Belgium men's national basketball team

Belgium
FIBA ranking	38 1 (9 August 2021)
Joined FIBA	1933
FIBA zone	FIBA Europe
National federation	Basketball Belgium
Coach	Dario Gjergja
Nickname(s)	Lions
Olympic Games
Appearances	3
Medals	None
FIBA World Cup
Appearances	None
EuroBasket
Appearances	18
Medals	None
Home	Away

The Belgium men's national basketball team (French: Équipe nationale Belge de basketball, Dutch: Belgisch nationaal basketbalelftal, German: Belgier Basketballnationalmannschaft) represents Belgium in international basketball tournaments. The supervising body is Basketball Belgium.

Belgium has qualified for the EuroBasket 17 times, achieving their best result in 1947, where they finished fourth. Furthermore, Belgium has entered the Olympic Games on three occasions, in 1936, 1948, and 1952. However, Belgium is still in pursuit of making their first appearance at the FIBA World Cup.

The team is nicknamed and also represents itself as Belgian Lions.

History[]

EuroBasket 1935[]

The Belgian side came in sixth place at the first European Basketball Championship, the EuroBasket 1935 held by the International Basketball Federation's FIBA Europe continental federation. They lost to Spain in the preliminary round. In the 5th to 8th place classification match, the Belgians defeated Bulgaria to advance to the 5th/6th place final. There they were defeated by France, 49–30.

EuroBasket 1946[]

The next European championship that Belgium contested was EuroBasket 1946. In the most competitive of the preliminary groups, Belgium lost close contests to Switzerland and eventual champions Czechoslovakia. Their third-place finish in the group relegated them to the 7th–10th place semi-finals, where they defeated Poland handily. In the 7th/8th place final, the Belgians were victorious over Luxembourg to finish in 7th place.

EuroBasket 1947[]

Belgium's third EuroBasket was at the EuroBasket 1947. The national team went 2–1 in the preliminary round, losing only to Egypt. Czechoslovakia gave Belgium their only loss in the semi-final round, as they went 2–1 again. This put Belgium in a rematch with Egypt, this time with the bronze medal on the line. Egypt won again, relegating Belgium to 4th place.

EuroBasket 1951[]

EuroBasket 1951 was the next competition that Belgium contested. They defeated medal favorite (and in fact eventual silver medallists Czechoslovakia in the preliminary round on their way to winning the group with a 3–0 record. That record was reversed in the semifinal round, though, as Belgium lost all three of their games, by 10 points or fewer in each contest. Their losses continued as they dropped their classification 5th–8th place game to Italy. But Belgium did finish with a win over Greece, in the classification 7th/8th place final 39-28.

EuroBasket 1953[]

Belgium competed again at EuroBasket 1953 in Moscow. Their preliminary round group included both the eventual gold medallist Soviet Union and runner-up Hungary. The national team lost to both but defeated Denmark to finish third place in the group with a 1–2 record. In a less competitive classification round pool, Belgium finished on top with a 3–1 record, losing only to Romania. They then won their 9th–12th place classification match, but lost to Bulgaria in their final game to finish in 10th place of the 17 team field.

EuroBasket 1957[]

Four years later, Belgium competed at EuroBasket 1957 in Sofia. They lost all three of their preliminary games, taking fourth position in the group and being sent to the classification round. There, they again lost three games but this time it was out of seven games in the round instead of three. Their 4–3 record in the classification pool put them in 12th place overall.

EuroBasket 2011[]

The EuroBasket 2011 marked the first appearance for Belgium at the tournament since 1993. Although it was a very forgettable performance by the Lions, as they lost all five games with their only competitive match coming against Bulgaria, where they lost 68-65.

EuroBasket 2013[]

At the EuroBasket 2013, Belgium looked to avenge their last EuroBasket performance with a better showing this go around. After losing an hard fought battle to Ukraine in their first match, they rebounded quickly in their second game, pulling off a stunner at the hands of Germany in overtime 77-73. It marked the first win for the Lions at the tournament since EuroBasket 1993. From there they went on to win one more match in the preliminary stage against Great Britain to finish with a 2-3 record, enough to qualify for the second round. There the national team ran into trouble against Euro heavyweights in Serbia, eventual runners-up in Lithuania, and the eventual tournament champions France. The Lions could only squeeze out one victory in the round against Latvia, before being eliminated.

