Luxembourg men's national basketball team

Luxembourg appeared in their first international event at EuroBasket 1946 in Geneva. After being placed in Group A for the preliminary round, the national team would play in their first ever match against Poland, where the team would lose 45–28.^[2] Following the defeat, Luxembourg went on to lose their next two matches against Hungary and Italy, which ultimately dropped the team into the classification phase of the tournament. There, Luxembourg captured their first ever victory against England 27–50.^[3] With only one game remaining for Luxembourg, the team would finish out the competition with a loss against Belgium, to end the tournament eighth out of the ten teams overall.^[4]

After not entering the competition in 1947 and 1949, Luxembourg made their way back to the continental stage at EuroBasket 1951 in Paris. Luxembourg's first match of the tournament was against the host France, which resulted in a demoralising defeat for the national team 72–26.^[5] Ensuing the tough loss for Luxembourg, were four straight defeats for the team, to relegate them into a must win elimination game for the right to advance into the classification rounds. Luxembourg, however, would lose in a tightly contested match 45–46 against Denmark to be eliminated.^[6]

Following Luxembourg's dismal performance at the EuroBasket in 1951, the national team declined to enter the event in 1953, instead looked toward EuroBasket 1955 in Budapest to make amends. After a disastrous first game in the preliminary round, which saw Luxembourg completely dominated by the Soviet Union, the team was narrowly defeated in their second match against Sweden 54–53.^[7] However, in Luxembourg's final two matches of the preliminary phase, the team struggled to build upon their game against Sweden; and were relegated toward the classification rounds at a record of (0–5).

Entering the classification round, Luxembourg dropped their first match against Turkey, before earning their first win of the tournament against Denmark 46–31.^[8] Luxembourg would eventually go on to pickup two more victories, both against Sweden to end the tournament 15th out of the 18 teams at the event.^[9]

After Luxembourg's last appearance at the EuroBasket in 1951, the national team endured numerous failed qualifying cycles in order to make it back to the EuroBasket. However, Luxembourg eventually achieved success competing at smaller competitions such as the European Championship for Small Countries and the Games of the Small States of Europe.

Entering qualification for Luxembourg to reach EuroBasket 2017, the team struggled toward a (1–5) record during the process to being eliminated.^[10] After Luxembourg's missed opportunity to qualify for the 2017 tournament, the team was tasked with going through Pre-Qualifiers with a chance to qualify for EuroBasket 2022. Luxembourg would get off to a slow start during the first round of pre-qualifiers, losing their first three matches before picking up a needed win on the road against Cyprus 89–76.^[11] With a record of (1–3), Luxembourg's path of advancing took a detour, as the team was relegated to the third and final phase of pre-qualifiers. There, Luxembourg would only win one game during that qualifying window (1–3), at home against Kosovo 88–80 and failing to advance.^[12]

For Luxembourg's process to qualify for the 2023 FIBA World Cup, the national team took part in European Pre-Qualifiers, where they went (2–4) in the first round; and were initially eliminated. Although due to Austria withdrawing from qualification, Luxembourg were next inline to replace them.^[13] Entering the second and final phase of World Cup European pre-qualifiers, Luxembourg's qualification campaign officially came to a close, after posting an (0–4) record during the round.^[14]

  Win  Loss

Croatia  v  Luxembourg

22 July 2023 EuroBasket 2025 pre-qualifiers – 3rd round	Croatia	98–62	Luxembourg	Opatija, Croatia
20:00 (UTC+2)	Scoring by quarter: 31–14, 26–20, 23–12, 18–16
	Pts: Kapusta, Prkačin 16 Rebs: Branković, Mazalin 6 Asts: Badžim 6	Boxscore	Pts: Laurent 18 Rebs: Laurent, Rugg 9 Asts: Grün, Gutenkauf 4	Arena: Sportska dvorana Marino Cvetković Attendance: 600 Referees: Paulo Marques (POR), Geert Jacobs (BEL), Ivor Matějek (CZE)

Luxembourg  v  Ireland

26 July 2023 EuroBasket 2025 pre-qualifiers – 3rd round	Luxembourg	76–96	Ireland	Luxembourg City, Luxembourg
20:15 (UTC+2)	Scoring by quarter: 21–23, 16–17, 22–30, 17–26
	Pts: Laurent 16 Rebs: Rugg 8 Asts: Delgado 5	Boxscore	Pts: Badmus, Igiehon 20 Rebs: Alajiki 13 Asts: Quinn 3	Arena: d'Coque Attendance: 1,413 Referees: Aleksandar Glišić (SRB), Mihkel Männiste (EST), Vladimir Jevtović (SRB)

Luxembourg  v  Croatia

2 August 2023 EuroBasket 2025 pre-qualifiers – 3rd round	Luxembourg	79–91	Croatia	Luxembourg City, Luxembourg
20:15 (UTC+2)	Scoring by quarter: 12–25, 25–25, 18–24, 24–17
	Pts: Laurent 13 Rebs: Rugg 7 Asts: Kovac 4	Boxscore	Pts: Perković 23 Rebs: Ljubičić 7 Asts: Kapusta 9	Arena: d'Coque Attendance: 1,650 Referees: Can Mavisu (TUR), Geert Jacobs (BEL), Alexandre Deman (FRA)

Ireland  v  Luxembourg

5 August 2023 EuroBasket 2025 pre-qualifiers – 3rd round	Ireland	79–76	Luxembourg	Dublin, Ireland
19:30 (UTC+1)	Scoring by quarter: 29–20, 12–23, 18–20, 20–13
	Pts: Blount, Fulton 16 Rebs: Blount 14 Asts: Blount 6	Boxscore	Pts: Rugg 27 Rebs: Rugg 12 Asts: Gutenkauf, Rugg 3	Arena: National Basketball Arena Attendance: 3,000 Referees: Antonio Conde (ESP), Emmanouil Tsolakos (GRE), Hrvoje Čavar (BIH)

