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Finland men's national basketball team

This article is about the men's team. For the women's team, see Finland women's national basketball team.

The Finland men's national basketball team (Finnish: Suomen koripallomaajoukkue, Swedish: Finlands herrlandslag i basket) represents Finland in international basketball competition. The national team is governed by Basketball Finland.

Finland
FIBA ranking20 Steady (1 March 2024)[1]
Joined FIBA1939
FIBA zoneFIBA Europe
National federationBasketball Finland
CoachLassi Tuovi
Nickname(s)Susijengi
(The Wolf Pack)
Olympic Games
Appearances2
MedalsNone
FIBA World Cup
Appearances2
MedalsNone
EuroBasket
Appearances17
MedalsNone
First international
 France 76–11 Finland 
(Kaunas, Lithuania; 22 May 1939)
Biggest win
 Luxembourg 53–111 Finland 
(Luxembourg City; 16 September 2006)
Biggest defeat
 Lithuania 112–9 Finland 
(Kaunas, Lithuania; 27 May 1939)

Finland has played in 17 EuroBasket tournaments, with their best finish coming in sixth place at EuroBasket 1967, on home soil. Finland has appeared at the Olympic Games twice, in 1952 as hosts, and 1964. Finland has also qualified for the FIBA World Cup twice, in 2014 and 2023.

Since 2011, Finland has had the highest FIBA World Ranking among Nordic countries.

History

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Finnish national team during the EuroBasket 1939 in Lithuania.
Finland playing against Mexico at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics.
Finnish national basketball team in 1964 Tokyo Olympics.
Jyrki Immonen (left) and national teammate Teijo Finneman in 1967.

Early years

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The Finnish Basketball Association was founded in February 1939. A few months earlier the Finnish Football Federation had decided to add basketball to its own repertoire.Finland first competed at the European championship at its third installment, the EuroBasket 1939. In the round-robin, they initially struggled and lost to each of the other seven teams and finished with a 70–541 overall point differential.

1950s

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Finland's next European competition was 12 years later, at the EuroBasket 1951 in Paris. Overall, they fared much better and split their four preliminary round games and finished at third place in the group at 2–2 but were eliminated from championship contention. They had success after that, winning all three of their classification round 1 games and both round 2 games to finish in 9th place of the 18 teams.

In 1952, by virtue of hosting the games in Helsinki, Finland played at the Summer Olympics for the first time. The national team finished at the bottom of Group B in the preliminary round losing all of its game to the Soviet Union, Bulgaria and Mexico, and failing to advance.[2]

Finland used this international experience when they competed again at the EuroBasket 1953 in Moscow. In the preliminary round, they finished with 1 win and 3 losses for 4th place of the 5 teams in the group. They fared significantly better in the first classification round, winning 3 and losing only 1 to finish in the middle of a three-way tie in the group. They lost both the 9–12 and 11/12 classification games, however, taking 12th place of 17 overall.

At the next event, Finland had some difficulty in the preliminary round of EuroBasket 1955. They lost all three early games in Budapest and were relegated to the classification round. Once again, not faced with the world elite opponents anymore, the Fins shone in the classification round and won all four of the pool play games. They won their classification 9–12 match as well, but lost to France in the 9/10 final to finish 10th of 18 in the tournament.

In Sofia, at the EuroBasket 1957, the Finns finished third in their preliminary group after going 1–2. They moved to the 9–16 classification pool and won five games there with only one loss. They took 11th place overall in the tournament.

Modern era

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Finland after defeating France at EuroBasket 2017.

At the EuroBasket 1995 in Greece, was Finland's first qualification to the top European basketball tournament since 1977. The national team did not fair too well at the event though. As they were routed in their first match against Russia 126–74, and ultimately led to them finishing with an 0–6 record (13th place) and were eliminated.

Finland qualified for the EuroBasket 2011. The tournament berth was the first for Finland in 16 years. There they finished third out of six teams in EuroBasket 2011 Group C and defeated Bosnia and Herzegovina 92–64 and Montenegro 71–65. This allowed them to they qualify for the EuroBasket 2011 Group F. In their first match they were easily defeated by Russia but afterwards they defeated Georgia, before losing to Slovenia in their final match of the tournament. Despite not making it to the best of 8 tournament, Finland ended up making it to their first ever FIBA World Cup as a wild card team alongside Greece, Turkey, and Brazil.

