrvatska košarkaška reprezentacija)[3] represents Croatia in international basketball matches. The team is controlled by the Croatian Basketball Federation (HKS).[4]
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| FIBA ranking | 32  2 (1 September 2026)[1] | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Joined FIBA | 1992 | ||
| FIBA zone | FIBA Europe | ||
| National federation | HKS | ||
| Coach | Tomislav Mijatović | ||
| Nickname(s) | Kockasti (The Chequered Ones) | ||
| Olympic Games | |||
| Appearances | 4 | ||
| Medals |  Silver: (1992) | ||
| FIBA World Cup | |||
| Appearances | 3 | ||
| Medals |  Bronze: (1994) | ||
| EuroBasket | |||
| Appearances | 14 | ||
| Medals | Bronze: (1993, 1995) | ||
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| First international | |||
 Germany 86–74 Croatia  (Murcia, Spain; 22 June 1992)[2] | |||
| Biggest win | |||
Croatia 124–51 Iceland  (Murcia, Spain; 24 June 1992)  Cyprus 50–123 Croatia (Limassol, Cyprus; 3 July 2026) | |||
| Biggest defeat | |||
Croatia 70–103 United States  (Barcelona, Spain; 27 July 1992) | |||
The biggest success Croatia has achieved was at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics when the team reached the final against the United States and won the silver medal. Croatia has also won one bronze medal at the FIBA World Cup and two bronze medals at EuroBasket.
Croatia's Krešimir Ćosić, Dražen Petrović, Dino Rađa, Mirko Novosel and Toni Kukoč are members of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. Ćosić was inducted in 1996, Petrović in 2002, Rađa in 2018 and Kukoč in 2021, all as players. Novosel was inducted in 2007 as a coach. Petrović, Ćosić, Kukoč and Novosel are members of the FIBA Hall of Fame. Ćosić is also the only Croatian to have received the FIBA Order of Merit. Ćosić, however, never played for the Croatia national team. As he was only a member of the Yugoslavia national team, holding the record for number of medals (including Olympic gold) and the most games played by a player.
History
Prior to Croatian independence
Croatia played its first unofficial friendly game on 2 June 1964 in Karlovac.[5] Croatian team played against US All Star Team and lost 65–110 (31–50). USA players coached by Red Auerbach were Bob Cousy, Tom Heinsohn, K. C. Jones, Jerry Lucas, Bob Pettit, Oscar Robertson and Bill Russell and Croatian team was Giuseppe Gjergja, Nemanja Đurić, Živko Kasun, Zlatko Kiseljak, Slobodan Kolaković, Dragan Kovačić, Boris Križan, Stjepan Ledić, Mirko Novosel, Marko Ostarčević, Petar Skansi and Željko Troskot.[6][7]
Independent Croatia
After independence of Croatia in 1991, the first official tournament played by Croatians were the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona. Croatia defeated the CIS team 75–74 and reached the final against the USA Dream Team led by Michael Jordan. The USA won 85–117, but Croatia won its first medal at a major tournament in history.[8]
The next competition for Croatia was the 1993 EuroBasket in Germany. Tragically, before the tournament Dražen Petrović died in a car accident on 7 June 1993 at the age of 28. Croatia still managed to reach the bronze medal game to defeat Greece 99–59.[9]
Croatia earned its third medal at the 1994 FIBA World Cup in Canada. Croatia lost their semi-finals match against Russia 64–66, but beat Greece once again 78–60 for the bronze medal. A similar occurrence happened at the EuroBasket 1995 in Greece. Croatia lost in the semi-finals 80–90 against Lithuania, but beat Greece 73–68 for the third time in a row in a bronze medal match. That medal to date was the last Croatian medal from any major tournament. At the 1996 Summer Olympics Croatia finished in a subpar seventh place.[10]
Decline
At the EuroBasket 1997 in Spain, the new Croatian generation emerged, but ended in 11th place. Croatia failed to qualify for the 2000, 2004, 2012, 2020, 2024 Summer Olympics, but finished sixth at the 2008 and fifth at the 2016. Croatia also failed to qualify for the 1998, 2002, 2006, 2019 and 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cups. They also failed to qualify for their first ever Eurobasket in 2025. Although the team did manage to qualify in 2010, before falling in the Round of 16. However, at the EuroBasket 2013, Croatia had its best tournament appearance since 1995, where the team finished in fourth place.[11]