Romania  v  Luxembourg

22 February 2024 2027 FIBA World Cup pre-qualifiers – 1st round	Romania	72–760(OT)	Luxembourg	Cluj-Napoca, Romania
19:00 (UTC+2)	Scoring by quarter: 20–17, 19–10, 16–11, 12–29, Overtime: 5–9
	Pts: Cățe 25 Rebs: Girbea 11 Asts: Tohătan 5	Boxscore	Pts: Kovac, Logelin 15 Rebs: Rugg, Vujaković 9 Asts: Kreps 3	Arena: BTarena Attendance: 3,006 Referees: Mehmet Şahin (TUR), Nemanja Ninković (SRB), Josip Mikulić (CRO)

Luxembourg  v  Norway

25 February 2024 2027 FIBA World Cup pre-qualifiers – 1st round	Luxembourg	58–72	Norway	Luxembourg City, Luxembourg
17:00 (UTC+1)	Scoring by quarter: 9–24, 23–19, 20–8, 6–21
	Pts: Rugg 22 Rebs: Vujaković 10 Asts: Rugg 3	Boxscore	Pts: Frey 23 Rebs: Berg 10 Asts: Frey 6	Arena: d'Coque Attendance: 1,800 Referees: Łukasz Jankowski (POL), Armin Mutapcic (GER), Martin van Hoye (BEL)

Luxembourg  v  Romania

24 November 2024 2027 FIBA World Cup pre-qualifiers – 1st round	Luxembourg	vs.	Romania	Luxembourg
		Boxscore

Norway  v  Luxembourg

20 February 2025 2027 FIBA World Cup pre-qualifiers – 1st round	Norway	vs.	Luxembourg	Norway
		Boxscore

Roster for the 2027 FIBA World Cup Pre-Qualifiers matches on 22 and 25 February 2024 against Romania and Norway.^[15][16]

Luxembourg men's national basketball team roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. No. Name Age – Date of birth Height Club Ctr. G/F 1 Malcolm Kreps 22 – (2001-10-11)11 October 2001 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in) Den Helder PG 6 Max Logelin 20 – (2003-06-17)17 June 2003 1.87 m (6 ft 2 in) Sparta PG 7 Philippe Gutenkauf 28 – (1995-04-11)11 April 1995 1.86 m (6 ft 1 in) Etzella G/F 8 Thomas Grün 28 – (1995-02-28)28 February 1995 1.98 m (6 ft 6 in) Esch F 11 Alex Laurent 30 – (1993-06-06)6 June 1993 1.98 m (6 ft 6 in) Amicale F/C 12 Joe Kalmes 28 – (1995-11-24)24 November 1995 2.00 m (6 ft 7 in) Dudelange F 13 Ben Kovac 24 – (2000-02-20)20 February 2000 1.95 m (6 ft 5 in) Patrioti Levice PF 15 Oliver Vujaković 27 – (1996-12-05)5 December 1996 2.00 m (6 ft 7 in) Résidence SG 23 Christopher Jack 25 – (1998-06-26)26 June 1998 1.98 m (6 ft 6 in) Dudelange F/C 31 Clancy Rugg 32 – (1991-09-22)22 September 1991 2.03 m (6 ft 8 in) Esch G/F 71 Ivor Kuresević 20 – (2003-05-02)2 May 2003 1.95 m (6 ft 5 in) Vienna Timberwolves G 77 Ivan Delgado 25 – (1998-11-16)16 November 1998 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in) Yoast United	Head coach Ken Diederich Assistant coach(es) Pierre Paul Pit Rodenbourg Denis Toroman Legend (C) Team captain Club – describes last club before the competition Age – describes age on 22 February 2024

1946 EuroBasket: finished 8th among 10 teams

3 Alfred Achen, 4 René Bicheler, 5 René Colling, 6 Henri Heyart, 7 Pierre Kelsen, 8 Eugene Kohn, 9 Léon Konsbruck, 10 Joseph Linck, 11 Gaston Poncin, 12 Roger Scheuren (Coach: Henri Heyart)

1951 EuroBasket: finished 17th among 18 teams

3 Guy Neumann, 4 Mathias Steffen, 5 Xander Frantz, 6 Fernand Schmalen, 7 Roger Dentzer, 8 Joseph Eyschen, 9 Marcel Gales, 10 Mathias Birel, 11 Jean Guillen, 12 Pierre Steinmetz, 13 Léon Konsbruck, 14 René Haas, 15 Ley, 25 Paul Linster (Coach: Pierrot Conter)

1955 EuroBasket: finished 15th among 18 teams

3 Pierre Steinmetz, 4 Mathias Birel, 5 Fernand Wolter, 6 Joseph Lettal, 7 Paul Kemp, 8 Fernand Schmalen, 9 John Kieffer, 10 Marcel Simon, 11 Florent Lickes, 12 Gust Scharle, 13 Albert Meyers, 14 Jean Christophory (Coach: Pierre Kelsen)

• Sport in Luxembourg
• Luxembourg women's national basketball team
• Luxembourg men's national under-20 basketball team
• Luxembourg men's national under-18 basketball team
• Luxembourg men's national under-16 basketball team

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Luxembourg men's national basketball team.

• Official website
• Luxembourg FIBA profile
• Luxembourg National Team – Men at Eurobasket.com
• Luxembourg Basketball Records at FIBA Archive