Estonia men's national basketball team

Estonia played their first ever international match against their Baltic neighbors Latvia, on 29 April 1924, a 20–16 defeat in Riga. Ten years later, on 30 November 1934, Estonia would become a member of FIBA. Two years after that, the national team played in their first international tournament at the 1936 Olympic Games, held in Berlin. It was the first Olympic tournament to hold basketball as an official medal event. Led by head coach Herbert Niiler, Estonia played their opening match of the tournament against France, where the team came away with a 34–29 win.[2] The national team lost their subsequent second round game to the United States 28–52, but passed the consolation round and faced the Philippines in the third round, losing 22–39.

Game between Estonia and Lithuania at EuroBasket 1937.

Estonia participated at the European Basketball Championship for the first time in 1937. The team won its first game against Egypt 44–15, but failed to advance past the group stage after suffering a 15–20 defeat against Lithuania, and a 20–30 defeat against Italy. Estonia would finish out the rest of the tournament to place fifth in the final rankings, after defeating Czechoslovakia 30–20 and Latvia 41–19.[3]

Two years later at the EuroBasket 1939, the tournament used a different format from the previous championship, with eight teams facing off in a round-robin competition. Estonia would finish the tournament with a (4–3) record and once again finished in fifth place at the event. Heino Veskila was the tournament's scoring leader averaging 16.7 points per game.[2][4]

In 1940, Estonia was occupied by the Soviet Union and the team was disbanded.

After the restoration of independence, the Estonian Basketball Association rejoined FIBA in 1991. Estonia qualified for EuroBasket 1993, held in Germany. Despite missing star players Martin Müürsepp and Tiit Sokk, the team, coached by Jaak Salumets won their group in the preliminary round, finishing ahead of Slovenia, Belgium, and hosts and eventual champions Germany. In the second round, Estonia finished third in their group and advanced to the quarter-finals, where the team lost to Russia 61–82 to be eliminated. In the classification rounds, Estonia defeated Bosnia and Herzegovina 99–91 and lost to Spain 80–119, finishing the championship in sixth place with a (6–5) record.[2] Aivar Kuusmaa was the team's scoring leader with 19.9 points per game.[5]

Gregor Arbet, Kristjan Kangur and Janar Talts led the national team during the 2000s and 2010s.

Estonia once again qualified for the EuroBasket, after failing to qualify for the tournament on three occasions after 1993. The team went (7–3) during the qualification period to reach EuroBasket 2001, held in Turkey. Coached by Üllar Kerde, Estonia lost all three of their preliminary round matches against Germany, FR Yugoslavia and Croatia, failing to advance past the group stage and finishing the championship with a disappointing (0–3) record and a 14th place finish. Martin Müürsepp led the team in scoring with 18.3 points per game, while Margus Metstak collected 6.0 rebounds per game, and Rauno Pehka and Tanel Tein averaged 2.7 assists per game.[6] After 2001, Estonia failed to qualify for another major international basketball tournament for 14 years. Although the team competed at the second tier Division B competition in 2011, winning their group.

Tiit Sokk coached Estonia from 2004 to 2007 and from 2009 to 2019.

Coached by Tiit Sokk, Estonia qualified for EuroBasket 2015, with preliminary round matches held in Riga, Latvia. Estonia's first two performances were poor as the team suffered heavy defeats in matches against Czech Republic 57–80 and Belgium 55–84. However, the team bounced back with a 78–71 victory over Ukraine, their first EuroBasket victory since 1993.[7] The next game saw Estonia defeated in a close game by Lithuania 62–64. In their final group phase match, Estonia were up against Latvia, which resulted in a 64–75 loss and failing to advance to the knockout stage.[8] Estonia finished the championship in 20th place with a (1–4) record. Gregor Arbet was the team's scoring leader at 11.6 points per game, while Siim-Sander Vene averaged 6.4 rebounds and Sten Sokk contributed 4.2 assists per game.

In qualification for EuroBasket 2017, Estonia won their first two games against, Belarus, and Portugal to put the team at a record of (2–0). However, Estonia would drop three of their final four matches to eliminate the team from qualifying.[9]

After missing their opportunity to reach EuroBasket 2017, Estonia turned their focus toward qualifying for the 2019 FIBA World Cup. The team first went through European Pre-Qualifiers, where they accumulated a (3–1) record during the process, to advance.[10] Entering the first round of European Qualifiers, Estonia would split their first four matches for a record of (2–2), before losing their final two games to Great Britain and Greece respectively. Although by defeating Great Britain in their first match of the qualifiers between the two, it proved enough for Estonia to move on to the second and final phase of European qualifiers. There, the team lost their first four games of the round, before managing to salvage their final two matches before being eliminated.[11] In October 2019, the Estonian Basketball Association named Jukka Toijala as the new head coach of the national team.

