Montenegro men's national basketball team

The Montenegro men's national basketball team () represents Montenegro in international basketball tournaments. The supervising body is the Basketball Federation of Montenegro.

Montenegro joined FIBA in 2006, following the restoration of Montenegrin independence in the same year. Since 2006, Montenegro has qualified for EuroBasket five times (2011, 2013, 2017, 2022, 2025). They have reached the global stage at the FIBA World Cup twice, in 2019 and 2023. The national team has also taken part in smaller tournaments such as the Games of the Small States of Europe.

History 2006–2014

In 2006, the Basketball Federation of Montenegro along with this team joined the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) on its own following the Independence of Montenegro.

The Montenegrin national team entered international competition in 2008,Eurobasket – Montenegro Profile and appointed Duško Vujošević as the national coach. Montenegro started from FIBA Division B, where they won first place in their first competitive season. Since becoming a separate team, Montenegro has won 13 official games in a row, until losing to Israel in August 2010.

At that time, NBA players like Nikola Vučević and Nikola Peković became the most known players of Montenegrin national team.

In their first qualifiers for EuroBasket, Montenegro finished first in the group. So, the team qualified for Eurobasket 2011, where they played five games in the first phase – with one win and four losses. The Coach of Montenegro at their first-ever EuroBasket was Dejan Radonjić.

In August 2012, with the new coach Luka Pavićević, Montenegro started qualifiers for Eurobasket 2013. Again, they won first place, but without any defeat from 10 matches. Notable matches were against Serbia, first after the two countries separated. Montenegro won both games, and victory in Belgrade (73:71), in front of 18,000 spectators, is gained by Nikola Ivanović three-point shot from the center, one second before the end of the match.

As the first-place team in qualifiers, Montenegro participated at Eurobasket 2013 in Slovenia. They made better results than 2011, with two wins and three defeats, but that was not enough for the second phase of EuroBasket.

First unsuccessful qualifying campaign since independence, Montenegro had during the 2014. Surprisingly, group stage at the EuroBasket 2015 qualification, Montenegro finished third, so they failed to qualify for the final tournament.

2015–present

In 2015, Montenegro named Bogdan Tanjević new head coach of the national team. Prior to taking the reins of the national team, he was the head coach of Fenerbahçe. As the national team earlier failed to qualify for EuroBasket 2015, they participated in the Games of the Small States of Europe (European countries with less than a million citizens) in Iceland and easily won the gold medal.

In summer 2016, Montenegro started competition in EuroBasket 2017 qualifiers, with the only ambition to qualify for their third final tournament since independence. In a group with Georgia, Slovakia and Albania, Montenegro finished as a second-place team, with one defeat, and qualified for EuroBasket 2017.

For the first time in their history, in Eurobasket 2017, Montenegro finished as a third-place team in the group stage and qualified to the knockout stage. At that time, that was the biggest success of the Montenegrin national team since its independence in 2006. Two years later, Montenegro qualified for the 2019 FIBA World Cup for the first time, after a winner-take-all game in Podgorica against Latvia. Montenegro lost the game 80–74 but still went through as they had won the away game 84–75, thus holding the tiebreaker on points difference. With that result, Montenegro became the smallest state by population and territory to qualify for the FIBA World Cup since the establishing of competition.

Competitive record

Montenegro has appeared twice at the FIBA World Cup (2019, 2023). At the continental level, Montenegro has appeared five times at EuroBasket (2011, 2013, 2017, 2022, 2025). Among other competitions as a country with less than a million inhabitants, Montenegro participated at the Games of the Small States of Europe, winning the gold medal in 2015 and 2019.

FIBA World Cup World CupQualificationYearPosition1950 to 1990Part of Yugoslavia1994 to 2006 2010Did not qualifyEuroBasket servedas qualifiers 2014 201925th5141275 202311th53216115 2027To be determinedTo be determined 2031Total2/410 4 6 28 18 10

Olympic Games Olympic GamesQualifyingYearPosition1936 to 1988Part of Yugoslavia1992 to 2004 2008Did not enterDid not enter 2012Did not qualifyDid not qualify 2016 2020 2024211 2028To be determinedTo be determinedTotal0/5 211

EuroBasket EuroBasketQualificationYearPosition1947 to 1991Part of Yugoslavia1993 to 2005 2007Did not enterDid not enter 2009Division B10100 201121st514862 201317th52310100 2015Did not qualify633 201713th633 651 202213th633633 202520th514633 2029To be determinedTo be determinedTotal5/827 10 17 52 40 12

Games of the Small States of Europe Games of the Small States of EuropeYearPosition 2015330 2017541 2019440 20234th523Total17134

Results and fixtures

2025

2026

2027

Team Current roster Roster for the 2027 FIBA World Cup Qualifiers matches on 28 and 30 August 2026 against Georgia and Ukraine.

