Switzerland national basketball team

Updated on Jan 09, 2024

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FIBA ranking T-94 National federation SBB / FSB Appearances 3 Coach Petar Aleksić Joined FIBA 1932 (co-founders)		FIBA zone FIBA Europe Nickname(s) Nati Medals None Location Switzerland

The Swiss national basketball team is the basketball side that represents Switzerland in international competitions. It is governed by the Fédération Suisse de Basketball. (Swiss Basketball Federation)

Switzerland is one of the founding members of the International Federation of Basketball (FIBA) and has one of the world's longest basketball traditions.

Once a major player at the global stage, the team has declined and is nowadays seen as a minor team. Switzerland entered the EuroBasket five times, having their best result at 4th place in the first edition, in 1935. They also qualified for the Olympic Basketball Tournament twice, in 1936 and 1948, where their best result was 9th, in 1936. Since 1955, Switzerland aims to make the EuroBasket finals once again and has yet to qualify for the Basketball World Championship.

Current roster

Roster for the EuroBasket 2017 qualification.

Notable players

Other current notable players from Switzerland:

EuroBasket 1935

The host Swiss side came in 4th place at the first European basketball championship, the EuroBasket 1935 held by the International Basketball Federation's FIBA Europe continental federation. They defeated Romania and Italy in the preliminary round to advance to the semifinals. There they lost to Latvia, resulting in a playoff for third place with Czechoslovakia which the Swiss lost 25-23.

EuroBasket 1946

Switzerland did not play in the European championship again until the post-war EuroBasket 1946, which they hosted. There, they placed 2nd in the three-team preliminary group after losing to eventual champions Czechoslovakia 20-17 but defeating Belgium 38-33. That preliminary round finish put the Swiss into a 5th/6th place playoff against Netherlands, which Switzerland won 36-25.

EuroBasket 1951

The next Swiss entry into European championships was the EuroBasket 1951 tournament in Paris. Switzerland finished the preliminary round with a 1-3 record, 4th in their group. They fared little better in the first classification, taking 3rd in the group with a 1-2 record. In the second classification round, the Swiss won the classification 13-16 and 13/14 games to finish in 13th place of 18 teams, with a 4-5 record.

EuroBasket 1953

EuroBasket 1953 in Moscow was the fourth appearance of the Swiss. The tournament began poorly for the team, as they finished last in their preliminary pool at 0-3. It got somewhat better for them after that, as they took second in their first classification pool with 2 wins and a loss. They dropped their 9-12 semifinal to Belgium, but defeated Finland in the 11/12 final to take 11th of 17 overall.

EuroBasket 1955

Switzerland competed next at the EuroBasket 1955 tournament in Budapest. Their 2-2 record in preliminary round put them in 3rd of the five-team group and relegated them to the classification rounds. They had similar results there, again taking a 2-2 record and 3rd of 5 teams. They won their classification 13-16 semifinal, but lost to Austria in the 13/14 game to finish 14th of 18 teams.

Later years

The 1952 Summer Olympics and the 1955 EuroBasket are the last major international basketball tournaments that the country qualified for. Since then, it lost its international significance despite occasional strong showings at qualification games. E.g. Switzerland surprisingly beat former European Champion Russia at the qualification for the 2015 EuroBasket.