Luxembourg men's national basketball team

The Luxembourg men's national basketball team (Luxembourgish: Lëtzebuergesch Basketballnationalequipe, French: Équipe du Luxembourg de basketball, German: Luxemburgische Basketballnationalmannschaft) represents Luxembourg in international basketball tournaments. They are controlled by the Luxembourg Basketball Federation.

Luxembourg
FIBA ranking82 Decrease 5 (15 September 2023)[1]
Joined FIBA1946
FIBA zoneFIBA Europe
National federationLuxembourg Basketball Federation (FLBB)
CoachKen Diederich
FIBA World Cup
AppearancesNone
EuroBasket
Appearances3
MedalsNone
Championship for Small Countries
Appearances5
MedalsSilver Silver: (1992, 2004)
Bronze Bronze: (1990)
Games of the Small States of Europe
Appearances17
MedalsGold Gold: (2023)
Silver Silver: (1985, 1991, 1995, 2007, 2009, 2013, 2019)
Bronze Bronze: (1993, 2003, 2005, 2015)
First international
 Poland 45–28 Luxembourg 
(Geneva, Switzerland; 30 April 1946)
Biggest win
 Luxembourg 99–44 San Marino 
(Serravalle, San Marino; 1 June 2017)
Biggest defeat
 Greece 119–46 Luxembourg 
(Vevey, Switzerland; 10 May 1980)

Luxembourg has competed at the EuroBasket three times, in 1946, 1951, and 1955. Their best result was an eighth place finish at their first appearance at the competition in 1946. However, the national team has yet to qualify to compete at the FIBA World Cup.

History

EuroBasket 1946

Luxembourg appeared in their first international event at EuroBasket 1946 in Geneva. After being placed in Group A for the preliminary round, the national team would play in their first ever match against Poland, where the team would lose 45–28.[2] Following the defeat, Luxembourg went on to lose their next two matches against Hungary and Italy, which ultimately dropped the team into the classification phase of the tournament. There, Luxembourg captured their first ever victory against England 27–50.[3] With only one game remaining for Luxembourg, the team would finish out the competition with a loss against Belgium, to end the tournament eighth out of the ten teams overall.[4]

EuroBasket 1951

After not entering the competition in 1947 and 1949, Luxembourg made their way back to the continental stage at EuroBasket 1951 in Paris. Luxembourg's first match of the tournament was against the host France, which resulted in a demoralising defeat for the national team 72–26.[5] Ensuing the tough loss for Luxembourg, were four straight defeats for the team, to relegate them into a must win elimination game for the right to advance into the classification rounds. Luxembourg, however, would lose in a tightly contested match 45–46 against Denmark to be eliminated.[6]

EuroBasket 1955

A match against Netherlands in 1959.

Following Luxembourg's dismal performance at the EuroBasket in 1951, the national team declined to enter the event in 1953, instead looked toward EuroBasket 1955 in Budapest to make amends. After a disastrous first game in the preliminary round, which saw Luxembourg completely dominated by the Soviet Union, the team was narrowly defeated in their second match against Sweden 54–53.[7] However, in Luxembourg's final two matches of the preliminary phase, the team struggled to build upon their game against Sweden; and were relegated toward the classification rounds at a record of (0–5).

Entering the classification round, Luxembourg dropped their first match against Turkey, before earning their first win of the tournament against Denmark 46–31.[8] Luxembourg would eventually go on to pickup two more victories, both against Sweden to end the tournament 15th out of the 18 teams at the event.[9]

Poland v Luxembourg during a EuroBasket 2015 qualifier.

Subsequent years

After Luxembourg's last appearance at the EuroBasket in 1951, the national team endured numerous failed qualifying cycles in order to make it back to the EuroBasket. However, Luxembourg eventually achieved success competing at smaller competitions such as the European Championship for Small Countries and the Games of the Small States of Europe.

Entering qualification for Luxembourg to reach EuroBasket 2017, the team struggled toward a (1–5) record during the process to being eliminated.[10] After Luxembourg's missed opportunity to qualify for the 2017 tournament, the team was tasked with going through Pre-Qualifiers with a chance to qualify for EuroBasket 2022. Luxembourg would get off to a slow start during the first round of pre-qualifiers, losing their first three matches before picking up a needed win on the road against Cyprus 89–76.[11] With a record of (1–3), Luxembourg's path of advancing took a detour, as the team was relegated to the third and final phase of pre-qualifiers. There, Luxembourg would only win one game during that qualifying window (1–3), at home against Kosovo 88–80 and failing to advance.[12]

