The Catalonia autonomous basketball team is the

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

team of

Catalonia Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a '' nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy. Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the nort ...

. The team is not affiliated to

FIBA The International Basketball Federation (FIBA ; French: ) is an association of national organizations which governs the sport of basketball worldwide. Originally known as the (hence FIBA), in 1989 it dropped the word ''amateur'' from its nam ...

, so only plays friendly games. Last appear was in summer 2010, in the Torneo de las Naciones. Catalonia won this tournament.

History

Catalonia started to play in 1927 a friendly game against Hindú Club of

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

. Catalonia lost by 50–16. From 1929 to 1936, the team played several friendly games with another European regions. In April 1980, Catalonia plays several games against Basque Country, and other games against important teams like the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

. In 1992, Catalonia played a game against

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

; Croatia won by 118-82 led with 30 points of

Toni Kukoč Toni Kukoč, nicknamed ''“The Waiter”'' (; born September 18, 1968) is a Croatian-American former professional basketball player who serves as Special Advisor to Jerry Reinsdorf, the owner of the Chicago Bulls. After a highly successful perio ...

and 21 point of

Dražen Petrović Dražen Petrović (; 22 October 1964 – 7 June 1993) was a Yugoslav and Croatian professional basketball player. A shooting guard, he initially achieved success playing professional basketball in Europe in the 1980s, before joining the Nati ...

. The game was played as the opening of new Olympic arena, before the special qualifying tournament that was held for European teams to allocate four extra berths. Several years later, in 2002 Catalonia played for a second time against

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

Palau Sant Jordi Palau Sant Jordi (, en, St. George's Palace) is an indoor sporting arena and multi-purpose installation that is part of the Olympic Ring complex located in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Designed by the Japanese architect Arata Isozaki, it was ...

, with a record attendance of 16,471 spectators. With players like Juan Carlos Navarro or

Pau Gasol Pau Gasol Sáez (, ; born July 6, 1980) is a Spanish former professional basketball player. He was a six-time NBA All-Star and a four-time All-NBA team selection, twice on the second team and twice on the third team. Gasol won two NBA champion ...

, Catalonia wins by 82–75. In 2005, Catalonia played against

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

Palau Municipal d'Esports de Badalona Palau Municipal d'Esports de Badalona (also known as the Pavelló Olímpic de Badalona) is an arena in the Gorg area of Badalona, Catalonia, Spain. The arena holds 12,760 people, and it is primarily used for basketball, though it is also an hab ...

winning by a huge margin: 101–70. Last Catalonia appearances were in the Torneo de las Naciones, a tournament co-organized with Galicia and Basque Country. It was played from 2008 to 2010 and Catalans won the last edition. In 2018, the women's team returned to activity with an 83–57 win against

Montenegro ) , image_map = Europe-Montenegro.svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Podgorica , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , official_languages = M ...

at Pavelló Fontajau in

Girona Girona (officially and in Catalan , Spanish: ''Gerona'' ) is a city in northern Catalonia, Spain, at the confluence of the Ter, Onyar, Galligants, and Güell rivers. The city had an official population of 103,369 in 2020. Girona is the capital ...

Games played

Roster

This was the roster of the Catalan team for the 2010 Torneo de las Naciones. , valign="top" , ; Head coach * ---- ;Legend: *(C) Team captain *Club field describes pro club
during the 2010–11 season

Notable players

Marc Gasol Marc Gasol Sáez (, ; born January 29, 1985) is a Spanish professional basketball player for Bàsquet Girona of the Liga ACB. The center is a two-time All-NBA Team member and a three-time NBA All-Star. He was named the NBA Defensive Player of ...

* Juan Carlos Navarro * Rudy Fernández * Raül López * Ricky Rubio

References

External links

Catalan Basketball Federation website
{{Basketball in Spain