Competitive record

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Results and fixtures

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  Win  Loss

2023

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v  Australia
25 August 2023 Finland  72–98  AustraliaOkinawa City, Japan
17:00 (UTC+9)Scoring by quarter: 21–17, 19–28, 14–25, 18–28
Pts: Markkanen 19
Rebs: Markkanen 8
Asts: Little, Markkanen 4		BoxscorePts: Mills 25
Rebs: Giddey 9
Asts: Giddey 8		Arena: Okinawa Arena
Attendance: 5,729
Referees: Jorge Vázquez (PUR), Wojciech Liszka (POL), Blanca Burns (USA)
v  Finland
27 August 2023 Japan  98–88  FinlandOkinawa City, Japan
21:10 (UTC+9)Scoring by quarter: 22–15, 14–31, 27–27, 35–15
Pts: Hawkinson 28
Rebs: Hawkinson 19
Asts: Kawamura 9		BoxscorePts: Markkanen 27
Rebs: Markkanen 12
Asts: four players 5		Arena: Okinawa Arena
Attendance: 7,374
Referees: Ademir Zurapović (BIH), Amy Bonner (USA), Ahmed Al-Shuwaili (IRQ)
v  Finland
29 August 2023 Germany  101–75  FinlandOkinawa City, Japan
16:30 (UTC+9)Scoring by quarter: 19–22, 28–17, 29–16, 25–20
Pts: Bonga, Schröder 15
Rebs: Hollatz, Voigtmann 4
Asts: Lô 5		BoxscorePts: Nkamhoua 14
Rebs: Jantunen 5
Asts: Maxhuni 6		Arena: Okinawa Arena
Attendance: 6,037
Referees: Matthew Kallio (CAN), Martin Horozov (BUL), Wael Mostafa (EGY)
v  Finland
31 August 2023 Cape Verde  77–100  FinlandOkinawa City, Japan
16:30 (UTC+9)Scoring by quarter: 16–28, 23–26, 17–23, 21–23
Pts: I. Almeida 17
Rebs: W. Tavares 12
Asts: Mendes 5		BoxscorePts: Markkanen 34
Rebs: Markkanen 9
Asts: Jantunen, Salin 6		Arena: Okinawa Arena
Attendance: 5,960
Referees: Jorge Vázquez (PUR), Wojciech Liszka (POL), Ahmed Al-Shuwaili (IRQ)
v  Venezuela
2 September 2023 Finland  90–75  VenezuelaOkinawa City, Japan
16:30 (UTC+9)Scoring by quarter: 13–17, 35–18, 19–27, 23–13
Pts: Markkanen 32
Rebs: Markkanen 9
Asts: Little 9		BoxscorePts: Chourio 17
Rebs: Graterol 6
Asts: Guillent 7		Arena: Okinawa Arena
Attendance: 6,216
Referees: Martin Horozov (BUL), Wojciech Liszka (POL), Ahmed Al-Shuwaili (IRQ)

2024

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v  Finland
23 February 2024 Serbia  77–61  FinlandBelgrade, Serbia
20:00 CET (UTC+1)Scoring by quarter: 17–20, 19–14, 22–17, 19–10
Pts: Mitrović 19
Rebs: Mitrović 9
Asts: Petrušev 5		BoxscorePts: Jantunen 11
Rebs: Valtonen 9
Asts: Maxhuni 6		Arena: Aleksandar Nikolić Hall
Attendance: 8,000
Referees: Mārtiņš Kozlovskis (LAT), Marius Ciulin (ROU), Dariusz Zapolski (POL)
v  Denmark
26 February 2024 Finland  89–85  DenmarkEspoo, Finland
18:30 EET (UTC+2)Scoring by quarter: 23–27, 19–31, 30–14, 17–13
Pts: Jantunen 19
Rebs: Jantunen 7
Asts: Maxhuni 6		BoxscorePts: Lundberg 26
Rebs: Dibba 7
Asts: Larsen, Lundberg 6		Arena: Espoo Metro Areena
Attendance: 5,339
Referees: Fernando Calatrava (ESP), Gintaras Vitkauskas (LTU), Blaž Zupančič (SVN)
v  New Zealand
25 June 2024
Friendly
Finland  vs.  New ZealandEspoo, Finland
Arena: Espoo Metro Areena
v  Latvia
28 June 2024
Friendly
Finland  vs.  LatviaTampere, Finland
BoxscoreArena: Nokia Arena
v  Bahamas
2 July 2024 Finland  vs.  BahamasValencia, Spain
BoxscoreArena: Pavelló Municipal Font de Sant Lluís
v  Finland
4 July 2024 Poland  vs.  FinlandValencia, Spain
BoxscoreArena: Pavelló Municipal Font de Sant Lluís
v  Georgia
21 November 2024 Finland  vs.  GeorgiaFinland
Boxscore
v  Finland
24 November 2024 Georgia  vs.  FinlandGeorgia
Boxscore

