BRUSSELS (Belgium) - Belgium are becoming somewhat of a regular participant at FIBA EuroBasket events in recent years, securing their 19th qualification in total and sixth in a row.
They only qualified for the Final Round once from 1981 to 2009, but they made it six straight successful Qualifiers campaigns from 2011 to 2025, proving that basketball is on the rise in the country.
Glory days may well be long gone as Belgium haven't made it to the top eight since 1977 on home soil. Securing Round of 16 at the last showing was deemed a success, and Dario Gjergja's team will aim to replicate or even improve on that. However, things will be tougher as their star player Retin Obasohan is out due to injury.
Schedule
August 28: vs France (17:00 CET) August 30: vs Iceland (14:00 CET) August 31: vs Slovenia (14:00 CET) September 2: vs Israel (14:00 CET) September 4: vs Poland (20:30 CET)
Star Player
With Retin Obasohan dropping out of the Belgium's EuroBasket squad due to injury sustained during preparations, many things will now fall on Ismael Bako's broad shoulders to step up. The 30-year old center now becomes Belgium's centerpiece as he comes into his third EuroBasket tournament, making his debut in 2017.
Bako is somewhat of a household name in European basketball. A regular part of Belgium's campaign, this big man has also established himself in the club competitions, playing across the Europe. This tells us he should be force to be reckoned with in the paint whenever Belgium take the floor in Katowice.
He also helped Belgium secure their Final Round spot, albeit taking the passenger seat behind Obasohan and Emmanuel Lecomte with 7.3 points and 4.7 rebounds on average across three Qualifiers games. However, something resembling 12.9 points and 7.0 rebounds per game during the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 Qualifiers will be needed now if Belgium want to achieve their goals.
History
Belgium never finished on the podium in this competition, coming the closest all the way back in 1947, when they were fourth, just behind the Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia and Egypt.
They finished in the top 10 exactly 10 times, however, only one of those 10 came in this millennium, back in Slovenia in 2013, when they were 9th with three wins in eight games.
Since the new format was introduced in 2015, Belgium were in the Round of 16 twice, in 2015 and 2022, failing to reach it in 2017, when a 1-4 record was good enough only for 19th spot.
Best finish: 4th in 1947
EuroBasket Top Scorers
Rank | Player | Games | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
1. | Rene Aerts | 33 | 444 |
2. | John Loridon | 37 | 339 |
3. | Jozef Eygel | 40 | 270 |
4. | Jean Steveniers | 16 | 244 |
5. | Sam Van Rossom | 24 | 229 |
6. | Jonathan Tabu | 28 | 227 |
7. | Eddy Terrace | 9 | 220 |
8. | Francois Huysmans | 14 | 211 |
9. | Maxime De Zeeuw | 22 | 179 |
10. | Axel Hervelle | 19 | 162 |
How they qualified
Gameday 1: SVK 60-75 BEL Gameday 2: BEL 58-53 ESP Gameday 3: LAT 75-72 BEL Gameday 4: BEL 83-85 LAT Gameday 5: BEL 93-63 SVK Gameday 6: ESP 59-52 BEL
Poll: Where will they finish?
Tickets
FIBA