Qualified Team Focus - Croatia: Starpower aplenty as Hrvatska look towards Olympics
MIES (Switzerland) - Croatia have missed the last two FIBA Basketball World Cups. Now the Europeans hope they can go from the Pre-OQTs through the OQT to the Paris Olympics.
MIES (Switzerland) - It is now time to meet the six teams in this FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament 2024 Greece with the dream of becoming Olympic champions this summer.
Here is the number 30 team in the FIBA World Ranking Men, presented by Nike, the 1992 Olympics silver medalists Croatia. The Europeans have participated in four Olympics - the last time coming in 2016.
How they qualified
Croatia failed to qualify for the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 - the second straight FIBA flagship event the Europeans missed. Croatia, however, remained alive for the Paris Olympics via the FIBA Olympic Pre-Qualifying Tournament 2023 - Türkiye.
Playing in Group D, Croatia started their campaign with an 86-55 win over Belgium. They followed that with a 99-67 victory against Sweden. In the final group game, Netherlands provided a fight but Croatia prevailed 89-81 to take first place in the group.
Croatia proved strong in the Semi-Finals with an 85-70 win against Ukraine. That set up a big showdown in the Final with hosts Türkiye in front of 10,000 fans at the Sinan Erdem Dome. Croatia raced away to a 48-29 halftime lead en route to an 84-71 win to book a spot in the OQT.
Record at the Olympics
Toni Kukoc going against Oscar Schmidt at 1992 Olympics
Appearances: 4 - 1992 (2nd), 1996 (7th), 2008 (6th); 2016 (5th)
Medals: 1 - 🥈(1992)
Recent OQT history*
* Since 2008
Croatia have a favorable history in the OQTs, competing in three of the four events since 2008 and twice advancing through to the Olympics.
The Croatians defeated Germany 76-70 in the Semi-Finals in 2008 in Greece to lock up an Olympic spot.
After missing out on the 2012 OQT, Croatia were in Turin, Italy in 2016. They defeated Greece 66-61 in the Semi-Finals and then downed hosts Italy 84-78 in overtime in the Final to reach the Rio Games.
Croatia hosted one of the 2020 OQTs but things did not go as well, losing to Germany 86-76 in the Semi-Finals.
Last Olympics appearance
Croatia at the 2016 Olympics
Croatia, who lost to the original USA Dream Team in the 1992 Olympic Gold Medal Game, have reached the Quarter-Finals all four times they have played in the Olympics.
In 2016, the Croatians beat Spain 72-70 to start Group B play but lost the second game 90-82 to Argentina. Croatia bounced back for an 80-76 win over hosts Brazil, followed by a 90-76 loss to Nigeria and a 90-81 victory against Lithuania.
That gave Croatia a 3-2 record and first place in the group. Their opponent in the Quarter-Finals was Serbia, who fended off a Croatia comeback attempt to win the Balkan showdown 86-83.
The Croatians ended up taking fifth place with the 3-3 overall record.
The OQT Group Phase
Mario Hezonja will be a major key for Croatia at the OQT
Croatia have a tough test at the OQT Greece, starting the Group A action against Slovenia. The Croatians will then take on New Zealand in a game they will likely need to win if they want to advance to the Semi-Finals.
The top two finishers in each group reach the Semi-Finals, where Croatia would face one of Dominican Republic, Egypt or hosts Greece. Croatia would still need to get another win in the Final to book a spot in the Paris Olympics.
Croatia OQT games
vs Slovenia (July 2)
vs New Zealand (July 3)
Players to watch
Croatia have a starting lineup to compare with almost every nation, topped by the versatile power forward Dario Saric. The seven-year NBA veteran can lead his team in any way needed - scoring, rebounding or setting up teammates.
Saric will have plenty of help though. Fellow NBA star Bojan Bogdanovic can still light up the scoreboard despite being 35 years old. The small forward served as the captain for Croatia at the FIBA EuroBasket 2022 - the last time he played for his country. Right now he's injured and fans are hoping for a quick recovery for him.
Bojan Bogdanovic, Dario Saric, Jaleen Smith
Mario Hezonja is similarly dynamic as Saric with more athleticism and more outside shooting. The wing is also a serious scoring threat. Croatia's other two big leaders are point guard Jaleen Smith and big man Ivica Zubac.
There is other firepower that Croatia can count on as well. The 21-year-old Roko Prkacin collected 24 points and 10 rebounds in one game the first window of the FIBA EuroBasket 2025 Qualifiers.
Roko Prkacin
Karlo Matkovic, Ante Zizic and Danko Brankovic are three big men who can help in many situations while Goran Filipovic and Borna Kapusta are backup point guard options.
Qualified Team Focus series
During coming weeks and months, we will continue to check out all teams ready to step out as part of our Qualified Team Focus series. You can already take a look at Slovenia, Greece, Dominican Republic and New Zealand.
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