2025

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v  Serbia
21 February 2025 Finland  vs.  SerbiaFinland
Boxscore
v  Finland
24 February 2025 Denmark  vs.  FinlandDenmark
Boxscore

Team

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Current roster

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Roster for the EuroBasket 2025 Qualifiers matches on 23 and 26 February 2024 against Serbia and Denmark.[3]

Finland men's national basketball team roster
PlayersCoaches
Pos.No.NameAge – Date of birthHeightClubCtr.
PG4Aatu Kivimäki26 – (1997-06-08)8 June 19971.86 m (6 ft 1 in)Tübingen
SG9Sasu Salin (C)32 – (1991-06-11)11 June 19911.91 m (6 ft 3 in)Tenerife
C12Luukas Vaara22 – (2001-04-22)22 April 20012.06 m (6 ft 9 in)Vilpas
G16Perttu Blomgren22 – (2001-09-13)13 September 20011.95 m (6 ft 5 in)Helios Suns
F/C18Mikael Jantunen23 – (2000-04-20)20 April 20002.04 m (6 ft 8 in)Paris
SF19Elias Valtonen24 – (1999-06-11)11 June 19992.04 m (6 ft 8 in)Manresa
C20Alexander Madsen29 – (1995-01-26)26 January 19952.07 m (6 ft 9 in)Andorra
PG21Edon Maxhuni25 – (1998-03-21)21 March 19981.88 m (6 ft 2 in)Le Portel
SG34Jacob Grandison25 – (1998-04-02)2 April 19981.98 m (6 ft 6 in)Salon Vilpas
PG35Ilari Seppälä30 – (1993-03-23)23 March 19931.88 m (6 ft 2 in)Saint-Chamond
SG41Topias Palmi29 – (1994-08-26)26 August 19941.94 m (6 ft 4 in)Karhu
C42Daniel Dolenc30 – (1993-08-10)10 August 19932.06 m (6 ft 9 in)Mažeikiai
F44Remu Raitanen26 – (1997-08-21)21 August 19972.06 m (6 ft 9 in)Cáceres
Head coach
Assistant coach(es)
Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • Club – describes last
    club before the competition
  • Age – describes age
    on 24 February 2024

Depth chart

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Pos.Starting 5Bench 1Bench 2
COlivier NkamhouaAlexander Madsen
PFLauri MarkkanenAlex Murphy
SFMikael JantunenElias ValtonenJacob Grandison
SGSasu SalinHenri Kantonen
PGEdon MaxhuniMiro LittleIlari Seppälä

Head coach position

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Past rosters

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1939 EuroBasket: finished 8th among 8 teams

3 Martti Salminen, 4 Kalevi Ihalainen, 5 Ilkka Törrönen, 6 Erkki Saurala, 8 Pentti Vuollekoski, 9 Pauli Sarkkula, 10 Heinonen, 11 Erkki Lindén, 12 Vladi Marmo, 13 Reino Valtonen, 14 Alo Suurna (Coach: Alois Suurna)

1951 EuroBasket: finished 9th among 17 teams

3 Oiva Virtanen, 4 Raimo Lindholm, 5 Juhani Kyöstilä, 6 Timo Suviranta, 7 Pentti Laaksonen, 8 Raine Nuutinen, 9 Kalevi Sylander, 11 Arto Koivisto, 12 Pertti Mutru, 13 Kalevi Heinänen, 14 Kaj Gustafsson, 15 Olli Arppe, 16 Allan Pietarinen, 17 Tapio Pöyhönen (Coach: Eino Ojanen)

1952 Olympic Games: finished 15th among 23 teams

3 Juhani Kyöstilä, 4 Raine Nuutinen, 5 Raimo Lindholm, 6 Timo Suviranta, 7 Kalevi Heinänen, 8 Pentti Laaksonen, 9 Oiva Virtanen, 10 Esko Karhunen, 11 Eero Salonen, 12 Pertti Mutru, 13 Tapio Pöyhönen (Coach: Matti Simola)

1953 EuroBasket: finished 12th among 17 teams

3 Timo Lampen, 4 Raine Nuutinen, 5 Raimo Lindholm, 6 Timo Suviranta, 7 Keijo Hynninen, 8 Kalevi Heinänen, 9 Pentti Laaksonen, 10 Oiva Virtanen, 11 Eero Salonen, 12 Kaj Gustafsson, 13 Pertti Mutru, 14 Allan Pietarinen (Coach: Eino Ojanen)

