Georgia men's national basketball team

Until 1991 Georgia was a part of the Soviet Union, and players born in Georgia played for the Soviet Union national team. Notable players born in Georgia who played for the Soviet Union and won medals at the Olympic Games, FIBA World Cup and EuroBasket include: Nodar Dzhordzhikiya, Otar Korkia, Guram Minashvili, Vladimer Ugrekhelidze, Levan Moseshvili, Zurab Sakandelidze, Mikheil Korkia and Nikolay Deryugin.

After gaining independence from the Soviet Union, on several occasions the Georgian national team unsuccessfully tried to qualify for the EuroBasket, Europe's biggest basketball competition and major tournament. Although the national team did play on the EuroBasket Division B level three times and gained promotion in 2009 after defeating Belarus in play-offs.[2] However, after the expansion of the EuroBasket in 2011 from 16 to 24 teams, Georgia qualified to the competition for the first time.

The national team played five matches in Group D. They finished their preliminary group with an 2-3 record, with wins against Belgium and Ukraine, to advance. In their second round group phase, Georgia lost all five of their matches to finish their maiden voyage to the EuroBasket in 11th place.[3]

After finishing second in qualifying group, Georgia qualified for its second EuroBasket tournament. After a comfortable 84–67 victory in the opening match over Poland, Georgia lost their four remaining matches and finished the tournament with an 1-4 record.[4] To that point, the Eurobasket 2013 was the only tournament in which Georgia could not win more than one match.

Georgia qualified to the EuroBasket for the third successive time in 2015. After three consecutive losses to start the tournament, the national team finally earned their first win in group play against Macedonia 90–75. They followed it up with another victory to end the opening phase of the event against Croatia, 71–58[5] to move on to the knockout stages for the first time. There they suffered a narrow hard fought defeat to the tournament favourites, and eventual silver medalist Lithuania 81–85.[6]

During the EuroBasket 2017 qualification Georgia topped its group after an 90–84 victory over Montenegro, and qualified to EuroBasket for the fourth successive time.[7] Once the competition began, the national team got off to a quick start, avenging their EuroBasket 2015 knockout stage defeat to Lithuania 79-77.[8] The rest of the group stage didn't go as well for the Georgian side though. As the team could only manage to pullout one more victory against Israel, before falling to Italy to finish the tournament with an 2-3 record and being eliminated.[9]

Georgia will co-host the EuroBasket 2022, and they have automatically qualified for the 2022 finals tournament. This will make it the fifth successive time that Georgia has qualified for the event overall. Tbilisi will be one of the host cities, and will be used for Group A matches at the brand new Tbilisi Basketball Arena.[10][11]

The core of the national team that has consistently qualified to Europe's biggest basketball competition consisted of captain Zaza Pachulia, Viktor Sanikidze, Manuchar Markoishvili, Tornike Shengelia, Giorgi Tsintsadze and Giorgi Shermadini. These pioneers in the Georgian basketball community have set the standard for future generations of the national team to build upon, and maintain.

Roster for the 2023 FIBA World Cup Qualifiers matches on 24 and 27 February 2022 against North Macedonia.[13]

Georgia men's national basketball team roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. No. Name Age – Date of birth Height Club Ctr. PG 2 Otar Pkhakadze 26 – (1995-02-28)28 February 1995 1.90 m (6 ft 3 in) Kutaisi G/F 6 Kakhaber Jintcharadze 28 – (1993-07-16)16 July 1993 1.95 m (6 ft 5 in) Olimpi C 9 Giorgi Shermadini 32 – (1989-04-02)2 April 1989 2.17 m (7 ft 1 in) Tenerife SG 10 Duda Sanadze 29 – (1992-07-29)29 July 1992 1.96 m (6 ft 5 in) Borac F/C 12 Giorgi Korsantia 24 – (1998-01-11)11 January 1998 2.03 m (6 ft 8 in) Kutaisi SF 17 Mikheil Berishvili 34 – (1987-04-12)12 April 1987 2.03 m (6 ft 8 in) TSU SG 18 Merab Bokolishvili 29 – (1992-02-27)27 February 1992 1.94 m (6 ft 4 in) Rustavi PF 21 Akaki Dvalishvili 31 – (1991-02-14)14 February 1991 2.07 m (6 ft 9 in) Kutaisi PG 25 Thaddus McFadden 34 – (1987-05-29)29 May 1987 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in) Murcia F/C 33 Beka Bekauri 31 – (1991-01-18)18 January 1991 2.07 m (6 ft 9 in) Batumi PG 44 Givi Bakradze 30 – (1991-05-26)26 May 1991 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in) Olimpi F/C 99 Ilia Londaridze 32 – (1989-09-15)15 September 1989 2.05 m (6 ft 9 in) Olimpi	Head coach Ilias Zouros Assistant coach(es) Miloš Gligorijević Georgios Limniatis Manuchar Markoishvili Anatoli Boisa Legend (C) Team captain Club – describes last club before the competition Age – describes age on 24 February 2022

2011 EuroBasket: finished 11th among 24 teams

4 Giorgi Gamqrelidze, 5 Vladimir Boisa, 6 Anatoli Boisa, 7 Zaza Pachulia, 8 Giorgi Tsintsadze, 9 Giorgi Shermadini, 10 Lasha Parghalava, 11 Manuchar Markoishvili, 12 MarQuez Haynes, 13 Viktor Sanikidze, 14 Tornike Shengelia, 15 Nikoloz Tskitishvili (Coach: Igor Kokoškov)

2013 EuroBasket: finished 17th among 24 teams

4 Nika Metreveli, 5 Otar Pkhakadze, 6 Duda Sanadze, 7 Beka Burjanadze, 8 Giorgi Tsintsadze, 9 Giorgi Shermadini, 10 Ricky Hickman, 11 Manuchar Markoishvili, 12 Levan Patsatsia, 13 Viktor Sanikidze, 14 Besik Lezhava, 15 Nikoloz Tskitishvili (Coach: Igor Kokoškov)

2015 EuroBasket: finished 15th among 24 teams

0 Jacob Pullen, 4 Nika Metreveli, 7 Zaza Pachulia (C), 8 Giorgi Tsintsadze, 9 Giorgi Shermadini, 10 Duda Sanadze, 11 Manuchar Markoishvili, 12 Levan Patsatsia, 13 Viktor Sanikidze, 15 Beka Burjanadze, 23 Tornike Shengelia, 25 Besik Lezhava (Coach: Igor Kokoškov)

2017 EuroBasket: finished 17th among 24 teams

3 Michael Dixon, 4 Giorgi Gamqrelidze, 6 Anatoli Boisa, 7 Zaza Pachulia (C), 8 Giorgi Tsintsadze, 9 Giorgi Shermadini, 10 Duda Sanadze, 11 Manuchar Markoishvili, 17 Mikheil Berishvili, 23 Tornike Shengelia, 35 Goga Bitadze, 99 Ilia Londaridze (Coach: Ilias Zouros)

2015–present: Spalding[14]

2015: Natakhtari[14]

2019: Georgian Railway