Honours
The Croatia national team's all-time medal table:
| Games | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Summer Olympics | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| FIBA World Cup | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| EuroBasket | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Mediterranean Games | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| Stanković Cup | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| Total | 3 | 3 | 3 | 9 |
Competitive record
FIBA World Cup
Olympic Games
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EuroBasket
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Results and fixtures
Win Loss
2025
| 6 August 2025 | Norway  |
68–101 | Croatia |
Bergen, Norway |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18:00 (UTC+2) | Scoring by quarter: 21–20, 18–31, 12–27, 17–23 | |||
| Pts: Savić 13 Rebs: Savić 7 Asts: Espe, Frey 6 |
Boxscore | Pts: Hezonja 27 Rebs: Hezonja, Šarić 8 Asts: Šarić 5 |
Arena: Åsane Arena Attendance: 1,075 Referees: Yener Yilmaz (TUR), Ventsislav Velikov (BUL), Geert Jacobs (BEL) |
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| 9 August 2025 | Croatia |
100–71 |  Denmark |
Opatija, Croatia |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20:30 (UTC+2) | Scoring by quarter: 24–14, 32–29, 21–16, 23–12 | |||
| Pts: Smith 24 Rebs: Drežnjak 5 Asts: Smith 6 |
Boxscore | Pts: Dibba 17 Rebs: Berg 5 Asts: three players 3 |
Arena: Marino Cvetković Sports Hall Attendance: 500 Referees: Kerem Baki (TUR), Michał Proc (POL), Zdenko Tomašovič (SVK) |
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| 16 August 2025 | Croatia |
102–53 | Norway |
Opatija, Croatia |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20:30 (UTC+2) | Scoring by quarter: 28–14, 34–8, 22–13, 18–18 | |||
| Pts: Hezonja 21 Rebs: Ružić, Šarić 6 Asts: Šarić 8 |
Boxscore | Pts: Nordheim, Savić 11 Rebs: Savić 10 Asts: four players 2 |
Arena: Marino Cvetković Sports Hall Attendance: 450 Referees: Martin Horozov (BUL), Andris Aunkrogers (LAT), Zafer Yılmaz (TUR) |
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| 20 August 2025 | Denmark |
76–79 | Croatia |
Farum, Denmark |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19:00 (UTC+2) | Scoring by quarter: 21–12, 17–24, 19–24, 19–19 | |||
| Pts: Dibba 19 Rebs: Webb 11 Asts: Heede-Andersen 8 |
Boxscore | Pts: Šarić 30 Rebs: Šarić 8 Asts: Badžim 5 |
Arena: Farum Arena Attendance: 1,763 Referees: Wojciech Liszka (POL), Lorenzo Baldini (ITA), Mihkel Männiste (EST) |
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| 28 November 2025 | Croatia |
100–60 | Cyprus |
Osijek, Croatia |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19:00 (UTC+1) | Scoring by quarter: 28–8, 19–19, 28–23, 25–10 | |||
| Pts: Hezonja 25 Rebs: Prkačin 8 Asts: Mavra 7 |
Boxscore | Pts: Tigkas 14 Rebs: Jung 9 Asts: Michail 6 |
Arena: Gradski vrt Hall Attendance: 2,000 Referees: Péter Praksch (HUN), Alberto Sánchez (ESP), Ivor Matějek (CZE) |
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| 1 December 2025 | Israel  |
71–85 | Croatia |
Riga, Latvia |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 21:00 (UTC+2) | Scoring by quarter: 25–25, 17–22, 14–24, 15–14 | |||
| Pts: Sorkin 20 Rebs: Zoosman 6 Asts: Huber 6 |
Boxscore | Pts: Ružić 23 Rebs: Hezonja 13 Asts: Smith 6 |
Arena: Arena Riga Attendance: 45 Referees: Gvidas Gedvilas (LTU), Michał Proć (POL), Tolga Edis (TUR) |
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2026
| 27 February 2026 | Croatia |
93–88 | Germany |
Zagreb, Croatia |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20:00 (UTC+1) | Scoring by quarter: 20–26, 26–24, 29–22, 18–16 | |||
| Pts: Šarić 23 Rebs: Šarić 7 Asts: Mavra, Smith 6 |
Boxscore | Pts: Krämer 22 Rebs: Schneider 9 Asts: Kayil 5 |
