The Kosovo men's national basketball team (Albanian: Kombëtarja e basketbollit të meshkujve të Kosovës, Serbian: Кошаркашкa репрезентација Косова, romanized: Košarkaška reprezentacija Kosova) represents Kosovo in international basketball. They are controlled by the Basketball Federation of Kosovo, the governing body for basketball in Kosovo. Kosovo has been a member of FIBA since 13 March 2015.[2]
The Basketball Federation of Kosovo was founded in 1991. During the Yugoslavian era, Kosovo had its own Superleague and lower divisions, in both genders. In the 1990s, Kosovo declared political and sports independence from the Yugoslav system, organising its own league, based on different teams from seven major cities of Kosovo. Some basketball players from Kosovo, especially Kosovo Serbs and Gorani, participated as part of the Serbia and Montenegro and Serbia national teams.
Kosovo were not allowed to play international matches, not even friendlies by FIBA, until 2015, when the Basketball Federation of Kosovo became an official member of FIBA and FIBA Europe. Kosovo took part in EuroBasket qualification for the first time in 2017.[3] On 31 August 2016, Kosovo played their first official international match against Slovenia during the EuroBasket 2017 qualifiers.[4]
A year later, the national team achieved their first ever win on 2 August 2017 by defeating Macedonia 72–68 in their first match during the 2019 FIBA World Cup European Pre-Qualifiers.[5] After the win, Kosovo would pick up one more victory during the Pre-Qualifiers, against Estonia 75–69 to finish with a (2–2) record to advance to the first round of World Cup qualifying.[6] In the next round, Kosovo would eventually see their World Cup hopes vanish, as the team went winless before being eliminated.[7] Despite all of that they maintain to reach the second qualifying round in their debut participation, reaching the round of 32 best Basketball teams in Europe.[8]
After missing out on reaching the 2019 FIBA World Cup, Kosovo went through pre-qualifiers in order to reach EuroBasket 2022. However, the team would only compile a (2–8) record during the pre-qualifying process to be unable to advance.[9]
Win Loss
The following is the Kosovo roster called up for the 2027 FIBA World Cup pre-qualifiers first round matches against Ireland and Azerbaijan, on 22 and 25 February 2024.[10]
Kosova të mërkurën mbrëma në Pallatin e Rinisë dhe Sporteve në Prishtinë para rreth 2000 shikuesve e ka mposhtur Maqedoninë me rezultat 72:68 (23:11, 17:9, 15:23, 17:25)
Fanella me numër 15 e Përfaqësueses së Kosovës në basketboll do të pensionohet me emrin e basketbollistit Gazmend Sinani, i cili e humbi jetën në një aksident rrugor në orët e hershme të mëngjesit të së shtunës në Gjakovë
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