Eurobasket 2022 will take place between 1 and 18 September in four countries. This year’s European Basketball Championship will be hosted by the Czech Republic, Georgia, Germany and Italy. As reigning European champions, Slovenia will play in Group B. There will be no shortage of talent at this year’s Eurobasket with as many as 42 NBA players between the 24 teams. Keep on reading to learn more about EuroBasket 2022, the participants, favourites, host cities and other interesting facts.

As twenty-four teams are about to compete for medals, Slovenia will defend its title of European champions.

Eurobasket 2022 – Groups

Group A

  • Belgium
  • Bulgaria
  • Montenegro
  • Georgia
  • Spain
  • Turkey

Six teams of Group A will play their matches in Georgia. In front of 10,000 fans in Olympic Palace arena, the capital city of Tbilisi will host one of the biggest teams in the history of basketball and several others that will be looking to reach for the stars.

Group B

  • Bosnia and Herzegovina
  • France
  • Lithuania
  • Hungary
  • Germany
  • Slovenia

This EuroBasket’s strongest group is arguably Group B, which will play in Germany. About fifteen NBA stars will play in Cologne, presenting themselves to as many as 19,000 fans in the Lanxess Arena (formerly known as Kölnarena).

Group C

  • Greece
  • Croatia
  • Italy
  • Estonia
  • Ukraine
  • United Kingdom

The exotic Group C will be hosted by Italy. The Mediolanum Forum is an arena near Milan and home to the Euroleague team AX Armani Exchange Milan during regular season. This arena, which is the closest to Slovenia, will welcome nearly 13,000 fans.

Group D

  • Czech Republic
  • Finland
  • Israel
  • Netherlands
  • Poland
  • Serbia

The Czech Republic will host Group D, where all national teams stand a good chance of qualifying from the group. In the O2 Arena in Prague, over 16 thousand fans will be able to enjoy top-quality basketball.

EuroBasket 2022 knockout rounds

The four best teams from each group will reach the elimination stage of the tournament, starting with the round of 16. In the round of 16, teams that qualified from Group C will play teams from Group D and teams from Group A will play teams from Group B. The matchup system is simple, with the first-ranked team from one group playing against the fourth-ranked team of the other group and the second-ranked team of one group playing against the third-ranked team of the other group.

The knockout rounds will take place between 10 and 18 September in Germany. The most intense matches of this year’s EuroBasket will be played in the Mercedes-Benz Arena in Berlin in front of 14,500 fans.

Top EuroBasket 2022 teams

As part of preparations for Eurobasket 2022, FIBA made a power ranking list of all the competing teams. All twenty-four teams were ranked in strength, with the last three places belonging to the teams of the Netherlands, Estonia and Bulgaria. The national teams of Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina rank 17th and 16th, respectively. They are followed by Poland, Georgia, Israel, Finland and Croatia, which takes the eleventh spot on these power rankings.

Going back just a little bit to the teams in 16th and 17th place, they have an interesting and very difficult task ahead of them. Montenegro will look to the likes of Nikola Vučević, Kendrick Perry, Marko Simonović and Nikola Ivanović to make the difference. The fact that they are probably the third strongest team in Group A could mean that their stint at the European Championship could be a bit longer than expected. It is also worth mentioning the national team of Georgia, which will play in front of a home crowd and thus have an advantage that cannot be overlooked. A much more difficult task awaits the national team of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The NBA center Jusuf Nurkić is not 100% to play, which can greatly change the course of the entire Eurobasket for his national team. They are betting heavily on Džanan Musa and Luka Garza, with the latter still waiting for his debut in the national team. Pitted against the likes of Slovenia, France, Germany and Lithuania, they will need a lot of luck to qualify for knockout stages.

Before we focus on the top eleven teams, let’s take a quick look at two very interesting teams that have just missed out on the top 11. We are talking about Finland and Israel. A very welcome surprise package of the last two qualifiers, Finland have been steadily improving their form and look better than ever. On their day, Lauri Markkanen of the Cleveland Cavaliers and former Olimpija player Sasu Salin can give any team a run for their money. Israel’s situation is somewhat similar, with the nation placing its hopes mostly on the young duo  of Deni Avdija and Yam Madar.

 

Croatia

Croatia will want to forget the failure of the 2023 World Championship qualifiers as quickly as possible. The return of three key players to the national team is definitely a good first step towards that. Bojan Bogdanović, Ivica Zubac and Dario Šarić (if he successfully recovers from his injury) will be Croatia’s main assets at Eurobasket 2022. And how could we not mention Mario Hezonja, one of the best basketball players in Europe at the moment. There’s also Karlo Matković, Jaleen Smith and Krunoslav Simon. Coach Damir Mulaomerović is faced with a relatively straightforward task, as anything else than a clear qualification to the knockout stages will be seen as failure.

 

Czech Republic

The team led by Tomaš Satoransky will have the home court advantage. The former NBA player and current member of Barcelona does not exactly have the best Czech team of recent years at his disposal, but at least he still has Jan Vesely. They will be helped out by the experienced presence of Vojtech Hruban, the all-time top scorer of the Basketball Champions League. Will their home court advantage be enough to qualify from Group D with Serbia, Finland, Poland, Netherlands and Israel, however?