Global stage[]

On several occasions, Belgium qualified for events where they competed at the global stage. Yet, the country's major performances there date back to the 1940s/1950s. The national team had its best performance at the 1948 Summer Olympics where they won 5 out of 8 games.

Competitive record[]

EuroBasket[]

EuroBasket					Qualification
Year	Position	Pld	W	L	Pld	W	L
1935	6th	3	1	2
1937	Did not enter
1939	Did not enter
1946	7th	4	2	2
1947	4th	7	4	3
1949	Did not enter
1951	7th	8	4	4
1953	10th	9	5	4
1955	Did not enter
1957	7th	9	4	5
1959	15th	7	3	4
1961	8th	8	4	4
1963	8th	9	5	4	Directly qualified
1965	Did not qualify				3	1	2
1967	15th	9	2	7	3	3	0
1969	Did not qualify				5	2	3
1971					4	2	2
1973					7	3	4
1975	Did not enter				Did not enter
1977	8th	7	2	5	Qualified as host
1979	12th	8	0	8	Directly qualified
1981	Did not qualify				5	1	4
1983					5	2	3
1985					12	5	7
1987					5	2	3
1989					4	2	2
1991					10	6	4
1993	12th	6	1	5	6	4	2
1995	Did not qualify				6	3	3
1997					10	4	6
1999					13	4	9
2001					15	11	4
2003					10	3	7
2005					10	3	7
2007					12	6	6
2009					12	6	6
2011	21st	5	0	5	8	6	2
2013	9th	8	3	5	8	5	3
2015	13th	6	3	3	6	5	1
2017	19th	5	1	4	6	5	1
2022	Qualified				10	8	2
Total	18/41	118	44	74	195	102	93

FIBA World Cup[]

World Cup					Qualification
Year	Position	Pld	W	L	Pld	W	L
1950	Did not qualify				5	3	2
1954					EuroBasket served as qualifiers
1959
1963
1967
1970
1974
1978
1982
1986					6	1	5
1990					EuroBasket served as qualifiers
1994
1998
2002
2006
2010
2014
2019					6	1	5
2023	To be determined				To be determined
Total	0/18				17	5	12

Olympic Games[]

Olympic Games					Qualifying
Year	Position	Pld	W	L	Pld	W	L
1936	19th	2	0	2
1948	11th	8	5	3
1952	17th	3	1	2
1956	Did not qualify
1960					7	5	2
1964					8	5	3
1968
1972					3	1	2
1976					6	4	2
1980
1984					3	1	2
1988
1992
1996 to 2016
2020
2024	To be determined				To be determined
Total	3/20	13	6	7	27	16	11

Results and fixtures[]

Win Loss

2020[]

21 February 2020 EuroBasket 2022 qualifiers	Belgium	86–65 0	Lithuania	showMons, Belgium 0
20:30	Scoring by quarter: 23–9, 17–12, 28–10, 18–34
	Pts: Obasohan 21 Rebs: De Zeeuw 9 Asts: Serron 5	Boxscore	Pts: Motiejūnas 17 Rebs: Kuzminskas, Motiejūnas 5 Asts: Kalnietis 4	Arena: Mons.Arena Referees: Marius Ciulin (ROU), Zdravko Rutešić (MNE), Michał Proć (POL)

24 February 2020 EuroBasket 2022 qualifiers	Denmark	72–88 0	Belgium	showCopenhagen, Denmark 0
18:15	Scoring by quarter: 18–27, 21–28, 13–23, 20–10
	Pts: Larsen 20 Rebs: three players 5 Asts: three players 4	Boxscore	Pts: Tabu 22 Rebs: Tabu 8 Asts: Tabu 7	Arena: Farum Arena Referees: Saverio Lanzarini (ITA), Radomir Vojinović (MNE), Gatis Saliņš (LAT)

27 November 2020 EuroBasket 2022 qualifiers	Czech Republic	62–90 0	Belgium	showVilnius, Lithuania* ^{[note 1]} 0
16:30	Scoring by quarter: 19–27, 17–20, 15–23, 11–20
	Pts: Balvin 14 Rebs: Peterka 8 Asts: Bohacik 4	Boxscore	Pts: Obasohan 18 Rebs: Gillet, Kesteloot 5 Asts: Obasohan 7	Arena: Siemens Arena Referees: Aleksandar Glišić (SRB), Mehmet Sahin (TUR), Zdravko Rutešić (MNE)

