Croatia men's national basketball team

The Croatia men's national basketball team (Hrvatska košarkaška reprezentacija) represents Croatia in international basketball matches. The team is controlled by the Croatian Basketball Federation (HKS).

The biggest success Croatia has achieved was at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics when the team reached the final against the United States and won the silver medal. Croatia has also won one bronze medal at the FIBA World Cup and two bronze medals at EuroBasket.

Croatia's Krešimir Ćosić, Dražen Petrović, Dino Rađa, Mirko Novosel and Toni Kukoč are members of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. Ćosić was inducted in 1996, Petrović in 2002, Rađa in 2018 and Kukoč in 2021, all as players. Novosel was inducted in 2007 as a coach. Petrović, Ćosić, Kukoč and Novosel are members of the FIBA Hall of Fame. Ćosić is also the only Croatian to have received the FIBA Order of Merit. Ćosić, however, never played for the Croatia national team. As he was only a member of the Yugoslavia national team, holding the record for number of medals (including Olyimpic gold) and the most games played by a player.

Prior to Croatian independence
Croatia played its first unofficial friendly game on 2 June 1964 in Karlovac. Croatian team played against US All Star Team and lost 65–110 (31–50). USA players coached by Red Auerbach were Bob Cousy, Tom Heinsohn, K. C. Jones, Jerry Lucas, Bob Pettit, Oscar Robertson and Bill Russell and Croatian team was Giuseppe Gjergja, Nemanja Đurić, Živko Kasun, Zlatko Kiseljak, Slobodan Kolaković, Dragan Kovačić, Boris Križan, Stjepan Ledić, Mirko Novosel, Marko Ostarčević, Petar Skansi and Željko Troskot.

Independent Croatia
After independence of Croatia in 1991, the first official tournament played by Croatians were the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona. Croatia defeated the CIS team 75–74 and reached the final against the USA Dream Team led by Michael Jordan. The USA won 85–117, but Croatia won its first medal at a major tournament in history.

The next competition for Croatia was the 1993 EuroBasket in Germany. Tragically, before the tournament Dražen Petrović died in a car accident on 7 June 1993 at the age of 28. Croatia still managed to reach the bronze medal game to defeat Greece 99–59.

Croatia earned its third medal at the 1994 FIBA World Cup in Canada. Croatia lost their semi-finals match against Russia 64–66, but beat Greece once again 78–60 for the bronze medal. A similar occurrence happened at the EuroBasket 1995 in Greece. Croatia lost in the semi-finals 80–90 against Lithuania, but beat Greece 73–68 for the third time in a row in a bronze medal match. That medal to date was the last Croatian medal from any major tournament. At the 1996 Summer Olympics Croatia finished in a subpar seventh place.

Decline
At the EuroBasket 1997 in Spain, the new Croatian generation emerged, but ended in 11th place. Croatia failed to qualify for the 2000, 2004 and 2012 Summer Olympics, but finished sixth in 2008. Croatia also failed to qualify for the 1998, 2002 and 2006 World Cups. Although the team did manage to qualify in 2010, before falling in the Round of 16. However, at the EuroBasket 2013, Croatia had its best tournament appearance since 1995, where the team finished in fourth place.

Honours
The Croatia national team's all-time medal table:

Current roster
Roster for the 2024 FIBA Men's Olympic Qualifying Tournament matches in Piraeus.

Head coaches

 * 1990s and 2000s


 * 2010s and 2020s

Past rosters

 * EuroBasket 1993
 * EuroBasket 1995
 * EuroBasket 1997
 * EuroBasket 1999
 * EuroBasket 2001
 * EuroBasket 2003
 * EuroBasket 2005
 * EuroBasket 2007
 * EuroBasket 2009
 * EuroBasket 2011
 * EuroBasket 2013
 * EuroBasket 2015
 * EuroBasket 2017
 * EuroBasket 2022


 * 1994 FIBA World Cup
 * 2010 FIBA World Cup
 * 2014 FIBA World Cup


 * 1992 Summer Olympics
 * 1996 Summer Olympics
 * 2008 Summer Olympics
 * 2016 Summer Olympics

