The Georgia men's national basketball team ( ka, საქართველოს ეროვნული საკალათბურთო ნაკრები) represents the country of

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

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 is controlled by the Georgian Basketball Federation. Georgia became a member of

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 ...

in 1992, after they 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 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 national team played their first official match against

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

in 1995. Georgia's accomplishments on the international level have been clinching qualification to the European Basketball Championship six times. Their best result came at their debut trip to the tournament in

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

. In

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

, Georgia achieved their first qualification on to the global stage at the

FIBA World Cup The FIBA Basketball World Cup is an international basketball competition between the senior men's national teams of the members of the International Basketball Federation (FIBA), the sport's global governing body. It takes place every four ye ...

History

Soviet era

Until 1991,

was a part of the

, 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 The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a Multi-s ...

and

EuroBasket EuroBasket, also commonly referred to as the European Basketball Championship, is the main international basketball competition that is contested quadrennially, by the senior men's national teams that are governed by FIBA Europe, which is the E ...

include: Nodar Dzhordzhikiya, Otar Korkia,

Guram Minashvili Guram Minashvili ( ka, გურამ მინაშვილი; 25 November 1936 – 1 March 2015) was a Georgia (country), Georgian basketball player who competed for the Soviet Union in the 1960 Summer Olympics. References External links ...

, Vladimer Ugrekhelidze,

Levan Moseshvili Levan Georgievich Moseshvili ( ka, ლევან მოსეშვილი; ; 23 May 1940 – 5 March 2020) was a Georgian basketball player. Playing for the Soviet team he won a silver medal at the 1964 Summer Olympics The , officially t ...

Zurab Sakandelidze Zurab Aleksandrovich Sakandelidze ( ka, ზურაბ საკანდელიძე; ; 9 August 1945 – 25 January 2004) was a Georgian basketball player who won gold with the Soviet basketball team at the 1972 Summer Olympics. He was ...

Mikheil Korkia Mikheil Korkia ( ka, მიხეილ ქორქია) (10 September 1948 – 7 February 2004) was a Georgian-Soviet basketball player who won gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic numbe ...

and Nikolay Deryugin.

Independent Georgia

After gaining

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 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

after defeating

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 play-offs. 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 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 ...

. They finished their preliminary group with an 2–3 record, with wins against

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

and

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

, to advance. In their

second round The second (symbol: s) is a unit of time derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes, and finally to 60 seconds each (24 × 60 × 60 = 86400). The current and formal definition in the International System of Un ...

group phase, Georgia lost all five of their matches to finish their maiden voyage to the EuroBasket in 11th place.

EuroBasket 2013

After finishing second in qualifying

group A group is a number of persons or things that are located, gathered, or classed together. Groups of people * Cultural group, a group whose members share the same cultural identity * Ethnic group, a group whose members share the same ethnic iden ...

, Georgia qualified for its second EuroBasket tournament. After a comfortable 84–67 victory in the opening match over

, Georgia lost their four remaining matches and finished the tournament with an 1–4 record. To that point, the

Eurobasket 2013 EuroBasket 2013 was the 38th edition of the EuroBasket championship that was organized by FIBA Europe. It took place from 4 September until 22 September 2013 in Slovenia. The number of participating teams was 24. France men's national basketball ...

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

play against

Macedonia Macedonia (, , , ), most commonly refers to: * North Macedonia, a country in southeastern Europe, known until 2019 as the Republic of Macedonia * Macedonia (ancient kingdom), a kingdom in Greek antiquity * Macedonia (Greece), a former administr ...

90–75. They followed it up with another victory to end the opening phase of the event against

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

, 71–58 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 medal A silver medal, in sports and other similar areas involving competition, is a medal made of, or plated with, silver awarded to the second-place finisher, or runner-up, of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, ...

ist

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 ...

81–85.

EuroBasket 2017

During the

EuroBasket 2017 qualification This article describes the qualification procedure for EuroBasket 2017. Qualification format All teams which didn't qualify yet for EuroBasket 2017 were divided into six groups of four teams and one more of three. The winners of each group and the ...

Georgia topped its group after an 90–84 victory over

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 ...

, and qualified to EuroBasket for the fourth successive time. Once the competition began, the national team got off to a quick start, avenging their EuroBasket 2015 knockout stage defeat to Lithuania 79–77. The rest of the

group stage A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concentr ...

didn't go as well for the Georgian side though. As the team could only manage to pullout one more victory against

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

, before falling to

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

to finish the tournament with an 2–3 record and being eliminated.

EuroBasket 2022

Georgia was the co-host the

EuroBasket 2022 The EuroBasket 2022 was the 41st edition of the EuroBasket championship organized by FIBA Europe. It was the first since it was agreed it would take place every four years, with a similar system of qualification as for the FIBA Basketball World C ...

, and they automatically qualified for the 2022 finals tournament. This was the fifth successive time that Georgia qualified for the event overall.

Tbilisi Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი, ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), ( ka, ტფილისი, tr ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Georgia (country), largest city of Georgia ( ...

was one of the host cities, and was used for Group A matches at the brand new Tbilisi Basketball Arena.

The Foundation

The core of the national team that has consistently qualified to Europe's biggest basketball competition consisted of captain

Zaza Pachulia Zaza Pachulia ( ka, ზაზა ფაჩულია; born Zaur Pachulia; 10 February 1984) is a Georgian professional basketball executive and former player who is a basketball operations consultant for the Golden State Warriors of the Nati ...

Viktor Sanikidze Viktor Sanikidze (alternate spelling: Victor) (born 1 April 1986) is a Georgian politician, former professional basketball executive and former player. He played at both the small forward and power forward positions in his entire career. Saniki ...