29 November 2020 EuroBasket 2022 qualifiers	Lithuania	84–71 0	Belgium	showVilnius, Lithuania* ^{[note 1]} 0
19:30	Scoring by quarter: 20–15, 29–21, 18–15, 17–20
	Pts: Bendžius 19 Rebs: Kuzminskas 8 Asts: Mačiulis 4	Boxscore	Pts: Obasohan 21 Rebs: Vanwijn 5 Asts: 3	Arena: Siemens Arena Referees: Aleksandar Glišić (SRB), Boris Krejić (SLO), Thomas Bissuel (FRA)

2021[]

20 February 2021 EuroBasket 2022 qualifiers	Belgium	88–65 0	Denmark	showVilnius, Lithuania* ^{[note 1]} 0
16:30	Scoring by quarter: 24–17, 16–17, 26–15, 22–16
	Pts: Obasohan 19 Rebs: Lecomte, Obasohan 5 Asts: Lecomte 5	Boxscore	Pts: 18 Rebs: 8 Asts: 4	Arena: Avia Solutions Group Arena Referees: Sergii Zashchuk (UKR), Gatis Saliņš (LAT), Mehmet Karabilecen (TUR)

22 February 2021 EuroBasket 2022 qualifiers	Belgium	86–91 0	Czech Republic	showVilnius, Lithuania* ^{[note 1]} 0
16:30	Scoring by quarter: 14–24, 26–27, 25–18, 21–22
	Pts: Obasohan 23 Rebs: 5 Asts: Lecomte, Schwartz 4	Boxscore	Pts: Hruban 24 Rebs: Peterka 8 Asts: Sehnal 4	Arena: Avia Solutions Group Arena Referees: Radomir Vojinović (MNE), Ventsislav Velikov (BUL), Mehmet Karabilecen (TUR)

Team[]

Current roster[]

Roster for the EuroBasket 2022 Qualifiers matches on 20 and 22 February 2021 against Denmark and Czech Republic.^[3]

Belgium men's national basketball team roster

Players

Coaches

Pos.	No.	Name	Age – Date of birth	Height	Club
PG	00		24 – (1997-01-15)15 January 1997	1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)	Bahçeşehir
PG	3		18 – (2002-06-25)25 June 2002	1.76 m (5 ft 9 in)	Limburg United
G	4	Manu Lecomte	25 – (1995-08-16)16 August 1995	1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)	Élan Béarnais
PF	8	Jean-Marc Mwema	31 – (1989-12-05)5 December 1989	1.98 m (6 ft 6 in)	Oostende
SG	11	Loïc Schwartz	28 – (1992-12-04)4 December 1992	1.98 m (6 ft 6 in)	Oostende
PF	13	Pierre-Antoine Gillet	29 – (1991-04-16)16 April 1991	2.01 m (6 ft 7 in)	Oostende
PF	14	Maxime De Zeeuw	33 – (1987-04-26)26 April 1987	2.04 m (6 ft 8 in)	Hapoel Holon
SG	18		31 – (1990-01-25)25 January 1990	1.87 m (6 ft 2 in)	Spirou
C	20	Tim Lambrecht	23 – (1998-01-15)15 January 1998	2.07 m (6 ft 9 in)	Spirou
C	23	Khalid Boukichou	28 – (1992-09-17)17 September 1992	2.08 m (6 ft 10 in)	Spirou
C	24		25 – (1995-07-27)27 July 1995	2.13 m (7 ft 0 in)	Šiauliai
SG	32	Retin Obasohan	27 – (1993-07-06)6 July 1993	1.86 m (6 ft 1 in)	Nymburk

Head coach

Dario Gjergja

Assistant coach(es)

Legend

(C) Team captain
Club – describes last
club before the competition
Age – describes age
on 20 February 2021

Depth chart[]

Pos.	Starting 5	Bench
C
PF
SF
SG
PG

Head coach position[]

Eddy Casteels – (2005 – 2018)
Dario Gjergja – (2018 – present)

Past rosters[]

1935 EuroBasket: finished 6th among 10 teams

3 René Demanck, 4 Émile Laermans, 5 Louis Levaux, 6 Pierre Van Basselaere, 7 Gustave Vereecken, 8 Gaston de Houwer, 9 Robert Breuwer (Coach: ?)