1955 EuroBasket: finished 10th among 18 teams

3 Timo Lampén, 4 Raine Nuutinen, 5 Raimo Lindholm, 6 Timo Suviranta, 7 Kalevi Heinänen, 8 Oiva Virtanen, 9 Eero Salonen, 10 Kalevi Sylander, 11 Taisto Ravantti, 12 Seppo Kuusela, 13 Asko Jokinen, 14 Pertti Mutru, 15 Kalevi Tuominen (Coach: Eino Ojanen)

1957 EuroBasket: finished 11th among 16 teams

3 Timo Lampén, 4 Raine Nuutinen, 5 Raimo Lindholm, 6 Timo Suviranta, 7 Arvo Jantunen, 8 Paavo Suhonen, 9 Juhani Kala, 10 Seppo Kuusela, 11 Kalevi Sylander, 12 Eero Salonen, 13 Pertti Mutru, 14 Arto Koivisto (Coach: Kalevi Tuominen)

1959 EuroBasket: finished 13th among 17 teams

3 Matti Köli, 4 Timo Lampén, 5 Pentti Palkoaho, 6 Matti Nenonen, 7 Raine Nuutinen, 8 Raimo Lindholm, 9 Arvo Jantunen, 10 Kyösti Rousti, 11 Juhani Kala, 12 Seppo Kuusela, 13 Eero Salonen, 14 Raimo Vartia (Coach: Kalevi Tuominen)

1961 EuroBasket: finished 14th among 19 teams

4 Uolevi Manninen, 5 Kari Liimo, 6 Timo Lampén, 7 Pertti Laanti, 8 Lauri Nurma, 9 Martti Liimo, 10 Tony Bärlund, 11 Raimo Lindholm, 12 Rauno Ailus, 13 Arvo Jantunen, 14 Seppo Kuusela, 15 Raimo Vartia (Coach: Kalevi Tuominen)

1963 EuroBasket: finished 14th among 16 teams

4 Uolevi Manninen, 5 Kari Liimo, 6 Timo Lampén, 7 Pertti Laanti, 8 Martti Liimo, 9 Juha Harjula, 10 Antero Siljola, 11 Rauno Ailus, 12 Kauko Kauppinen, 13 Jorma Pilkevaara, 14 Seppo Kuusela, 15 Raimo Vartia (Coach: Kalevi Tuominen)

1964 Olympic Games: finished 11th among 16 teams

4 Uolevi Manninen, 5 Kari Liimo, 6 Timo Lampén, 7 Pertti Laanti, 8 Martti Liimo, 9 Raimo Lindholm, 10 Juha Harjula, 11 Risto Kala, 12 Kauko Kauppinen, 13 Jorma Pilkevaara, 14 Teijo Finneman, 15 Raimo Vartia (Coach: Kalevi Tuominen)

1965 EuroBasket: finished 12th among 16 teams

4 Uolevi Manninen, 5 Kari Liimo, 6 Timo Lampén, 7 Pertti Laanti, 8 Martti Liimo, 9 Kari Lahti, 10 Hannu Paananen, 11 Jorma Pilkevaara, 12 Kari Rönnholm, 13 Lars Karell, 14 Teijo Finneman, 15 Jyrki Immonen (Coach: Kalevi Tuominen)

1967 EuroBasket: finished 6th among 16 teams

4 Veikko Vainio, 5 Kari Liimo, 6 Uolevi Manninen, 7 Pertti Laanti, 8 Martti Liimo, 9 Kari Lahti, 10 Kari Rönnholm, 11 Lars Karell, 12 Jorma Pilkevaara, 13 Olavi Ahonen, 14 Teijo Finneman, 15 Jyrki Immonen (Coach: Kalevi Tuominen)

1977 EuroBasket: finished 10th among 12 teams

4 Kalevi Sarkalahti 5 Heikki Kasko, 6 Tapio Sten, 7 Heikki Taponen, 8 Antti Zitting, 9 Risto Lignell, 10 Raimo Mäntynen, 11 Anssi Rauramo, 12 Mikko Koskinen, 13 Klaus Mahlamäki, 14 Jarmo Laitinen, 15 Erkki Saaristo (Coach: Robert Petersen)

