Georgia men's national basketball team

Until 1991 Georgia was a part of Soviet Union and players born in Georgia played for the Soviet Union national team. Notable players born in Georgia who played for the Soviet Union and won medals in Olympic Games, FIBA World Cup and EuroBasket include: Nodar Dzhordzhikiya, Otar Korkia, Guram Minashvili, Vladimer Ugrekhelidze, Levan Moseshvili, Zurab Sakandelidze, Mikheil Korkia and Nikolay Deryugin.

After gaining independence 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 after defeating Belarus in play-offs.[2] After the expansion of the EuroBasket in 2011 from 16 to 24 teams, Georgia qualified to the competition for the first time. Since then the team have qualified for the tournament every time.

The national team played five matches in Group D. They finished their preliminary group with an 2-3 record, with wins against Belgium and Ukraine, to advance. In their second round group phase, Georgia lost all five of their matches to finish their maiden voyage to the EuroBasket in 11th place.[3]

After finishing second in qualifying group, Georgia qualified for its second Eurobasket tournament. After a comfortable 84–67 victory in the opening match over Poland, Georgia lost their four remaining matches and finished the tournament with an 1-4 record.[4] To this date, the Eurobasket 2013 was the only tournament, where Georgia could not win more than one match.

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 group play against North Macedonia 90–75. They followed it up with another victory to end the opening phase of the event against Croatia, 71–58[5] to move on to the knockout stages for the first time. There they suffered a narrow hard fought defeat to the tournament favorites, and eventual silver medalist Lithuania 81–85.[6]

During the EuroBasket 2017 qualification Georgia topped its group after an 90–84[7] victory over Montenegro 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 didn't go as well for the Georgian side though. As they could only manage to pullout one more victory against Israel, to finish the tournament with an 2-3 record.

Georgia will co-host the EuroBasket 2021, and they have automatically qualified for the 2021 tournament. This will make it the fifth successive time that Georgia has qualified for the event overall. Tbilisi will be one of the host cities, and will be used for several group phase matches at the brand new Tbilisi Basketball Arena.[8]

The core of the national team that has consistently qualified to Europe's biggest basketball competition consisted of captain Zaza Pachulia, Viktor Sanikidze, Manuchar Markoishvili, Tornike Shengelia, Giorgi Tsintsadze 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.

Roster for the EuroBasket 2021 Qualifiers matches played on 20 and 23 February 2020 against Switzerland and Serbia.[9]

Georgia national basketball team roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. No. Name Age – Date of birth Height Club Ctr. PG 4 Rati Andronikashvili 18 – (2001-03-19)19 March 2001 1.95 m (6 ft 5 in) Rustavi PF 7 Beka Burjanadze 26 – (1994-01-03)3 January 1994 2.03 m (6 ft 8 in) Gran Canaria PG 8 Giorgi Tsintsadze 34 – (1986-02-07)7 February 1986 1.92 m (6 ft 4 in) Al-Shamal C 9 Giorgi Shermadini 30 – (1989-04-02)2 April 1989 2.16 m (7 ft 1 in) Iberostar Tenerife SG 10 Duda Sanadze 27 – (1992-07-25)25 July 1992 1.96 m (6 ft 5 in) Oliveirense C 11 Giorgi Turdziladze 22 – (1997-10-21)21 October 1997 2.07 m (6 ft 9 in) TSU Tbilisi C 12 George Korsantia 22 – (1998-01-11)11 January 1998 2.03 m (6 ft 8 in) TSU Tbilisi SF 17 Mikheil Berishvili 32 – (1987-04-12)12 April 1987 2.03 m (6 ft 8 in) Al-Shamal SG 18 Merab Bokolishvili 27 – (1992-02-27)27 February 1992 1.94 m (6 ft 4 in) Rustavi SG 24 Saba Lobjanidze 26 – (1993-08-17)17 August 1993 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in) Rustavi PG 25 Thad McFadden 32 – (1987-05-29)29 May 1987 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in) Burgos PF 99 Ilia Londaridze 30 – (1989-09-15)15 September 1989 2.05 m (6 ft 9 in) Rustavi	Head coach Ilias Zouros Assistant coach(es) Miloš Gligorijević Georgios Limniatis Manuchar Markoishvili Anatoli Boisa Legend (C) Team captain Club – describes last club before the competition Age – describes age on 20 February 2020

2011 EuroBasket: finished 11th among 24 teams

4 Giorgi Gamqrelidze, 5 Vladimir Boisa, 6 Anatoli Boisa, 7 Zaza Pachulia, 8 Giorgi Tsintsadze, 9 Giorgi Shermadini, 10 Lasha Parghalava, 11 Manuchar Markoishvili, 12 MarQuez Haynes, 13 Viktor Sanikidze, 14 Tornike Shengelia, 15 Nikoloz Tskitishvili (Coach: Igor Kokoškov)

2013 EuroBasket: finished 17th among 24 teams

4 Nika Metreveli, 5 Otar Pkhakadze, 6 Duda Sanadze, 7 Beka Burjanadze, 8 Giorgi Tsintsadze, 9 Giorgi Shermadini, 10 Ricky Hickman, 11 Manuchar Markoishvili, 12 Levan Patsatsia, 13 Viktor Sanikidze, 14 Besik Lezhava, 15 Nikoloz Tskitishvili (Coach: Igor Kokoškov)

2015 EuroBasket: finished 15th among 24 teams

0 Jacob Pullen, 4 Nika Metreveli, 7 Zaza Pachulia (C), 8 Giorgi Tsintsadze, 9 Giorgi Shermadini, 10 Duda Sanadze, 11 Manuchar Markoishvili, 12 Levan Patsatsia, 13 Viktor Sanikidze, 15 Beka Burjanadze, 23 Tornike Shengelia, 25 Besik Lezhava (Coach: Igor Kokoškov)

2017 EuroBasket: finished 17th among 24 teams

3 Michael Dixon, 4 Giorgi Gamqrelidze, 6 Anatoli Boisa, 7 Zaza Pachulia (C), 8 Giorgi Tsintsadze, 9 Giorgi Shermadini, 10 Duda Sanadze, 11 Manuchar Markoishvili, 17 Mikheil Berishvili, 23 Tornike Shengelia, 35 Goga Bitadze, 99 Ilia Londaridze (Coach: Ilias Zouros)

2015-present: Spalding[10]

2015: Natakhtari[10]

2019: Georgian Railway