Origins of the team On 26 November 1923, the
Latvijas Basketbola Savienība was founded, earlier than most basketball federations from other countries. On 29 April 1924, Latvia played their first international game versus
Estonia, winning it 20–16. In the winter of 1924, the first men's basketball championship was held, while the first women's championship was organized in 1933. Latvians, like their
Baltic neighbors
Lithuanians and
Estonians, also began playing basketball in the 1920s, quickly rising as the strongest of the Baltic teams. On 13 December 1925 in
Riga, when the Lithuanian national team played their first international game. Latvia easily swept them with the score of 41–20. Later on, Latvia continued to dominate the future three-times European champions as well (41–29 and 123–10). In fact, Latvia had one of the world's strongest national basketball teams. The first Latvian teams consisted of students and pupils, who were trained by coaches of the American
YMCA (Young Men's Christian Association). Latvia also was one of the eight countries which signed the founding act of
FIBA on 18 June 1932 in
Geneva, along with
Switzerland,
Czechoslovakia,
Greece,
Italy,
Portugal,
Romania and
Argentina. The Latvian representative in this event was Jāzeps Šadeiko.
EuroBasket 1935 . The Latvians won the first European basketball championship, the
EuroBasket 1935 held by the
International Basketball Federation's
FIBA Europe continental federation. They defeated
Hungary in the preliminary round,
Switzerland in the semi-finals, and
Spain in the final to finish at the top of the ten-nation field. Latvia held their opponents to 49 points over three games, the lowest points-against average in the tournament. Their scoring rate, 98 points over three games for 32.67 points per game, was second only to
France.
Latvia is the smallest country in population to ever win the
EuroBasket. In 2012, Latvian film director Aigars Grauba directed the historical
sports drama Dream Team 1935 about the journey of the Latvian team towards winning the title. This was the first and only appearance for Latvia at the
Olympic Games as of 2025 (their
female counterparts made their first appearance in
2008).
EuroBasket 1937 At the
EuroBasket 1937, the reigning champions got off to a great start in their first game in the tournament by blowing out
Czechoslovakia 44–11. In their second game they lost a close one to
Poland to drop to (1–1) in the standings. They finished up group play with a needed win against
France to put them in a three-way tie for the lead of the four-team group. However, it wouldn't be enough for the national team to reach the semi-finals as they came out on the bottom of the tie-breaker against Poland and France. This result came about despite the Latvians being the highest-scoring team in the entire tournament and allowing fewer opponent points than any of the other teams in their group. Being in the bottom half of the preliminary group meant that the team could finish no better than fifth. In the classification semifinal, Latvia faced
Egypt, which had withdrawn after their first two preliminary matches. They advanced to the 5th/6th place playoff, which they lost to
Estonia 41–19.
EuroBasket 1939 In
1939, despite losing twice, including a rematch of the 1937 game against Estonia, Latvia secured silver medals with 5 wins. Poland, which also had a 5–2 record, finished third as Latvia had won the match between the two teams. The tournament's opening and, in retrospect, decisive game between Latvia and
Lithuania ended in a dramatic late victory for the hosts and eventual champions Lithuania, souring the sports relations between the two countries and leading to the cancellation of the 1939
Baltic Cup. One of the 1939's vice-champions,
Alfrēds Krauklis, once said: "Frankly saying – these three
Baltic states raised the European basketball. Now they say that its Spanish, and so what? Let them say... And I say – it's our merit!".
Soviet and Nazi period (1940–1991) Due to
Soviet and Nazi occupations, Latvians were unable to represent Latvia in
FIBA organized tournaments or the
Olympic Games. Instead, they were forced to play for the
Soviet Union national team.
Horrific times in
Latvia began. In 1940 the
massive people deportations started, implemented by the
Soviets. Thousands of Latvians were forced to leave their homeland, thousands of them died due to the
active warfare during World War II. Though, despite all the cruel challenges, basketball was continued to be played and retained its popularity in Latvia. In 1941 a Baltic States tournament was organized in
Kaunas Sports Hall. The
Lithuanian SSR team won the final against the
Latvian SSR, 38–33. At the
1952 Summer Olympics,
Maigonis Valdmanis became the first Latvian representative on the Soviet squad, which won the Olympic silver medals that year. A few years later two other Latvian basketball stars joined the team:
Jānis Krūmiņš and
Valdis Muižnieks. Later on, the trio won two
EuroBasket titles and two times became Olympic vice-champions together. In the 1950s,
Rīgas ASK, coached by the Soviet legend
Aleksandr Gomelsky, became the major force of the Soviet Union and even Europe by winning three consecutive
European Cup titles from 1958 to 1960. The club's roster had multiple European champions in Jānis Krūmiņš, Maigonis Valdmanis and Valdis Muižnieks. Furthermore, in 1960
TTT Riga won the
European Cup for Women's Clubs, undoubtedly turning
Riga into the capital of basketball with the two major European basketball titles held by the single city's clubs at the same time. And it only was the first of the stunning 18 European titles. In later years other Latvian basketball stars appeared, such as
Valdis Valters and
Igors Miglinieks, the latter of whom was eventually crowned as Olympic champion. Valdis Valters is considered to be one of Europe's greatest basketball players of the 1980s. He won the
World Cup in
1982 and became the
European champion twice, being named as the
MVP of
EuroBasket 1981. representing Team Latvia at the
EuroBasket 2009 After the restoration of independence (from 1991) On 4 May 1990 Latvia declared the
country's independence from the
Soviet Union. Consequently, in September 1991 its
basketball federation was re-affiliated with FIBA. Though, despite having some remarkable players like
Valdis Valters,
Igors Miglinieks,
Ainars Bagatskis,
Kaspars Kambala,
Andris Biedriņš, Latvia failed to recover its inter-war glory. Their best result after restoring the country's independence is the 5th place achieved at the 2023 World Cup. Although, basketball is slowly regaining its power in Latvia with the help of the medals-winning youth squads.