For Luxembourg's process to qualify for the 2023 FIBA World Cup, the national team took part in European Pre-Qualifiers, where they went (2–4) in the first round; and were initially eliminated. Although due to Austria withdrawing from qualification, Luxembourg were next inline to replace them.[13] Entering the second and final phase of World Cup European pre-qualifiers, Luxembourg's qualification campaign officially came to a close, after posting an (0–4) record during the round.[14]

Competitive record

Results and fixtures

  Win   Loss

2023

22 July 2023 Croatia  9862  Luxembourg Opatija, Croatia
20:00 (UTC+2) Scoring by quarter: 31–14, 26–20, 23–12, 18–16
Pts: Kapusta, Prkačin 16
Rebs: Branković, Mazalin 6
Asts: Badžim 6
Boxscore Pts: Laurent 18
Rebs: Laurent, Rugg 9
Asts: Grün, Gutenkauf 4
Arena: Sportska dvorana Marino Cvetković
Attendance: 600
Referees: Paulo Marques (POR), Geert Jacobs (BEL), Ivor Matějek (CZE)
26 July 2023 Luxembourg  7696  Ireland Luxembourg City, Luxembourg
20:15 (UTC+2) Scoring by quarter: 21–23, 16–17, 22–30, 17–26
Pts: Laurent 16
Rebs: Rugg 8
Asts: Delgado 5
Boxscore Pts: Badmus, Igiehon 20
Rebs: Alajiki 13
Asts: Quinn 3
Arena: d'Coque
Attendance: 1,413
Referees: Aleksandar Glišić (SRB), Mihkel Männiste (EST), Vladimir Jevtović (SRB)
2 August 2023 Luxembourg  7991  Croatia Luxembourg City, Luxembourg
20:15 (UTC+2) Scoring by quarter: 12–25, 25–25, 18–24, 24–17
Pts: Laurent 13
Rebs: Rugg 7
Asts: Kovac 4
Boxscore Pts: Perković 23
Rebs: Ljubičić 7
Asts: Kapusta 9
Arena: d'Coque
Attendance: 1,650
Referees: Can Mavisu (TUR), Geert Jacobs (BEL), Alexandre Deman (FRA)
5 August 2023 Ireland  7976  Luxembourg Dublin, Ireland
19:30 (UTC+1) Scoring by quarter: 29–20, 12–23, 18–20, 20–13
Pts: Blount, Fulton 16
Rebs: Blount 14
Asts: Blount 6
Boxscore Pts: Rugg 27
Rebs: Rugg 12
Asts: Gutenkauf, Rugg 3
Arena: National Basketball Arena
Attendance: 3,000
Referees: Antonio Conde (ESP), Emmanouil Tsolakos (GRE), Hrvoje Čavar (BIH)

2024

2025

Team

Current roster

Roster for the EuroBasket 2025 Pre-Qualifiers matches in July/August 2023 against Croatia and Ireland.[15]

Luxembourg men's national basketball team roster
PlayersCoaches
Pos.No.NameAge – Date of birthHeightClubCtr.
G/F 1 Malcolm Kreps 21 – (2001-10-11)11 October 2001 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in) Résidence Luxembourg
F 2 Derek Wilson 32 – (1991-07-06)6 July 1991 1.95 m (6 ft 5 in) Arantia Luxembourg
PG 7 Philippe Gutenkauf 28 – (1995-04-11)11 April 1995 1.86 m (6 ft 1 in) Etzella Luxembourg
G/F 8 Thomas Grün 28 – (1995-02-28)28 February 1995 1.98 m (6 ft 6 in) Esch Luxembourg
F 10 Dorian Grosber 17 – (2006-05-15)15 May 2006 1.99 m (6 ft 6 in) Alba Berlin Germany
F 11 Alex Laurent 30 – (1993-06-06)6 June 1993 1.98 m (6 ft 6 in) Trier Germany
F 13 Ben Kovac 23 – (2000-02-20)20 February 2000 1.95 m (6 ft 5 in) Den Helder Netherlands
PF 15 Oliver Vujaković 26 – (1996-12-05)5 December 1996 2.00 m (6 ft 7 in) Raiders Austria
C 20 Lou Demuth 23 – (2000-02-07)7 February 2000 2.12 m (6 ft 11 in) Heffingen Luxembourg
C 21 David Rocha 22 – (2001-03-22)22 March 2001 2.03 m (6 ft 8 in) Etzella Luxembourg
PG 22 Bob Melcher 28 – (1994-12-09)9 December 1994 1.90 m (6 ft 3 in) Amicale Luxembourg
G 27 Yannick Verbeelen 24 – (1998-11-03)3 November 1998 1.90 m (6 ft 3 in) Sparta Luxembourg
F/C 31 Clancy Rugg 31 – (1991-09-22)22 September 1991 2.03 m (6 ft 8 in) Esch Luxembourg
G 77 Ivan Delgado 24 – (1998-11-16)16 November 1998 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in) Sindri Iceland
Head coach
  • Luxembourg Ken Diederich
Assistant coach(es)
  • Luxembourg Pierre Paul
  • Luxembourg Pit Rodenbourg
  • Croatia Denis Toroman
Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • Club – describes last
    club before the competition
  • Age – describes age
    on 22 July 2023