Estonia competed in the EuroBasket 2022 with group phase games played in Milan, Italy. The team started the tournament with a 62–83 loss to the hosts, followed by two narrow defeats against Ukraine (73–74) and Croatia (70–73). Estonia then won 94–62 against Great Britain before losing to Greece 69–90. The team failed to advance to the round of 16 and finished the tournament in 19th place. Maik-Kalev Kotsar averaged the team-best 12.2 points and 5.6 rebounds per game, while Kerr Kriisa led the team with 5.8 assists per game.

Roster for the 2024 Olympic Pre-Qualifying Tournament in August 2023.[12]

Estonia men's national basketball team roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. No. Name Age – Date of birth Height Club Ctr. SF 0 Henri Drell 23 – (2000-04-25)25 April 2000 2.05 m (6 ft 9 in) Chicago Bulls SF 2 Sander Raieste 24 – (1999-03-31)31 March 1999 2.04 m (6 ft 8 in) Baskonia F 3 Kaspar Treier 23 – (1999-09-19)19 September 1999 2.04 m (6 ft 8 in) Banco di Sardegna Sassari SG 7 Mikk Jurkatamm 22 – (2000-09-18)18 September 2000 1.96 m (6 ft 5 in) BC Kalev/Cramo F 8 Mihkel Kirves 26 – (1996-12-06)6 December 1996 2.00 m (6 ft 7 in) BC Kalev/Cramo C 9 Matthias Tass 24 – (1999-03-23)23 March 1999 2.08 m (6 ft 10 in) Filou Oostende SF 10 Hugo Toom 20 – (2002-10-25)25 October 2002 2.00 m (6 ft 7 in) BC Kalev/Cramo PF 13 Kregor Hermet 26 – (1997-06-09)9 June 1997 2.05 m (6 ft 9 in) BC Kalev/Cramo PG 18 Kasper Suurorg 21 – (2002-05-27)27 May 2002 1.97 m (6 ft 6 in) TalTech/OPTIBET G/F 25 Joonas Riismaa 21 – (2002-03-06)6 March 2002 1.99 m (6 ft 6 in) Happy Casa Brindisi F 34 Artur Konontšuk 23 – (2000-05-09)9 May 2000 2.00 m (6 ft 7 in) Coviran Granada PG 77 Kristian Kullamäe (C) 24 – (1999-05-25)25 May 1999 1.94 m (6 ft 4 in) Surne Bilbao Basket	Head coach Jukka Toijala Assistant coach(es) Heiko Rannula Indrek Reinbok Legend (C) Team captain Club – describes last club before the competition Age – describes age on 12 August 2023

Current notable players who have played for the national team:

Players previously called up roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. No. Name Age – Date of birth Height Club Ctr. G/F Janari Jõesaar 29 – (1993-12-08)8 December 1993 1.98 m (6 ft 6 in) Włocławek Anwil C Maik-Kalev Kotsar 26 – (1996-12-22)22 December 1996 2.11 m (6 ft 11 in) Baskonia PF Henri Veesaar 19 – (2004-03-28)28 March 2004 2.13 m (7 ft 0 in) Arizona Wildcats F Siim-Sander Vene 32 – (1990-11-12)12 November 1990 2.03 m (6 ft 8 in) San Pablo Burgos G Märt Rosenthal 24 – (1999-03-15)15 March 1999 1.92 m (6 ft 4 in) Tartu Ülikool SG Robert Valge 26 – (1997-04-20)20 April 1997 1.92 m (6 ft 4 in) Pärnu Sadam PF Kristjan Kitsing 32 – (1990-12-11)11 December 1990 2.05 m (6 ft 9 in) Kalev/Cramo PG Kerr Kriisa 22 – (2001-01-02)2 January 2001 1.90 m (6 ft 3 in) West Virginia Mountaineers C Rauno Nurger 29 – (1993-11-24)24 November 1993 2.08 m (6 ft 10 in) Kalev/Cramo SG Leemet Böckler 22 – (2001-04-07)7 April 2001 1.98 m (6 ft 6 in) Kalev/Cramo SF Gregor Kuuba 19 – (2003-10-08)8 October 2003 2.00 m (6 ft 7 in) Benedetto XIV Cento F Taavi Jurkatamm 25 – (1997-10-10)10 October 1997 2.04 m (6 ft 8 in) TalTech/OPTIBET	Legend Age – describes age on 1 August 2023 Club – describes last club