Romania national basketball team

EuroBasket 1935

The Romanian side came in tenth out of ten at the first European basketball championship, the EuroBasket 1935 held by the International Basketball Federation's FIBA Europe continental federation. They lost all three of their games; 42-9 to Switzerland, 66-23 to France, and 24-17 to Hungary.

EuroBasket 1947

Romania returned to the European championships twelve years later, in EuroBasket 1947. They had a record of 1-2 in their preliminary round, eliminating them from championship contention but giving them their first EuroBasket win. The Romanians added two more in the classification semifinal, defeating Austria and Albania. This put them in a classification match against Italy for 9th and 10th places, which Romania lost 55-39. Romania thus placed tenth again, but this time they had outranked four teams to do so.

EuroBasket 1951

The Romanian team entered the EuroBasket 1951 in Paris, but withdrew before any games were played, so official records gave them three preliminary round losses, each with a score of 2-0.

Summer Olympics 1952

Romania managed to qualify for the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki, where the country finished 23rd. It was the first and the last qualification for a Basketball Olympic Tournament.

EuroBasket 1953

The EuroBasket 1953 in Moscow was the next European tournament in which the Romanians actually played. They took 3rd of 4 teams in their preliminary group with a 1-2 record, moving on to the classification rounds. They won 3 of their 4 games there, finishing in a three-way tie for the top spot of the group. They lost out on the tiebreaker, though, and were relegated to the 13-16 semifinals. Winning that game and their next, the Romanians finished in 13th place of the 17 teams in the tournament.

EuroBasket 1955

Romania was much more successful two years later, at the EuroBasket 1955 in Budapest. A preliminary round loss to the global power house Soviet Union mattered little, as Romania won their other three preliminary games to take second place in the group behind the Soviets and advance to the final round along with them. There, they won games against Poland and Yugoslavia to finish 2-5 in 7th place in the 18-team tournament.

EuroBasket 1957

Romania came within a single point of winning their preliminary pool at EuroBasket 1957 in Sofia, losing to Hungary in the narrow match. They beat their other two opponents, putting them in second place in the pool and advanced into the final round. Their match in that round against Hungary was not as close, and the Romanians also lost to the other three pool winners to finish at 3-4 in 5th place.

Later years

The team repeated its most successful campaign at the EuroBasket 1967 when it finished 5th again. The following years, the team had some successful performances but after 1987, it ceded completely from Europe's elite events. After 30 years of absence, Romania will return to the EuroBasket in 2017 when the country gained hosting rights alongside Finland, Israel and Turkey.

Current roster

At the 2015 EuroBasket Qualification:

Former

Head coach position

Past rosters

Manufacturer

2014: Ancada 2015: Peak