The Belarus men's national basketball team represented

Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...

in international

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

matches, and are controlled by the

Belarusian Basketball Federation Belarusian Basketball Federation (), also known as BBF, is a national governing body of basketball in Belarus. After the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, FIBA suspended Belarus from participating in basketball and 3x3 basketball competitions. FI ...

. They came into existence in 1992 after the dissolution of the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

. The team played in their first official match the following year versus

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

. They are Europe's most populous nation to have never qualified for a major international basketball competition. After the

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

FIBA The International Basketball Federation (FIBA ; French language, French: ) is an association of national organizations which governs the sport of basketball worldwide. FIBA defines the rules of basketball, specifies the Basketball equipment ...

suspended Belarus from participating in international competitions.

History

Prior to independence

Before 1992,

was occupied by the

, with Belarusian born players taking part on the Soviet Union national team.

Ensuing years

After Belarus gained

independence Independence is a condition of a nation, country, or state, in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the status of ...

from the Soviet Union, their first attempt to qualify for the premier European basketball tournament came in

1993 The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...

. They ultimately came up short in their attempt. Throughout the rest of the 1990s and 2000s, Belarus were unsuccessful at securing qualification. During qualifying for the

EuroBasket 2017 EuroBasket 2017 was the 40th edition of the EuroBasket championship that was organized by FIBA Europe and held between 31 August and 17 September 2017. Beginning from 2017, the continental championships take place every four years with a similar ...

, Belarus was stationed into

Group D Group D may refer to: * FIA Group D - International Formula racing cars: ** Formula Two ** Formula Three ** Formula 3000 * One of six or eight groups of four teams competing at the FIFA World Cup ** 2022 FIFA World Cup Group D ** 2018 FIFA Worl ...

with another opportunity to reach the EuroBasket finals. The team began the qualifiers with two loses, before earning their first victory at home against

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

. Belarus went on to win twice more to conclude the qualifiers at a record of (3–3), but it wasn't enough as the team was eliminated. For qualification to the

2019 FIBA World Cup The 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup was the 18th tournament of the FIBA Basketball World Cup for men's national basketball teams, held from 31 August to 15 September 2019. The tournament was hosted in China and was rescheduled from 2018 to 2019, b ...

, Belarus first went through European Pre-Qualifiers. Belarus would finish with a (1–3) record in their pre-qualifying group, but would advance to the first round of the qualifiers; due to owning the point difference in their head-to-head against Portugal. There, they were placed in

Group A Group A is a set of motorsport regulations administered by the FIA covering production derived touring cars for competition, usually in touring car racing and rallying. In contrast to the short-lived Group B and Group C, Group A vehicles wer ...

, and right away the national team were overwhelmed in their first two matches by dominant performances from

Slovenia Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...

and

Montenegro , image_flag = Flag of Montenegro.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Montenegro.svg , coa_size = 80 , national_motto = , national_anthem = () , image_map = Europe-Mont ...

respectively. They eventually notched their first win in the group in a rematch against Slovenia, but to no avail. Belarus finished with a (1–5) record and failed to advance. Belarus later went on to compete in EuroBasket 2022 Pre-Qualifiers, but were eliminated in a match to

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

, in the final pre-qualifying window 69–66.

Competitive record

FIBA World Cup

Olympic Games

EuroBasket

Team

Current roster

Roster for the 2023 FIBA World Cup Qualifiers matches on 25 and 28 November 2021 against

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

and

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

Depth chart

Head coach position

* Aliaksandr Papkou – (2008–2009) * Mikhail Feiman – (2010) *

Andrei Krivonos Andrei, Andrey or Andrej (in Cyrillic script: Андрэй, Андрей or Андреј) is a form of Andreas/Ἀνδρέας in Slavic languages and Romanian. People with the name include: *Andrei of Polotsk (–1399), Lithuanian nobleman *Andr ...

– (2011–2012) *

Ruslan Baidakov Ruslan may refer to: * ''Ruslan'' (film), a 2009 film starring Steven Segal * ''Ruslaan'', a 2024 Indian film * Ruslan (given name), masculine given name (contains list of people) * Antonov An-124 ''Ruslan'', large Soviet cargo aircraft, later b ...

– (2013–2014) *

Dušan Gvozdić Dušan Gvozdić (; born 8 March 1978) is a Serbian professional basketball coach. His most recent position was an assistant coach for Toyota Alvark of the Japan Professional Basketball League B.League. Coaching career Gvozdić worked as an assi ...

– (2014) * Aleksander Krutikov – (2015–2019) * Rostislav Vergun – (2019–present)

Notes

References

External links

Official website

Belarus
at FIBA site
Belarus National Team – Men
at Eurobasket.com

at FIBA Archive {{FIBA Europe teams Belarus national basketball team Men's national basketball teams

National team A national sports team (commonly known as a national team or a national side) is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in an international sport. The term is most commonly associated with team sports, for exa ...

Basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

1993 establishments in Belarus National sports teams established in 1993