1936 Olympic Games: finished 19th among 21 teams

1 Robert Breuwer, 2 Gustave Crabbe, 3 René Demanck, 4 Raymond Gérard, 5 Émile Laermans, 6 Guillaume Merckx, 7 Pierre Van Basselaere, 8 Gustave Vereecken (Coach: ?)

1946 EuroBasket: finished 7th among 10 teams

3 Armand Van Wambeke, 4 Henri Servaes, 5 Julien Meuris, 6 Georges Baert, 7 Henri Hermans, 8 Émile Kets, 9 Augustin Bernaer, 10 Alexander Hollanders, 11 Louis Van De Goor, 12 Henri Hollanders, 13 Marcel de Haeck, 14 Pierre Van Basselaere, 23 Fernand Rossius, 25 Auguste Wijns (Coach: Raymond Briot)

1947 EuroBasket: finished 4th among 14 teams

3 Armand Van Wambeke, 4 René Steurbaut, 5 Julien Meuris, 6 Georges Baert, 7 Henri Hermans, 8 Émile Kets, 9 Henri Coosemans, 10 Gustave Poppe, 11 Alexander Hollanders, 12 Henri Hollanders, 13 Fernand Rossius, 14 François De Pauw, 17 Joseph Pirard, 21 Guillaume van Damme (Coach: Raymond Briot)

1948 Olympic Games: finished 11th among 23 teams

3 Armand Van Wambeke, 4 René Steurbaut, 5 Julien Meuris, 6 Georges Baert, 7 Henri Hermans, 8 Émile Kets, 9 Henri Coosemans, 10 Alexander Hollanders, 11 Henri Hollanders, 12 Augustin Bernaer, 13 Louis Van De Goor, 14 François De Pauw, 15 Gustave Poppe, 16 Léon Lampo (Coach: Raymond Briot)

1951 EuroBasket: finished 7th among 17 teams

3 Jef Eygel, 4 Henri Crick, 5 Francois Plas, 6 Georges Baert, 7 François De Pauw, 8 Émile Kets, 9 Henri Coosemans, 10 Désiré Ligon, 11 Alexis Van Gils, 12 Philippe Dewandelaer, 13 Guy Gekiere, 14 Roger van Harck (Coach: Raymond Briot)

1952 Olympic Games: finished 18th among 23 teams

3 Jef Eygel, 4 Yvan Delsarte, 5 Julien Meuris, 6 Félix Roosemont, 8 Johannes Ducheyne, 9 Henri Coosemans, 10 Désiré Ligon, 11 Alexis Van Gils, 12 Henri Crick, 13 Jules Boes, 14 Jan Ceulemans, 16 Josef du Jardin (Coach: Raymond Briot)

1953 EuroBasket: finished 10th among 17 teams

3 Maurice Chavagne, 4 René Steurbaut, 5 Julien Meuris, 6 Georges Baert, 7 André Vermeulen, 8 Émile Kets, 9 Henri Coosemans, 10 Désiré Ligon, 11 Alexis Van Gils, 12 Edouard Samson, 13 Jean Nolis, 14 Roger van Harck, 15 Joseph Decombe, 16 Félix Roosemont (Coach: Louis van Hof)

1957 EuroBasket: finished 12th among 16 teams

3 Albert van Mechelen, 4 Robert Jolijt, 5 Charles Storme, 6 Georges de Meyer, 7 Jean de Nayer, 8 Elie Deweerdt, 9 Emile Martin, 10 Eddy Terrace, 11 John Loridon, 12 Alex van den Avondt, 13 Charles Feyen, 14 Lucien van Kersschaever (Coach: ?)

1959 EuroBasket: finished 7th among 17 teams

3 Rene Aerts, 4 Richard Wagner, 5 Pierre van Huele, 6 Jef Eygel, 7 Francois de Pauw, 8 Elie Deweerdt, 9 Jean Steveniers, 10 Lucien van Kersschaever, 11 John Loridon, 12 Henry Raets, 13 Lievin Vinck, 14 Maurice Chavagne (Coach: Eddy Verswijvel)

1961 EuroBasket: finished 8th among 19 teams

4 Andre Desplats, 5 Pierre van Huele, 6 Jef Eygel, 7 Rene Aerts, 8 Jean Steveniers, 9 Henri Degraeve, 10 Guido Scholiers, 11 John Loridon, 12 Joseph Serron, 13 Alphonse Maes, 15 Oscar Wauters, 16 Charles Feyen (Coach: Rene Mol)

