ISTANBUL (Türkiye) - As Alperen Sengun, Cedi Osman and the other stars guided Türkiye to a 95-72 win over Switzerland, and Mateusz Ponitka carried Poland to a close 92-84 triumph against the Netherlands, it was time to open the history books.
The duo became only the sixth and seventh team to go 6-0 in the First Round of the FIBA Basketball World Cup European Qualifiers.
The first five to do so all did it en route to China, during the 2019 European Qualifiers cycle, while the parity era of the 2020s meant that there were zero unbeaten teams in the same phase ahead of the 2023 edition.
Edition | Perfect team | Who did they beat? |
|---|---|---|
2019 | Spain | Montenegro, Slovenia, Belarus |
2019 | Lithuania | Poland, Hungary, Kosovo |
2019 | France | Russia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Belgium |
2019 | Germany | Serbia, Georgia, Austria |
2019 | Greece | Israel, Estonia, Great Britain |
2027 | Türkiye | Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Switzerland |
2027 | Poland | Netherlands, Latvia, Austria |
While reaching the Second Round at 6-0 is not unheard of across all the regions, Türkiye and Poland are now the latest challengers in the quest to stay perfect at the end of the Second Round, too.
Ergin Ataman's men will face Italy, Lithuania and Iceland in Group J of the Second Round, while Igor Milicic's lineup takes on Croatia, Germany and Israel in Group K - both tipping off already in August 2026.
The closest anyone got to 12-0 in Europe was when Lithuania, Greece and Latvia lost only a single game in both rounds of the Qualifiers. While a loss is a loss, one can't help but think that Latvia were actually the closest among all the teams, ever, as their sole defeat during the 2023 campaign was a one-point loss on the road in Serbia.
In the history of Qualifiers in other parts of the world, the most notable near-perfect run was by Australia, registering their only defeat by forfeit (20-0) as they did not travel to Teheran in November 2022.
Qualifiers edition | Closest to perfect record | Only defeat |
|---|---|---|
2023 | Latvia (9-1) | Serbia, 101-100 |
2023 | Australia (11-1) | Iran, 20-0 |
2023 | Canada (11-1) | Argentina, 83-72 |
2023 | South Sudan (11-1) | Senegal, 69-66 |
2019 | Lithuania (11-1) | Italy, 70-65 |
2019 | Greece (11-1) | Serbia, 84-61 |
Could Türkiye become the first team in the world to go 12-0? Cast your vote in the poll below!
Or maybe Poland continue their unbeaten run towards 12-0? Cast your vote in the poll below!
FIBA