 

Germany

The German national team is strong and, more importantly, playing at home. First they will be backed by home fans in Cologne and later in Berlin (if they manage to qualify from the group). Germany are stacked with NBA and Euroleague experience. Dennis Schroder, Moritz Wagner, Franz Wagner and Daniel Theis all play important roles for their teams across the pond. On the other hand, Johannes Voigtmann, Niels Giffey, Maodo Lo, Johannes Thiemann, Andreas Obst and Robert Benzing bring a great deal of Euroleague experience from big matches.

 

Italy

The only remaining national team to play in front of their own fans, Italy will be playing in Group C in the beautiful city of Milan. Their only serious competitors in the group should be Croatia and Greece, but stranger things have happened. Danilo Gallinari, Luigi Datome and Nicolo Melli are the leaders of this team with lofty aspirations, while youthful spark and talent will be provided by Nico Mannion, Matteo Spagnolo and Simone Fontecchio, who has just signed a two-year contract with the Utah Jazz. Nevertheless, the latter still needs to prove himself on the big stage, a feat that has already been achieved by Achille Polonara, who brings with him a lot of Euroleague experience.

 

Turkey

Could they be the dark horse of this year’s Eurobasket? We suppose it wouldn’t be that shocking, seeing as they are ranked very highly on the list. Why is that? Well, Furkan Korkmaz of Philadelphia 76ers, Cedi Osman of Cleveland Cavaliers, Alperen Sengun of Houston Rockets and Omer Yurtseven of Miami Heat are all NBA-calibre players. Shane Larkin is one of the biggest stars in the Euroleague and the de facto leader of this national team, and he will be helped by Sertaç Şanli. Should big names and talent prove to be insufficient, the coach Ergin Ataman, who led Anadolu Efes to their historic Euroleague title, is also there to pave his national team’s way to success.

 

Spain

Spain will always be a top team and must never be underestimated. Eurobasket 2022 is no exception, although this time they are without the Gasol brothers and Ricky Rubio. Be that as it may, Rudy Fernandez, Sergio Llull, Juancho Hernangomez, Willy Hernangomez and young prodigy Usman Garuba are still around. Playing in Group A, even finishing second could be seen as a minor failure for one of the most successful teams in the history of basketball.

 

Lithuania

For the first time in history, Lithuania failed to qualify for the Olympic Games, so they will be under even more scrutiny at EuroBasket 2022. Playing in Group B or the Group of Death with Slovenia, Germany, France and Bosnia, how will Lithuania respond? Jonas Valančiunas and Domantas Sabonis are one of the most dynamic and dominant duos at Eurobasket and perhaps in history. The question has always been how will Lithuania adapt in other areas on the court. Can Ignas Brazdeikis and Mindaugas Kuzminskas solve this conundrum? In any case, Lithuania is a strong team that will be opening its Eurobasket 2022 campaign against Slovenia, which is a repeat of the final qualifying match for the Olympic Games.

 

Serbia

A regular top 5 finisher at every tournament, Serbia is once again plagued by many issues. This year’s drama revolves mainly around the absence of some key players and the “dubious” intentions of their coach Svetoslav “Kari” Pešić. The latter made a bold decision to remove Miloš Teodosić from the national call-up list, incurring the wrath of fellow compatriots. Due to the importance of Teodosić to the Serbian basketball and fans, Pešić is already on thin ice and can only redeem himself by leading his national team to a successful Eurobasket 2022. On paper, the team is exceptional, as it will be led by the two-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokić and two-time Euroleague Final Four MVP Vasilije Micić. With the help of Nemanja Bjelica, Nikola Milutinov, Nikola Kalinić, Filip Petrušev, Aleksa Avramović, Nemanja Nedović, Marko Gudurić, Vladimir Lučić and others, Serbia will surely aim to go all the way. Can they, though?

 

Greece

When it comes to Greece, Eurobasket 2022 is all about learning how to count to four in Greek. It goes like this: Giannis, Kostas, Thanasis and Alex. The four Antetokounmpo brothers are spearheaded by one of the best players in the NBA, Giannis Antetokounmpo. There is more to this team, however, as demonstrated by the inclusions of Nick Calathes, Kostas Sloukas, Georgios Papagiannis, Kostas Papanikolaou and Tyler Dorsey. The expectations for this bunch have never been higher, and they are certainly the team to beat in Group C. Can the “Greek Freak” win his country a medal?

 

France

Much like Spain, the French team for EuroBasket 2022 is not as strong as it was in the past. But make no mistake, because the French are still amongst the favourites for the gold medal. Rudy Gobert and Evan Fournier will be the leaders of the French national team on their way to glory. They will be joined byThomas Huertel, Vincent Poirier, Guerchon Yabusele, Theo Maledon, Frank Ntilikina and Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot in the “Les Blues” team, which will try to conquer Europe for the first time since 2013.

 

Slovenia

Can Slovenia defend the title of European champions? In 2017, the most beautiful story in the history of Slovenian basketball was written, one that the country will never forget. Some say that there are least 77 reasons for Slovenia to succeed again at Eurobasket 2022. Luka Dončić is ready to take over the control of the game, while the golden captain Goran Dragić has also returned. Klemen Prepelić, Mike Tobey, Zoran Dragić, Edo Murić, Vlatko Čančar and every other member of the national team that is led by Aleksander Sekulić have their eyes on the prize. As Goran Dragić said: “Let’s face it, I did not come back so that I could finish fifth or sixth.”
The goal is clear.
Luka Dončić: ”We are coming for gold!”