Depth chart

Pos. Starting 5 Bench 1 Bench 2
C Clancy Rugg Oliver Vujaković Lou Demuth
PF Ben Kovac Derek Wilson David Rocha
SF Alex Laurent Malcolm Kreps Dorian Grosber
SG Thomas Grün Ivan Delgado Yannick Verbeelen
PG Philippe Gutenkauf Bob Melcher

Head coach position

  • United States Don Beck – (2002)[16]
  • Germany Carsten Steiner – (2003–2009)
  • Germany Frank Baum – (2010–2013)
  • Germany Karsten Schul – (2013–2014)
  • France Franck Mériguet – (2014–2015)
  • Luxembourg Ken Diederich – (2015–present)

Past rosters

1946 EuroBasket: finished 8th among 10 teams

3 Alfred Achen, 4 René Bicheler, 5 René Colling, 6 Henri Heyart, 7 Pierre Kelsen, 8 Eugene Kohn, 9 Léon Konsbruck, 10 Joseph Linck, 11 Gaston Poncin, 12 Roger Scheuren (Coach: Henri Heyart)


1951 EuroBasket: finished 17th among 18 teams

3 Guy Neumann, 4 Mathias Steffen, 5 Xander Frantz, 6 Fernand Schmalen, 7 Roger Dentzer, 8 Joseph Eyschen, 9 Marcel Gales, 10 Mathias Birel, 11 Jean Guillen, 12 Pierre Steinmetz, 13 Léon Konsbruck, 14 René Haas, 15 Ley, 25 Paul Linster (Coach: Pierrot Conter)


1955 EuroBasket: finished 15th among 18 teams

3 Pierre Steinmetz, 4 Mathias Birel, 5 Fernand Wolter, 6 Joseph Lettal, 7 Paul Kemp, 8 Fernand Schmalen, 9 John Kieffer, 10 Marcel Simon, 11 Florent Lickes, 12 Gust Scharle, 13 Albert Meyers, 14 Jean Christophory (Coach: Pierre Kelsen)

See also

References

  1. "FIBA Ranking Presented by Nike". FIBA. 15 September 2023. Retrieved 15 September 2023.
  2. "Poland v Luxembourg – EuroBasket 1946 game results". Archive.fiba.com. Retrieved 12 August 2014.
  3. "England v Luxembourg – EuroBasket 1946 game results". Archive.fiba.com. Retrieved 12 August 2014.
  4. "EuroBasket 1946 tournament results". Archive.fiba.com. Retrieved 12 August 2014.
  5. "France v Luxembourg – EuroBasket 1951 game results". Archive.fiba.com. Retrieved 12 August 2014.
  6. "EuroBasket 1951 tournament results". Archive.fiba.com. Retrieved 12 August 2014.
  7. "Sweden v Luxembourg – EuroBasket 1955 game results". Archive.fiba.com. Retrieved 12 August 2014.
  8. "Luxembourg v Denmark – EuroBasket 1955 game results". Archive.fiba.com. Retrieved 12 August 2014.
  9. "EuroBasket 1955 tournament results". Archive.fiba.com. Retrieved 12 August 2014.
  10. "Luxembourg during the EuroBasket 2017 Qualifiers". Retrieved 17 September 2016.
  11. "Luxembourg stun Cyprus in Nicosia". Retrieved 1 July 2018.
  12. "Luxembourg during the EuroBasket 2022 Pre-Qualifiers". Retrieved 21 August 2019.
  13. "Luxembourg enter FIBA World Cup 2023 European Pre-Qualifiers Second Round". Retrieved 19 June 2021.
  14. "Luxembourg during the 2023 FIBA World Cup European Pre-Qualifiers". Retrieved 18 August 2021.
  15. "Luxembourg during the EuroBasket 2025 Pre-Qualifiers in July/August 2023". Retrieved 22 July 2023.
  16. "Ehemaliger FLBB-Coach wird Alex Laurents Trainer". Luxemburger Wort (in German). 11 May 2023. Retrieved 19 June 2023.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.