The Austria men's national basketball team (German: Österreichische Basketballnationalmannschaft) represents Austria in international basketball competition. The team is controlled and organised by Basketball Austria.
Austria has competed at the EuroBasket six times throughout their history. Their best performance overall came at the 1951 tournament. However, the team is still seeking qualification to their first appearance on to the global stage at the FIBA World Cup.
History
EuroBasket 1947
Austria first competed in the European Basketball Championship at EuroBasket 1947, placing 12th of 14 teams. Initially, the team struggled and lost both of their preliminary round matches, along with their first semifinal round match. Then they defeated Albania to place second in the group and set up a match against the Netherlands for 11th and 12th place, which Austria lost after a long battle.
Austria national team before game
EuroBasket 1951
Austria made their second appearance on the continental stage at EuroBasket 1951 in Paris. The national team was eliminated from championship contention after finishing 1–3 in pool play and fourth in their group. They won all three of their first round classification games, however, advancing to the 9th–12th place classification semifinals. A loss to the Netherlands, but a win over West Germany propelled Austria into 11th place of the 18 teams in the tournament.
EuroBasket 1955
Austria's appearance at EuroBasket 1955 in Budapest began with a 2–2 showing in preliminary round play. This was good enough for third place in the pool, and Austria was pushed to classification play. There, they were able to win only 1 out of 4 games (the win coming against West Germany), placing fourth of the five teams in the group. Playing against Luxembourg and then Switzerland in classification for the 13th–16th place playoffs, Austria won both games to finish 13th of the 18 teams.
EuroBasket 1957
In Sofia for the EuroBasket 1957 competition, Austria was defeated three times in the preliminary round. Their 0–3 record put them last in their group and sent them to the classification pool. The team won two games there, finishing at a record of 2–5 to take an overall 14th place in the 16 team tournament.
Later years
Austria went on to qualify to the EuroBasket two more times in 1959 and 1977. But since then it has been a struggle for the national team to qualify for major international basketball tournaments.
3 Frankl, 4 Hans Bohman, 5 Eder, 6 Ganglberger, 7 Franz Gluck, 8 Herbert Haselbacher, 9 Paulin, 10 Konrad Pitsch, 12 Helmut Schmidt, 13 Richard Pollak, 15 Otto Schreiweiss, 16 Vostatek, 17 Hans Zsak, 29 Walter Ledl (Coach: ?)
3 Hans Zsak, 5 Gerhard Puschner, 6 Peter Vecernik, 7 Richard Pollak, 8 Herbert Haselbacher, 10 Walter Ledl, 13 Felix Schober, 15 Franz Gluck, 16 Hans Bohman, 17 Benno Binder, 18 Ewald Polansky, 19 Hans Praschl (Coach: Miodrag Stefanović)
3 Gunter Brousek, 4 Karl Hackl, 5 Franz Gebhard, 6 Oskar Doppes, 7 Ewald Polansky, 8 Helmut Schmidt, 9 Karl Thiering, 10 Helmut Schurer, 11 Baczinsky, 12 Johann Karall, 13 Karl Machek, 14 Peter Vecernik, 15 Karl Privoznik, 17 Alfred Probst (Coach: Janos Gerdov)
3 Nikolaus Waldingbrett, 4 Gunter Brousek, 5 Johann Karall, 6 Friedrich Walz, 7 Ewald Polansky, 8 Herwig Schon, 9 Werner Grohs, 10 Karl Thiering, 11 Alfred Waschkau, 12 Helmut Schurer, 14 Franz Vranitzky, 15 Alfred Probst (Coach: Herbert Haselbacher)
3 Friedrich Walz, 4 Peter Kotas, 5 Franz Havlicek, 6 Oskar Doppes, 7 Ewald Polansky, 8 Herwig Schon, 9 Walter Ledl, 10 Karl Thiering, 11 Alfred Probst, 12 Heinz Vybiral, 13 Ernst Tutschek, 15 Karl Privoznik (Coach: Herbert Haselbacher)
4 Wolfgang Vlk, 5 Friedrich Miklas, 6 Bernhard Slavicek, 7 Peter Bilik, 8 Peter Poiger, 9 Herbert Watzke, 10 Erich Tecka, 11 Werner Meisinger, 12 Helmut Zimmel, 13 Walter Fuchs, 14 Peter Wolf, 15 Herbert Haselbacher (Coach: Jan Hluchy)
