Israel national basketball team

Israel
FIBA ranking	35 (18 September 2018)
Joined FIBA	1939
FIBA zone	FIBA Europe
National federation	איגוד הכדורסל בישראל (Israel Basketball Association)
Coach	Oded Kattash
Olympic Games
Appearances	1
FIBA World Cup
Appearances	2
EuroBasket
Appearances	29
Medals	Silver: (1979)
Asian Games
Appearances	3
Medals	Gold: (1966, 1974); Silver: (1970)
Uniforms
Light	Dark

The Israeli national basketball team is managed by the Israeli Basketball Association. Israel is currently ranked 37th in the world by FIBA (as of 3 October 2015) and 14th in Europe. Until now, Israel has participated in 34 international competitions and won a silver medal in EuroBasket 1979.

History

EuroBasket 1953

Israel made their European championship tournament debut in the EuroBasket 1953 in Moscow, coming within a tie-breaker of taking the silver medal.

In the preliminary round, the Israeli squad won their group by tie-breaker after being one of three teams to finish with a 3–1 record. They advanced to the final round, managing to defeat perennial power Czechoslovakia and taking revenge on Yugoslavia for their preliminary round loss. Their record in the final round was 4–3, putting them in a 4-way tie for second place behind the undefeated Soviet Union. Israel came out on the bottom of that tie-breaker, finishing in 5th place of the 17 teams.

Israel's overall record of 7 wins and 4 losses included two wins by forfeit over Lebanon (in the preliminary round) and Egypt (in the final round), each of which had refused to play against Israel.

Later years

In the following years, the squad emerged as a serious competitor that, at times, even challenged the world elite teams. Its major accomplishments remain its silver medal at the EuroBasket 1979 and its qualifications to the Basketball World Cup and the Summer Olympics. Israel's basketball program was especially honored when FIBA awarded the country hosting rights for preliminary round games of the official EuroBasket 2017.

Competition history

Cumulative performance

Event	W	L	Per.			T
Summer Olympic Games	0	2	.000	0	0	0
FIBA Basketball World Cup	7	11	.389	0	0	0
FIBA EuroBasket	76	107	.415	0	1	1
Asian Games	19	2	.905	2	1	3
Total	102	122	.455	2	2	4

Olympic Games

Olympic Games					Pre-Olympic
Year	Position	Pld	W	L	Pld	W	L
1948	Did not enter
1952	17-23	2	0	2
1960	Did not qualify				7	3	4
1964					8	4	4
1968					8	3	5
1972					7	4	3
1976					10	4	6
1980					10	6	4
1984					9	3	6
1988					3	1	2
1992					12	5	7
1996–2016	Did not qualify
2020	To be determined
Total		2	0	2

1952 Summer Olympics

In the first round, Philippines defeated Israel, 57–47. The losers played each other, with Israel's second loss ejecting the nation from the tournament, with Greece defeating Israel, 54–52.

Event	Participants	Result	Ref
Men's team competition	Coach: Jacob Saltiel Dan Erez-Buxenbaum Moshe Daniel-Levy Yehuda Wiener-Gafni Mordechai-Marcel Hefez Fredi Cohen Amos Lin-Linkovski Zekarya Ofri Eliahu Amiel Reuben Fecher-Perach Menahem Kurman-Degani Ralph Klein Shimon Shelah-Schmuckler Abraham Shneior	Qualification round (Group B) - Did not advance Lost to Philippines (47-57) Lost to Greece (52-54)

FIBA World Cup

FIBA Basketball World Cup					Qualification
Year	Position	Pld	W	L	Pld	W	L
1950	Did not qualify
1954	8th	8	2	6
1959–1982	Did not qualify
1986	7th	10	5	5	6	5	1
1990–2014	Did not qualify
2019	To be determined
2023	To be determined
Total		18	7	11

1954 FIBA World Cup

Israel competed at the 1954 FIBA World Championship, marking the first time Israel competed at the FIBA World Championship.^[1] This was the second such competition, and Israel was one of twelve teams to compete.^[2]^[3] Israel finished in 8th place overall.^[4]

Group D


Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts
Formosa	2	1	1	115	113	+2	3
Israel	2	1	1	100	98	+2	3
Chile	2	1	1	117	121	−4	3

24 October
18:30

Israel	45–49	Formosa
Scoring by half: 27–25, 18–24
Pts: Cohen 12		Pts: Tong S.F. 18

Ginásio do Maracanãzinho, Rio de Janeiro

26 October
22:15

Israel	55–49	Chile
Scoring by half: 18–25, 37–24
Pts: Schneor 21		Pts: Badria 13

Ginásio do Maracanãzinho, Rio de Janeiro

Final round

All teams play one game against each other for a total of seven games.


Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Tie
1	United States	7	7	0	482	300	+182	14
2	Brazil	7	6	1	418	341	+77	13
3	Philippines	7	5	2	438	406	+32	12
4	France	7	3	4	371	392	−21	10
5	Formosa	7	2	5	345	405	−60	9	1.063
6	Uruguay	7	2	5	422	446	−24	9	1.031
7	Canada	7	2	5	433	498	−65	9	0.914
8	Israel	7	1	6	330	451	−121	8

27 October
22:35

Canada	50–43	Israel
Scoring by half: 33–22, 17–21
Pts: Ridd 13		Pts: Cohen 13

Ginásio do Maracanãzinho, Rio de Janeiro
Referees: Alberto Pedro (PAR), Noli Coutinho (BRA)

28 October

Israel	46–68	Brazil
Scoring by half: 20–31, 26–37
Pts: Erez 13		Pts: Pasos 15

Ginásio do Maracanãzinho, Rio de Janeiro
Referees: Pietro Reverberi (ITA), Angelo Benvenuto (CHI)

30 October

Israel	56–90	Philippines
Scoring by half: 30–37, 26–53
Pts: Schneor 14		Pts: Loyzaga, Saldaña 20

Ginásio do Maracanãzinho, Rio de Janeiro
Referees: Earl Schlup (USA), Aladino Astuto (BRA)

31 October
18:30

Israel	48–45 (OT)	France
Scoring by half: 21–17, 22–26 Overtime: 5–2
Pts: Schneor 15		Pts: Dessemme 11

Ginásio do Maracanãzinho, Rio de Janeiro
Referees: Earl Schlup (USA), Helio Louzada (BRA)

3 November

Uruguay	73–69	Israel
Scoring by half: 32–31, 41–38
Pts: Lombardo 22		Pts: Cohen 21

Ginásio do Maracanãzinho, Rio de Janeiro
Referees: Aladino Astuto (BRA), Pietro Reverberi (ITA)

4 November
19:00

United States	74–30	Israel
Scoring by half: 36–20, 38–10
Pts: Johnson 13		Pts: Schneor 6

Ginásio do Maracanãzinho, Rio de Janeiro
Referees: Angelo Benvenuto (CHI), Alberto Pedro (PAR)

5 November

Formosa	51–38	Israel
Scoring by half: 27–12, 24–26
Pts: Ling J.H. 12		Pts: Ofri 11

Ginásio do Maracanãzinho, Rio de Janeiro
Referees: Pietro Reverberi (ITA), Helio Louzada (BRA)

Roster

Coach: Jacob Saltiel^[5]

Number	Name
3	Abraham Shaneir
4	Afri Zakharya
5	Daniel Moshe
6	Reuven Fecher
7	Alfred Cohen
8	Tavin Israel
9	Szymon Shelah
10	Yehuda Gafni
11	Ralph Ram
12	Marcel Hefez
13	Azriel Luboshitz
14	Dan Erez

Top scorers

Name	Country	Games	Total points	Average points
Abraham Shneior	Israel	9	97	10.7^[6]

1986 FIBA World Cup

Israel competed at the 1986 FIBA World Championship, marking the second time Israel competed at the FIBA World Championship, the first time since 1954.^[7] The 1986 FIBA Basketball World Cup was the 10th such competition.^[8] It consisted of 24 teams,^[9] of which Israel finished in 7th place overall.^[10]

Group B


Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Tie
Soviet Union	5	5	0	565	369	+196	10
Israel	5	3	2	435	444	−9	8
Cuba	5	2	3	399	418	−19	7	1–1; 1.034
Australia	5	2	3	405	430	−25	7	1–1; 1.021
Uruguay	5	2	3	377	437	−60	7	1–1; 0.950
Angola	5	1	4	334	417	−83	6

5 July

Uruguay

79–84

Israel