RIGA (Latvia) - Everybody loves a good Cinderella story in sports, or at least an upset that keeps the room spinning for a few years.
Finland stunned Serbia in the Round of 16 in Riga, eliminating what many considered the strongest contender in 2025.
"We like this situation of being the underdog," Finland head coach Lassi Tuovi said, adding another gem: "Underdogs should dream big."
We went searching for all the underdogs who were dreaming big before Finland in 2025.
Italy 2022
It's all just a little bit of history repeating for Serbia, as they were even more impressive through the Group Phase in 2022 than in 2025, only to stumble and fall in the Round of 16.
Italy won the game 94-86 in Berlin, Nikola Jokic's 32 points and 13 rebounds going to waste as Marco Spissu paced Italy with 22 points and 6 assists.
Poland 2022
People didn't even get a chance to digest the Italian upset in the Round of 16, and the Quarter-Finals brought another upset.
Poland barely made it out of the group and into the Knock-Out Phase, but then they switched through gears in Germany, defeating Ukraine in the Round of 16 and setting the stage for their biggest win of the generation.
Mateusz Ponitka went crazy, registering a 26-point, 16-rebound, 10-assist triple-double to send Slovenia home in a 90-87 win. Up until that point, Luka Doncic and his teammates looked like they might defend their title won in 2017.
North Macedonia 2011
The event 14 years ago was one of the strongest in EuroBasket history, with a field so balanced it was impossible to predict which nations would make the Semi-Finals.
Rest assured, nobody talked about North Macedonia. And yet, Bo McCalebb, Pero Antic, Vlado Ilievski and others squeezed into the Quarter-Finals, setting up a date with the hosts.
It felt like the entire nation of Lithuania went to Kaunas to watch the game, but it was the silence that was deafening in the end, not the cheers from the home fans.
North Macedonia defeated Lithuania 67-65 in the Quarter-Finals, behind McCalebb's 23 points. Yes, he scored 23, while the rest of the team had 44. Bo was just that good.
France 2005
Talking about the hosts, Serbia and Montenegro were supposed to enjoy the home cooking in 2005, putting together an incredible roster with five NBA players (Darko Milicic, Vladimir. Radmanovic, Marko Jaric, Zeljko Rebraca, Nenad Krstic) and giving the conductor's baton to Zeljko Obradovic.
However, the party at home was spoiled by some youngsters who went on to make names for themselves all over the world.
In 2005, Tony Parker, Boris Diaw and others were just kids, but they still managed to defeat Serbia and Montenegro 74-71 in the Play-Off for a spot in the Quarter-Finals.
Latvia 2001
The format of the competition was the same as in 2005, meaning the first-placed teams moved straight to the Quarter-Finals, while the second- and third-placed teams fought each other in the Play-Off round.
Lithuania felt like they would have a chance of winning a medal, especially when the draw put them together with Latvia in the Play-Off round.
They were in for a surprise, though. Latvia stormed to a gigantic 94-76 win, eliminating the team that would go on to win the FIBA EuroBasket just a couple of years later in Sweden.
But in 2001, there was nothing they could do about Ainars Bagatskis and his 25 points as Latvia reached a top eight finish for the first time since 1939.
Latvia would not have another Quarter-Finals appearance until Bagatskis took over as a coach in 2015.
Germany 1993
Now, while those aforementioned teams had single game upsets, Germany's run towards the championship in 1993 was one of the toughest possible.
First, they eliminated Spain 79-77 in the Quarter-Finals. Then, they took down Greece 76-73 in the Semi-Finals, and finally, the late, great Christian Welp had the and-one dunk for a 71-70 win over Russia.
So, why is it an upset? Up until that point, Germany never finished higher than 5th in EuroBasket. Also, they made the Quarter-Finals as the fourth seed at 2-3, while Spain, Greece and Russia all had 4-1 runs in the group stage.
Greece 1987
A similar story happened in 1987, as Greece hosted the event and witnessed as Soviet Union ran circles around everybody, entering the championship game with a perfect 7-0 record.
Greece, meanwhile, were on the brink of elimination in the Group Stage, reaching the Quarter-Finals only in their final group game, defeating France 82-69 in a do-or-die game.
As the fourth seed, they knocked out top seeded Italy in the Quarter-Finals, then took down Yugoslavia in the Semis, before getting the biggest upset possible in the 1980 in European basketball: Defeating Soviet Union 103-101 in overtime in the Final.
The Greek God of Scoring was unstoppable that day, Nikos Galis counting to 40 to win gold for Greece at home. That game marked the end of the Soviet domination, after they had won 14 EuroBasket golds from 1947 to 1985.
Czechoslovakia 1985
The last upset we found happened in the Quarter-Finals in 1985. Yugoslavia, led by Drazen Petrovic, already started thinking about meeting the Soviet Union in the Final.
Czechoslovakia got to the Quarter-Finals on the final day of pool play, finishing fourth in their group and looking like an outsider ahead of the matchup with Drazen and friends in QF.
But on the court, a whole different picture was seen. Czechoslovakia got 32 points from Kamil Brabenec, pouring in 102 points against the Yugoslav defense, good enough for an 11-point win.
Czechoslovakia reached the Final later, losing 120-89 to Soviet Union.
FIBA