1963 EuroBasket: finished 8th among 16 teams

4 Francois Clement, 5 Pierre van Huele, 6 Jef Eygel, 7 Rene Aerts, 8 Francois d’Hoir, 9 Lucien Michelet, 10 Guido Scholiers, 11 John Loridon, 12 Pierre Dewandeler, 13 Lucien van Kersschaever, 14 Willy Ivens, 15 Camille Dierckx (Coach: Roger Staes)

1967 EuroBasket: finished 15th among 16 teams

4 Camille Dierckx, 5 Willy Ivens, 6 Jef Eygel, 7 Rene Aerts, 8 Lucien Michelet, 9 Robert van Herzele, 10 Raoul Schoeters, 11 John Loridon, 12 Willy d’Hondt, 13 Lucien van Kersschaever, 14 Etienne Geerts, 15 Alfons Declerck (Coach: Rene Mol)

1977 EuroBasket: finished 8th among 12 teams

4 Alain Stollenberg, 5 Ive van Poppelen, 6 Robert van Herzele, 7 Olin "Corky" Bell, 8 Etienne Geerts, 9 Rene van den Broeck, 10 Imre Nytrai, 11 Jos Peeters, 12 Francois Huysmans, 13 Christian Becknel, 14 Roger Marien, 15 Hector Vermeersch (Coach: Rene Mol)

1979 EuroBasket: finished 12th among 12 teams

4 Alain Stollenberg, 5 Herman Reynders, 6 Eric Rogiers, 7 Jos Peeters, 8 Ive van Poppelen, 9 Tony Van den Bosch, 10 Imre Nytrai, 11 Rene van den Broeck, 12 Francois Huysmans, 13 Christian Becknel, 14 Etienne Geerts, 15 Rik Samaey (Coach: Rene Mol)

1993 EuroBasket: finished 12th among 16 teams

4 Jacques Stas, 5 Éric Struelens, 6 Dirk Snyders, 7 Ronny Bayer, 8 Rik Samaey, 9 Danny Herman, 10 Erik Cleymans, 11 Marc Deheneffe, 12 Herman Bruyninckx, 13 Ivan Verberckt, 14 Daniël Goethals, 15 Dimitri Lambrecht (Coach: Tony Van den Bosch)

2011 EuroBasket: finished 23rd among 24 teams

4 Roel Moors, 5 Sam Van Rossom, 6 Christophe Beghin, 7 Randy Oveneke, 8 Jorn Steinbach, 9 Jonathan Tabu, 10 Dimitri Lauwers, 11 Guy Muya, 12 Marcus Faison, 13 Maxime De Zeeuw, 14 Tomas Van Den Spiegel, 15 D. J. Mbenga (Coach: Eddy Casteels)

2013 EuroBasket: finished 10th among 24 teams

4 Roel Moors, 5 Sam Van Rossom, 6 Christophe Beghin, 7 Axel Hervelle, 8 Jean-Marc Mwema, 9 Jonathan Tabu, 10 Quentin Serron, 11 Guy Muya, 12 Wen Mukubu, 13 Maxime De Zeeuw, 14 Sacha Massot, 15 Yannick Driesen (Coach: Eddy Casteels)

2015 EuroBasket: finished 13th among 24 teams

4 Lionel Bosco, 5 Sam Van Rossom, 7 Axel Hervelle (C), 8 Jean-Marc Mwema, 9 Jonathan Tabu, 10 Quentin Serron, 12 Wen Mukubu, 13 Pierre-Antoine Gillet, 14 Maxime De Zeeuw, 22 Kevin Tumba, 23 Jean Salumu, 24 Matt Lojeski (Coach: Eddy Casteels)

2017 EuroBasket: finished 19th among 24 teams

4 Manu Lecomte, 5 Sam Van Rossom, 7 Axel Hervelle, 8 Jean-Marc Mwema, 9 Jonathan Tabu, 10 Quentin Serron, 12 Jean Salumu, 13 Pierre-Antoine Gillet, 14 Maxime De Zeeuw, 16 Kevin Tumba, 19 Ismaël Bako, 22 Vincent Kesteloot (Coach: Eddy Casteels)

Kit[]

Manufacturer[]

2015:

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