Arena: Dražen Petrović Basketball Hall Attendance: 4,700 Referees: Wojciech Liszka (POL), Gatis Saliņš (LAT), Ritvars Helmšteins (LAT) |
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| 1 March 2026 | Germany |
91–89(OT) | Croatia |
Bonn, Germany |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18:00 (UTC+1) | Scoring by quarter: 22–24, 19–26, 21–17, 15–10, Overtime: 14–12 | |||
| Pts: Thiemann 24 Rebs: Thiemann 12 Asts: Kayil 6 |
Boxscore | Pts: Hezonja 30 Rebs: Smith 9 Asts: Smith 9 |
Arena: Telekom Dome Attendance: 6,032 Referees: Yohan Rosso (FRA), Andris Aunkrogers (LAT), Zdenko Tomašovič (SVK) |
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| 3 July 2026 | Cyprus |
50–123 | Croatia |
Limassol, Cyprus |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20:00 (UTC+3) | Scoring by quarter: 12–35, 14–24, 10–33, 14–31 | |||
| Pts: S. Tigkas 10 Rebs: Mantovani, Pasiali 4 Asts: five players 2 |
Boxscore | Pts: Zubac 24 Rebs: Zubac 11 Asts: Hezonja 12 |
Arena: Spyros Kyprianou Athletic Center Attendance: 1,000 Referees: Lorenzo Baldini (ITA), Ivor Matějek (CZE), Rainis Värv (EST) |
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| 6 July 2026 | Croatia |
103–75 | Israel |
Osijek, Croatia |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20:00 (UTC+2) | Scoring by quarter: 25–12, 22–19, 27–20, 29–24 | |||
| Pts: Zubac 18 Rebs: Šarić 13 Asts: Šarić 7 |
Boxscore | Pts: Madar 21 Rebs: Palatin 6 Asts: Madar, Palatin 5 |
Arena: Gradski vrt Hall Attendance: 2,788 Referees: Martin Horozov (BUL), Geert Jacobs (BEL), Juozas Barkauskas (LTU) |
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| 27 August 2026 | Croatia |
115–80 |  Latvia |
Zadar, Croatia |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20:00 (UTC+2) | Scoring by quarter: 23–14, 37–27, 25–16, 30–23 | |||
| Pts: Hezonja 28 Rebs: Šarić 9 Asts: Hezonja 7 |
Boxscore | Pts: Lomažs 23 Rebs: five players 3 Asts: Strautiņš 3 |
Arena: Krešimir Ćosić Hall Attendance: 7,306 Referees: Ariadna Chueca (ESP), Georgios Poursanidis (GRE), Ioannis Agrafiotis (GRE) |
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| 30 August 2026 | Netherlands  |
99–101 | Croatia |
Almere, Netherlands |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14:30 (UTC+2) | Scoring by quarter: 31–22, 27–22, 19–32, 22–25 | |||
| Pts: Van der Vuurst 23 Rebs: Franke, Mast 6 Asts: Van der Vuurst 5 |
Boxscore | Pts: Šarić, Zubac 24 Rebs: Zubac 11 Asts: Šarić, Smith 6 |
Arena: Topsportcentrum Attendance: 3,108 Referees: Paulo Marques (POR), Fernando Calatrava (ESP), Tolga Edis (TUR) |
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| 30 November 2026 | Croatia |
vs. | Netherlands |
Croatia |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| --:-- (UTC+1) | ||||
| Boxscore | ||||
2027
Team
Current roster
Roster for the 2027 FIBA World Cup Qualifiers matches on 27 and 30 August 2026 against Latvia and Netherlands.[12]
| Croatia men's national basketball team roster | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Players | Coaches | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Depth chart
Head coaches
Past rosters
Notable players and coaches
Individual awards
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Individual achievements
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Head-to-head record
Record against teams at the EuroBasket
Record against teams in EuroBasket qualification
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Record against teams at the World Cup
Record against teams in World Cup qualification
Record against teams at the Olympic Games
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Biggest tournament wins
20+ point difference
| Olympic Games | World Cup | EuroBasket |
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- Croatia also defeated Albania (94–70) for a win margin of +24 at the 2009 Mediterranean Games.
Biggest tournament losses
-20> point difference
Biggest qualification wins
20+ point difference
| Olympic qualification | World Cup qualification | EuroBasket qualification |
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