Notable players and coaches

 * Players

Individual awards

 * FIBA World Cup MVP
 * Dražen Petrović – 1986
 * Toni Kukoč – 1990
 * EuroBasket MVP
 * Krešimir Ćosić – 1971, 1975
 * Dražen Petrović – 1989
 * Toni Kukoč – 1991
 * Olympics Top Scorer
 * Bojan Bogdanović – 2016
 * EuroBasket Top Scorer
 * Dražen Petrović – 1985
 * FIBA World Cup All-Tournament Team
 * Krešimir Ćosić – 1970, 1978
 * Vinko Jelovac – 1974
 * Dražen Petrović – 1986
 * Toni Kukoč – 1990
 * Dino Rađa – 1994
 * EuroBasket All-Tournament Team
 * Krešimir Ćosić – 1969, 1971, 1973, 1975, 1979
 * Dražen Petrović – 1985, 1989
 * Dino Rađa – 1989, 1993
 * Toni Kukoč – 1991, 1995
 * Damir Mulaomerović – 2001
 * Bojan Bogdanović – 2013
 * Olympic Final Top Scorer
 * Dražen Petrović – 1992
 * World Cup Final Top Scorer
 * Krešimir Ćosić – 1970
 * EuroBasket Final Top Scorer
 * Krešimir Ćosić – 1973
 * Dražen Petrović – 1989
 * Dino Rađa – 1991
 * Other notable achievements
 * FIBA Order of Merit
 * Krešimir Ćosić
 * FIBA Hall of Fame
 * Krešimir Ćosić
 * Dražen Petrović
 * Toni Kukoč
 * Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame
 * Krešimir Ćosić
 * Dražen Petrović
 * Dino Rađa
 * Toni Kukoč
 * College Basketball Hall of Fame
 * Krešimir Ćosić
 * Euroscar
 * Toni Kukoč – 1991, 1994, 1996, 1998
 * Dražen Petrović – 1992, 1993
 * Mr. Europa
 * Toni Kukoč – 1991, 1992, 1996
 * Dražen Petrović – 1993
 * NBA champion
 * Toni Kukoč – 1996, 1997, 1998
 * Žan Tabak – 1995
 * All-NBA Team
 * Dražen Petrović – 1993
 * NBA Sixth Man of the Year Award
 * Toni Kukoč – 1996
 * NBA All-Rookie First Team
 * Dario Šarić – 2017
 * NBA All-Rookie Second Team
 * Toni Kukoč – 1994
 * Dino Rađa – 1994
 * Gordan Giriček – 2003
 * Bojan Bogdanović – 2015


 * EuroLeague Final Four MVP
 * Dino Rađa - 1989
 * Toni Kukoč – 1990, 1991, 1993
 * EuroLeague Finals Top Scorer
 * Petar Skansi - 1972
 * Dražen Petrović - 1985
 * Toni Kukoč - 1990
 * EuroLeague Top Scorer
 * Zdravko Radulović – 1993
 * EuroLeague Rebounds Leader
 * Stojko Vranković – 1995
 * Žan Tabak – 1999
 * EuroLeague Assists Leader
 * Ivica Marić – 2001
 * Zoran Planinić – 2013
 * EuroLeague Steals Leader
 * Ivica Marić – 2001
 * EuroLeague PIR Leader
 * Nikola Vujčić – 2007
 * All EuroLeague First Team
 * Nikola Vujčić – 2005, 2006, 2007
 * Ante Tomić – 2013, 2014
 * All EuroLeague Second Team
 * Nikola Vujčić – 2003, 2004
 * Ante Tomić – 2015
 * Mario Hezonja – 2024
 * All Europe First Team
 * Nikola Vujčić – 2005, 2006
 * Bojan Bogdanović – 2013
 * Ante Tomić – 2015
 * All Europe Second Team
 * Nikola Vujčić – 2004, 2007
 * Ante Tomić – 2013, 2014
 * 50 Greatest EuroLeague Contributors (2008)
 * Krešimir Ćosić
 * Dražen Petrović
 * Toni Kukoč
 * Dino Rađa
 * Cup Winner's Cup Finals Top Scorer
 * Andro Knego - 1982
 * Dražen Petrović - 1987, 1989
 * FIBA Korać Cup Finals Top Scorer
 * Nikola Plećaš - 1972
 * Željko Jerkov - 1977
 * Dražen Petrović - 1988
 * Dino Rađa - 1992
 * FIBA's 50 Greatest Players (1991)
 * Krešimir Ćosić
 * Toni Kukoč
 * Dražen Petrović
 * Dino Rađa
 * Petar Skansi
 * FIBA All-Star Games
 * Krešimir Ćosić
 * Josip Gjergja
 * Vinko Jelovac
 * Željko Jerkov
 * Andro Knego
 * Toni Kukoč
 * Veljko Mršić
 * Dražen Petrović
 * Nikola Plećaš
 * Dino Rađa
 * Petar Skansi
 * Damir Šolman
 * Ratomir Tvrdić
 * Stojko Vranković


 * Coaches

Individual achievements

 * FIBA Hall of Fame
 * Mirko Novosel
 * Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame
 * Mirko Novosel

Biggest tournament wins
20+ point difference
 * Croatia also defeated Albania (94–70) for a win margin of +24 at the 2009 Mediterranean Games.

Biggest tournament losses
-20> point difference

Biggest qualification wins
20+ point difference