Depth chart

Head coaches The first head coach of Montenegro was Duško Vujošević. With him, Montenegro won the FIBA B division championship (2009). From 2010 to 2012, Montenegro was coached by Dejan Radonjić, who led the national team to their first EuroBasket (2011). At their next Eurobasket participation (2013), Montenegro was led by Luka Pavićević. From 2015 to 2017, the head coach of Montenegro was Bogdan Tanjević, who led Montenegro to their first-ever Second phase games at the Eurobasket (2016). After that tournament, the Basketball Federation of Montenegro named Zvezdan Mitrović new head coach of the national team. During his mandate, Montenegro for the first time qualified for the World Cup (2019), as the smallest state to ever play at the global tournament. Years Name Record Competitions 2007–2010 Duško Vujošević 10–0 None 2010–2012 Dejan Radonjić 7–6 EuroBasket 2011 (21st) 2012–2014 Luka Pavićević 15–6 EuroBasket 2013 (17th) 2015–2017 Bogdan Tanjević 15–5 GSS 2015 (1st); EuroBasket 2017 (13th); GSS 2017 (2nd) 2017–2019 Zvezdan Mitrović 12–9 GSS 2019 (1st); World Cup 2019 (25th) 2019–2025 Boško Radović 27–24 EuroBasket 2022 (13th); GSS 2023 (4th); World Cup 2023 (11th);EuroBasket 2025 (20th) 2025–2026 Andrej Žakelj 2–2 None 2026–present Zvezdan Mitrović 2–2

Past rosters 2011 EuroBasket: finished 21st among 24 teams

4 Nikola Vučević, 5 Goran Jeretin, 6 Boris Bakić, 7 Vlado Šćepanović, 8 Miloš Borisov, 9 Vladimir Mihailović, 10 Omar Cook,11 Slavko Vraneš, 12 Milko Bjelica, 13 Vladimir Dragičević, 14 Nikola Peković, 15 Vladimir Dašić (Coach: Dejan Radonjić)

2013 EuroBasket: finished 17th among 24 teams

4 Nikola Vučević, 5 Bojan Bakić, 6 Suad Šehović, 7 Aleksa Popović, 8 Sead Šehović, 9 Blagota Sekulić, 10 Nikola Ivanović,11 Milko Bjelica, 12 Tyrese Rice, 13 Marko Popović, 14 Bojan Dubljević, 15 Vladimir Dašić (Coach: Luka Pavićević)

2017 EuroBasket: finished 13th among 24 teams

2 Tyrese Rice, 4 Nikola Vučević, 6 Suad Šehović, 7 Nikola Pavličević, 8 Dino Radončić, 11 Marko Todorović, 14 Bojan Dubljević,15 Filip Barović, 17 Vladimir Mihailović, 20 Nikola Ivanović, 21 Nemanja Vranješ, 22 Nemanja Đurišić (Coach: Bogdan Tanjević)

2019 FIBA World Cup: finished 25th among 32 teams

4 Nikola Vučević, 5 Derek Needham, 6 Suad Šehović, 7 Nemanja Radović, 8 Sead Šehović, 10 Aleksa Popović, 11 Marko Todorović,14 Bojan Dubljević, 20 Nikola Ivanović, 23 Dino Radončić, 30 Petar Popović, 51 Milko Bjelica (Coach: Zvezdan Mitrović)

2022 EuroBasket: finished 13th among 24 teams

0 Zoran Vučeljić, 2 Aleksa Ilić, 3 Vladimir Mihailović, 4 Nikola Pavličević, 8 Dino Radončić, 9 Marko Simonović, 11 Nemanja Radović,14 Bojan Dubljević (C), 19 Zoran Nikolić, 22 Igor Drobnjak, 30 Petar Popović, 55 Kendrick Perry (Coach: Boško Radović)

2023 FIBA World Cup: finished 11th among 32 teams

2 Aleksa Ilić, 3 Vladimir Mihailović, 4 Nikola Vučević, 7 Andrija Slavković, 8 Dino Radončić, 11 Nemanja Radović, 14 Bojan Dubljević (C),19 Marko Simonović, 20 Nikola Ivanović, 22 Igor Drobnjak, 30 Petar Popović, 55 Kendrick Perry (Coach: Boško Radović)

2025 EuroBasket: finished 20th among 24 teams

0 Kyle Allman, 3 Vladimir Mihailović, 4 Nikola Vučević (C), 7 Andrija Slavković, 8 Emir Hadžibegović, 9 Marko Simonović,10 Bojan Tomašević, 11 Zoran Vučeljić, 13 Đorđije Jovanović, 17 Balša Živanović, 19 Zoran Nikolić, 22 Igor Drobnjak(Coach: Boško Radović)

Records Largest home victory 102–58, – , 26 August 2009, Podgorica Largest away victory 37–100, – , 2 June 2017, Serravalle Largest home defeat 65–80, – , 20 August 2014, Podgorica Largest away defeat 99–60, – , 1 September 2017, Cluj-Napoca Longest winning streak 13 matches, (6 September 2008 – 14 August 2010) Longest losing streak 4 matches, (1 September 2011 – 5 September 2011; 1 September 2019 – 9 September 2019) Most scored points in a match 113, – 73–113 Least scored points in a match 55, – 71–55, – 68–55 Most conceded points in a match 104, – 104–100, (Friendly, 8 August 2023) Least conceded points in a match 37, – 37–100 Highest home attendance 5,500, – 72–62, 2 September 2012, Podgorica Highest away attendance 18,000, – 71–73, 18 August 2012, Belgrade

Head to head record

Below is the list of official performances of the Montenegro national basketball team against every single opponent.

Opponents220+78220+61220+46220+35110+6413-3202-20550+54110+4202-10211+33330+40440+75110+15220+22422+8413-26422-23624-66312-15523-49321+36990+150642+8211+8110+15633+6505-80330+51220+6110+13110+20422+14101-10431+12330+23110+63330+19440+114211+1404-81541+65413-143210101-12Total (44)1388850+711 Last updated: 31 August 2026

Kit Manufacturer Kappa (2008–2011) Peak (2011–2023) Dhika (2023–present)

Sponsor VOLI (2008–2011) diva (2012–2014) EPCG (2014–2015) m:tel (2015–present)

Montenegro men's national basketball team

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