Margus Metstak (born June 16, 1961) is a retired Estonian professional
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 ...
player who played mostly at the
center
Center or centre may refer to:
Mathematics
*Center (geometry), the middle of an object
* Center (algebra), used in various contexts
** Center (group theory)
** Center (ring theory)
* Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentrici ...
position.
Club career
Early career
Margus Metstak started his career at the age of 18 with
Tallinn Pedagogical Institute
Tallinn University (TLU; et, Tallinna Ülikool, ''TLÜ'') is a public research university in Estonia. Located in the centre of Tallinn, the capital city of Estonia, Tallinn University is one of the three largest institutions of higher education ...
for whom he played in
Estonian SSR Championships until the
dissolution of the Soviet Union. However, he improved and went on to play professionally for Soviet Union top-flight team Kalev Tallinn. In 1982, only his second year as a professional, the team reached the semi-finals of the Soviet Basketball Cup and took the bronze medal.
Soviet champion
The biggest breakthrough came in 1991, when
Kalev won the Soviet Union Basketball League and became the last official champions of the collapsed empire (in fact, there was a league functioning with the same association the following year, but with only clubs from
Commonwealth of Independent States
The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) is a regional intergovernmental organization in Eurasia. It was formed following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. It covers an area of and has an estimated population of 239,796,010. ...
competing). Kalev won the regular season with 18–4 record. In quarter-finals they beat ASK Kyiv 2–0 (90:75, 100:91) and went on to play in the semi-finals against Latvian
BK VEF Rīga. The Latvian team won the first game 94–87, but Kalev managed to win two games in a row (107:90, 113:96) and the series overall 2–1. In the finals Estonians won both games against
BC Spartak Saint Petersburg
BC Spartak Saint Petersburg is a Russian professional basketball team that is based in Saint Petersburg, Russia. During the 2016–17 season, the club was named BC Kondrashin Belov (BCKB), after its former player Alexander Belov and its former head ...
and won the first and last Soviet championship for
Kalev.
Foreign clubs
Metstak played briefly for
Korisliiga
The Korisliiga is the top-tier professional basketball league in Finland, comprising the top 12 teams of the country. In its current format, each team plays all other teams two times in the regular season, once at home and once away, for a total o ...
team NMKY Lahti in late 1990, before returning to Estonia in January 1991. Following the big triumph, he went back to Finland for a season, before making a brief move to Luxembourg's team Amicale Basket. After being one of the main figures of
Estonia national basketball team
Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, an ...
's successful
EuroBasket 1993
The 1993 FIBA European Championship, commonly called FIBA EuroBasket 1993, was the 28th FIBA EuroBasket regional basketball championship, held by FIBA Europe. It was held in Germany between 22 June and 4 July 1993. Sixteen national teams entered ...
in Germany, Margus Metstak received offers to play in
Basketball Bundesliga for TSV Speyer and
Paderborn Baskets, respectively. For the 2001–2002 season, at the age of 40, he earned his last contract from abroad, joining Polish side
Czarni Słupsk
Czarni Słupsk, more commonly known as Grupa Sierleccy Czarni Słupsk because of sponsorship reasons, is a Polish basketball team, based in Słupsk, playing in Polish Basketball League (PLK). The home arena of the club was Hala Gryfia.
History
I ...
.
Last years
After the spell with the Polish team, the then 41-year-old center moved to
TTÜ/A. Le Coq. Metstak played the last few years of his career with his hometown club, BC Pirita, as a semi-professional. He has been working as a coach for
TTÜ/Kalev
TalTech Basketball is the basketball team of Tallinn University of Technology based in Tallinn, Estonia. The team plays in the Latvian–Estonian Basketball League. Their home arena is the TalTech Sports Hall.
The team has won eight Estonian Ch ...
and re-established
BC Tallinna Kalev
Tallinna Kalev/TLÜ is a professional basketball club based in Tallinn, Estonia. The team plays in the Latvian-Estonian Basketball League and Korvpalli Meistriliiga (KML). Their home arena is the Audentes Sports Centre.
History
The team was fou ...
.
National team
Metstak's national career started in 1981, when he represented
Estonian SSR national team. In 1991, when Estonia regained their independence from
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, ...
, he was a regular
center
Center or centre may refer to:
Mathematics
*Center (geometry), the middle of an object
* Center (algebra), used in various contexts
** Center (group theory)
** Center (ring theory)
* Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentrici ...
for the
Estonia national basketball team
Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, an ...
.
1993 European Championships
Margus Metstak was on the squad for both the
EuroBasket 1993
The 1993 FIBA European Championship, commonly called FIBA EuroBasket 1993, was the 28th FIBA EuroBasket regional basketball championship, held by FIBA Europe. It was held in Germany between 22 June and 4 July 1993. Sixteen national teams entered ...
and
EuroBasket 2001
The 2001 FIBA European Championship, commonly called FIBA EuroBasket 2001, was the 32nd FIBA EuroBasket regional basketball championship held by FIBA Europe, which also served as Europe qualifier for the 2002 FIBA World Championship, giving a be ...
competitions, the only times Estonia has qualified for that tournament. In 1993, the Estonian team surprised all of Europe, winning
group D ahead of eventual European champion
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
and strong ex-Yugoslavian side
Slovenia
Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...
. In the knock-out stages they lost to Russia, beat Bosnia and Herzegovina and were beaten in the
5th-place game by Spain. This meant that Estonia would not qualify to the
1994 FIBA World Championship.
2001 European Championships
In 2001, 40-year-old Metstak scored 8.3 points and took 6 rebounds per game, when Estonia finished in the disappointing last place. Margus Metstak is to date the oldest basketballer to play at the EuroBasket.
[Kalvet, Madis.]
Metstaki ajalooline saavutus EMil on Euroopas unustatud
. ''Postimees''. (2009-09-18). Retrieved on 2012-04
References
External links
Profileat basket.ee
Books
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Metstak, Margus
1961 births
Living people
Centers (basketball)
Estonian men's basketball players
BC Tallinn Kalev players
Estonian expatriate basketball people in Finland
Estonian expatriate basketball people in Germany
Estonian expatriate basketball people in Luxembourg
Estonian expatriate basketball people in Poland
People from Jõelähtme Parish
KK Kalev players