1995 EuroBasket: finished 13th among 14 teams

4 Martti Kuisma, 5 Hanno Möttölä, 6 Pekka Markkanen, 7 Sakari Pehkonen, 8 Jarkko Tuomala, 9 Markku Larkio, 10 Riku Marttinen, 11 Mika-Matti Tahvanainen, 12 Juha Luhtanen, 13 Jyri Lehtonen, 14 Kari-Pekka Klinga, 15 Petri-Mikael Niiranen (Coach: Henrik Dettmann)

2011 EuroBasket: finished 9th among 24 teams

4 Mikko Koivisto, 5 Antti Nikkilä, 6 Kimmo Muurinen, 7 Shawn Huff, 8 Gerald Lee, 9 Sasu Salin, 10 Tuukka Kotti, 11 Petteri Koponen,
12 Vesa Mäkäläinen, 13 Hanno Möttölä (C), 14 Petri Virtanen, 15 Teemu Rannikko (Coach: Henrik Dettmann)

2013 EuroBasket: finished 9th among 24 teams

4 Mikko Koivisto, 5 Antti Nikkilä, 6 Kimmo Muurinen, 7 Shawn Huff, 8 Gerald Lee, 9 Sasu Salin, 10 Tuukka Kotti, 11 Petteri Koponen,
12 Samuel Haanpää, 13 Hanno Möttölä (C), 14 Roope Ahonen, 15 Teemu Rannikko (Coach: Henrik Dettmann)

2014 FIBA World Cup: finished 22nd among 24 teams[4]

4 Mikko Koivisto, 5 Erik Murphy, 6 Kimmo Muurinen, 7 Shawn Huff, 8 Gerald Lee, 9 Sasu Salin, 10 Tuukka Kotti, 11 Petteri Koponen,
12 Matti Nuutinen, 13 Hanno Möttölä (C), 14 Antero Lehto, 15 Teemu Rannikko (Coach: Henrik Dettmann)

2015 EuroBasket: finished 16th among 24 teams

4 Mikko Koivisto, 7 Shawn Huff (C), 8 Gerald Lee, 9 Sasu Salin, 10 Tuukka Kotti, 11 Petteri Koponen, 12 Matti Nuutinen,
21 Ville Kaunisto, 24 Joonas Cavén, 30 Roope Ahonen, 31 Jamar Wilson, 33 Erik Murphy (Coach: Henrik Dettmann)

2017 EuroBasket: finished 11th among 24 teams[5]

4 Mikko Koivisto, 7 Shawn Huff (C), 8 Gerald Lee, 9 Sasu Salin, 10 Tuukka Kotti, 11 Petteri Koponen, 12 Matti Nuutinen,
15 Teemu Rannikko, 22 Carl Lindbom, 23 Lauri Markkanen, 31 Jamar Wilson, 33 Erik Murphy (Coach: Henrik Dettmann)

2022 EuroBasket: finished 7th among 24 teams[6]

1 Miro Little, 7 Shawn Huff (C), 9 Sasu Salin, 11 Petteri Koponen, 14 Henri Kantonen, 18 Mikael Jantunen, 19 Elias Valtonen,
20 Alexander Madsen, 21 Edon Maxhuni, 23 Lauri Markkanen, 35 Ilari Seppälä, 41 Topias Palmi (Coach: Lassi Tuovi)

2023 FIBA World Cup: finished 21st among 32 teams[7]

1 Miro Little, 5 Alex Murphy, 9 Sasu Salin (C), 13 Olivier Nkamhoua, 14 Henri Kantonen, 18 Mikael Jantunen, 19 Elias Valtonen,
20 Alexander Madsen, 21 Edon Maxhuni, 23 Lauri Markkanen, 34 Jacob Grandison, 35 Ilari Seppälä (Coach: Lassi Tuovi)

Kit

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Manufacturer

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ "FIBA Ranking Presented by Nike". FIBA. 1 March 2024. Retrieved 1 March 2024.
  2. ^ "Basketball at the 1952 Helsinki Summer Games: Men's Basketball Round One". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 26 October 2014. Retrieved 23 June 2014.
  3. ^ "Finland during the EuroBasket 2025 Qualifiers in February 2024". Retrieved 23 February 2024.
  4. ^ "Finland at the 2014 FIBA World Cup". Retrieved 4 September 2014.
  5. ^ "Finland at the EuroBasket 2017". Retrieved 9 September 2017.
  6. ^ "Finland at the EuroBasket 2022". Retrieved 13 September 2022.
  7. ^ "Finland at the 2023 FIBA World Cup". Retrieved 2 September 2023.
  8. ^ a b Finland | EuroBasket 2015 Archived 28 September 2015 at the Wayback Machine, FIBA.com. Retrieved 27 September 2015.
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