, Manuchar Markoishvili,

Tornike Shengelia Tornike "Toko" Shengelia ( ka, თორნიკე შენგელია; born 5 October 1991) is a Georgian professional basketball player for Virtus Bologna of the Italian Lega Basket Serie A (LBA) and the EuroLeague. Shengelia also represe ...

Giorgi Tsintsadze Giorgi Tsintsadze ( ka, გიორგი ცინცაძე; born 7 Feb 1986) is a Georgian professional basketball player for BC TSU Tbilisi of the Georgian Superliga. Giorgi is native of Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia. He is also a memb ...

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

Olympic Games

EuroBasket

Results and fixtures

2024

2025

2026

Team

Current roster

Roster for the EuroBasket 2025 Qualifiers matches on 21 and 24 February 2025 against

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 ...

and

Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...

Depth chart

Head coach history

Past rosters

2011 EuroBasket: finished 11th among 24 teams 4 Giorgi Gamqrelidze, 5 Vladimir Boisa, 6

Anatoli Boisa Anatoli Boisa ( ka, ანატოლი ბოისა born 9 September 1983) is a Georgian professional retired basketball player. Currently, he is the assistant coach of Sagesse Club in the Lebanese Basketball League The Lebanese Basketba ...

, 7

(C), 8

, 9 Giorgi Shermadini,
10 Lasha Parghalava, 11 Manuchar Markoishvili, 12 MarQuez Haynes, 13

, 14

, 15 Nikoloz Tskitishvili
(Coach:

Igor Kokoškov Igor Stefan Kokoškov ( sr-Cyrl, Игор Стефан Кокошков; born 17 December 1971) is a Serbian professional basketball coach. He had spent 19 years in the NBA as an assistant coach, with a brief stint as head coach for the Phoenix ...

) ---- 2013 EuroBasket: finished 17th among 24 teams 4 Nika Metreveli, 5 Otar Pkhakadze, 6 Duda Sanadze, 7 Beka Burjanadze, 8

, 9 Giorgi Shermadini, 10 Ricky Hickman,
11 Manuchar Markoishvili, 12 Levan Patsatsia, 13

, 14 Besik Lezhava, 15 Nikoloz Tskitishvili (Coach:

) ---- 2015 EuroBasket: finished 15th among 24 teams 0 Jacob Pullen, 4 Nika Metreveli, 7

(C), 8

, 9 Giorgi Shermadini, 10 Duda Sanadze,
11 Manuchar Markoishvili, 12 Levan Patsatsia, 13

, 15 Beka Burjanadze, 23

, 25 Besik Lezhava
(Coach:

) ---- 2017 EuroBasket: finished 17th among 24 teams 3 Michael Dixon, 4 Giorgi Gamqrelidze, 6

, 7

(C), 8

, 9 Giorgi Shermadini,
10 Duda Sanadze, 11 Manuchar Markoishvili, 17 Mikheil Berishvili, 23

, 35 Goga Bitadze, 99 Ilia Londaridze
(Coach: Ilias Zouros) ----

2022 EuroBasket The EuroBasket 2022 was the 41st edition of the EuroBasket championship organized by FIBA Europe. It was the first since it was agreed it would take place every four years, with a similar system of qualification as for the FIBA Basketball World C ...

: finished 21st among 24 teams 4 Rati Andronikashvili, 5

Sandro Mamukelashvili Alexander "Sandro" Mamukelashvili ( ka, ალექსანდრე "სანდრო" მამუკელაშვილი; born 23 May 1999) is a Georgian-American professional basketball player for the San Antonio Spurs of the Nation ...

, 6 Kakhaber Jintcharadze, 7 Beka Burjanadze, 8

,
9 Giorgi Shermadini (C), 10 Duda Sanadze, 17 Mikheil Berishvili, 18 Merab Bokolishvili, 25 Thad McFadden, 33 Beka Bekauri,
35 Goga Bitadze (Coach: Ilias Zouros) ----

2023 FIBA World Cup The 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup was the 19th tournament of the FIBA Basketball World Cup for men's national basketball teams, held from 25 August to 10 September 2023. The tournament was the second to feature 32 teams and was hosted by multipl ...

: finished 16th among 32 teams 4 Rati Andronikashvili, 5

, 6 Kakhaber Jintcharadze, 7 Luka Liklikadze, 8

, 9 Giorgi Shermadini,
10 Duda Sanadze, 11 Giorgi Turdziladze, 17 Mikheil Berishvili, 23

(C), 25 Thad McFadden, 35 Goga Bitadze
(Coach: Ilias Zouros)

Head-to-head record

''As of 24 February 2025''

Record by opponents

Record against teams at the EuroBasket

Notable results

Kit

Manufacturer

*2015–present: Spalding, eurobasket2015.org. Retrieved 22 October 2015.

Sponsor

*2015: Natakhtari *2019: Georgian Railway

References

External links

*
Georgia FIBA profileGeorgia National Team – Men
at Eurobasket.com {{National sports teams of Georgia Basketball teams in Georgia (country) Men's national basketball teams National sports teams of Georgia (country) 1995 establishments in Georgia (country) National sports teams established in 1995

History

Soviet era

Independent Georgia

EuroBasket 2011

EuroBasket 2013

EuroBasket 2015

EuroBasket 2017

EuroBasket 2022

The Foundation

Competitive record

FIBA World Cup

Olympic Games

EuroBasket

Results and fixtures

2024

2025

2026

Team

Current roster

Depth chart

Head coach history

Past rosters

Head-to-head record

Record by opponents

Record against teams at the EuroBasket

Notable results

Kit

Manufacturer

Sponsor

See also

References

External links