MUNICH (Germany) - The history of FIBA EuroBasket is full of Cinderella stories and upsets of all sorts, but perhaps the most memorable one was with Slovenia in 2017.

Since gaining independence in 1991, the Slovenian national team has never missed a FIBA EuroBasket Final Round, and they have been a regular in the Knock-Out Phase since 2005.  A lot of their Quarter-Finals and Semi-Finals defeats have been heartbreaking, but the tale did have a happy ending in 2017.

As the rest of the continent was focused on Spain, Serbia, Greece, Lithuania, France and the hosts Turkey as the main medal contenders in the last edition, Slovenia used their underdog status to crown an impressive campaign with their maiden FIBA EuroBasket title.

They took down Ukraine, Latvia, Spain and Serbia in the Final Phase in Istanbul en route to the first gold medal in the team's history. In fact, the gold in FIBA EuroBasket 2017 still remains the only podium place finish for Slovenia in all major events.

Goran Dragic is enjoying his national team retirement now, but the team is in good hands, with Luka Doncic set to lead a whole new generation of Junaki.

FIBA