EuroBasket 2013 During EuroBasket 2013, Latvia began their tournament run with two wins against
Bosnia and Herzegovina, and
Montenegro before facing longtime
Baltic rival
Lithuania. Although in the highly anticipated match between the two nations,
Lithuania prevailed 67–59. Latvia then lost their next match versus
Serbia, but rebounded to win their final fixture in group play against
Macedonia to advance. In the second group phase of the tournament Latvia displayed immediate dominance in their first game of group play over
Ukraine winning 86–51. It turned out to be the only win Latvia would record in the group, as they were eventually eliminated.
EuroBasket 2015 As one of the hosts for EuroBasket 2015 in
Riga, Latvia began their campaign at the tournament victorious over
Belgium 78–67. In their second match, they were once again pitted against their rivals
Lithuania. Latvia looked to avenge their lost from the prior EuroBasket showdown between the two, as the national team got off to a strong start in the 1st quarter. Unfortunately, the Latvians were unable to maintain the momentum they started the match with, as they fell to their rivals again, 68–49. While it was demoralizing for Latvia to be defeated in that manner in front of their home crowd, they recovered quickly to win two out of the next three matches they played to move on to the knockout stage. There, Latvia beat
Slovenia to advance to the quarter-finals, but ultimately fell short to the eventual
bronze medalist
France.
EuroBasket 2017 At EuroBasket 2017, Latvia entered the competition with high expectations, as they fielded one of their most potent lineups ever. With the addition of Latvian star
Kristaps Porziņģis joining the senior national team for the first time, Latvia was poised to go on a long tournament run. But in their first match they were out lasted by a veteran
Serbian squad, 92–82. Although, the national team bounced back in a huge way dismantling
Belgium 92–64, with Porziņģis and
Jānis Timma leading the way in scoring with 27 points apiece. They also went on to win their next three matches in group play to finish with a (4–1) record, to earn a spot in the knockout rounds. In their round of 16 match up, they throttled
Montenegro 100–68. Latvia ran into a buzz saw in their quarter-finals match though, falling to the eventual champions
Slovenia. Latvia finished fifth in the tournament overall, reaching their best post-war result in the history of the national team, in which Kristaps Porziņģis debuted with astonishing averages of 23.6 points, 5.9 rebounds and 1.9 blocks at the age of 22.
Recent years (2019–2022) in 2023 On 1 August 2019, Latvia named former player
Roberts Štelmahers the new head coach of the national team. He replaced
Arnis Vecvagars, who failed to qualify for the
2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup. Štelmahers also had a brief stint, as he resigned after Latvia failed to qualify for the
EuroBasket 2022. In March 2022, Latvia was selected as one of the four co-hosts for
EuroBasket 2025, where they will host one preliminary phase group, as well as the knockout rounds.
Road to the 2023 FIBA World Cup After the signing of
Luca Banchi as head coach in 2021, Latvia went on to
qualify for the
2023 FIBA World Cup, making it the first time the national team would appear at the World Cup finals. Latvia entered the competition with high hopes, however, their biggest star
Kristaps Porziņģis was unable to represent the team during the 2023 FIBA World Cup, due to failing to recover from an injury. Nevertheless, Latvia surprisingly eliminated European vice-champions
France in the first round by winning a decisive game 88–86 and qualified to the second round of the 2023 FIBA World Cup with two victories (also versus
Lebanon 109–70) and one 101–75 loss to
Canada. One of the Latvian team leaders
Dāvis Bertāns described victory versus France as "the biggest win in Latvian basketball history since 1935". In the second round Latvia achieved yet another memorable 74–69 victory versus the reigning world champions
Spain. In the next game Latvia crushed
Brazil 104–84 and advanced to the quarter-finals as the second-best team in the group, leaving Spain and Brazil behind without playoffs. But in quarter-final Latvia lost to
Germany in the last seconds with the result 79–81 and did not directly qualify for the
Paris 2024 Olympics. Latvia finished the tournament in fifth place after defeating
Italy (82–87) and Lithuania (98–63). ==Competitive record==