The 1951 FIBA European Championship, commonly called FIBA EuroBasket 1951, was the seventh FIBA EuroBasket regional basketball championship, held by the International Basketball Federation (FIBA).FIBA EuroBasket 1951 Eighteen national teams affiliated with FIBA entered the competition, a record number and more than twice the number that had competed two years earlier. The competition was hosted by France, who had taken second place at EuroBasket 1949, behind 1949 hosts Egypt. The Vélodrome d'hiver, Paris was the location of the event.EuroBasket History – The 50s

73 matches were held over the course of the tournament, including three walkovers caused when Romania withdrew after the draw.

Results

First round In the preliminary round, the 18 teams were split up into four groups. Two of the groups had five teams each, with the others having four each. Romania withdrew, leaving 2 groups of 5, 1 group of 4, and 1 group of 3. The top two teams in each group advanced to the quarterfinal round. The seven teams that had placed third and fourth moved into the classification rounds, leaving one more spot in that round two be contested in a head-to-head match between the two fifth-place teams.

Group A RankTeamPtsWLPFPADiff 1. 731233132+101 2. 731232146+86 3. 731172177−5 4. 513180214−34 5. 404114262−148

France49–37ItalyNetherlands50–48FranceFrance72–26LuxembourgFrance63–33SwitzerlandItaly53–28NetherlandsLuxembourg20–76ItalyItaly67–35SwitzerlandLuxembourg32–46NetherlandsSwitzerland44–48NetherlandsLuxembourg36–68Switzerland

Group B RankTeamPtsWLPFPADiff 1. 840312117+195 2. 731227154+73 3. 622175180−5 4. 513112200−88 5. 40494269−175

Soviet Union58–34TurkeyDenmark13–109Soviet UnionSoviet Union71–34AustriaFinland36–74Soviet UnionTurkey83–36DenmarkAustria18–50TurkeyTurkey60–42FinlandDenmark26–33AustriaFinland44–19DenmarkAustria27–53Finland

Group C RankTeamPtsWLPFPADiff 1. 63014770+77 2. 521121103+18 3. 41269158−89 4. (withdrew)00306−6

Greece38–68BulgariaPortugal35–81GreeceGreece2–0 (Awarded)RomaniaBulgaria77–32PortugalBulgaria2–0 (Awarded)RomaniaPortugal2–0 (Awarded)Romania

Group D RankTeamPtsWLPFPADiff 1. 63020881+127 2. 52120399+104 3. 412117157−40 4. 30368259−191

Czechoslovakia38–51BelgiumScotland18 – 103CzechoslovakiaCzechoslovakia62–30West GermanyBelgium87–25ScotlandWest Germany18–70BelgiumScotland25–69West Germany

Elimination game The two fifth-placed teams from the preliminary groups, Denmark and Luxembourg, played a single elimination game for the honor of being the eighth team in the consolation round. The game was perhaps the closest in Eurobasket history; it was tied at 45–45 with Peter Tatalls at the free throw line with 5 seconds left. Tatalls made the shot, putting Denmark ahead 46–45. Luxembourg moved the ball up to about half-court before attempting a shot just before time expired. The shot bounced off the rim, eliminating Luxembourg from the tournament and giving Denmark their first win of the tournament as they moved into the classification round to play for 9th–16th places.

Denmark46–45Luxembourg

Classification round 1 The first classification round was played in two round-robin groups. Teams advanced into the second classification round depending on their results in the first round—first and second place teams played in the 9th–12th places segment of classification round 2 while third and fourth place teams played for 13th to 16th places.

Group 1 RankTeamPtsWLPFPADiff 1. 630118102+16 2. 412132129+3 3. 412134136−2 4. 412122139−17

West Germany47–39PortugalAustria39–37West GermanySwitzerland51–48West GermanyPortugal31–43AustriaSwitzerland49–52PortugalSwitzerland34–36Austria

Group 2 RankTeamPtsWLPFPADiff 1. 630201119+82 2. 521162111+51 3. 41299158−59 4. 303101175−74

Finland66–52NetherlandsScotland32–73FinlandDenmark35–62FinlandNetherlands55–28ScotlandDenmark17–55NetherlandsDenmark47–41Scotland

Classification round 2

13th-16th place classification playoffs

9th-12th place classification playoffs

Quarterfinals The quarterfinal round was played in two round-robin groups. Teams advanced into the final round depending on their results in the first round—the top two teams advanced to the medals round, while third and fourth ranked teams played for 5th to 8th places.

Group A RankTeamPtsWLPFPADiff 1. 521149140+9 2. 521152142+10 3. 521125124+1 4. 303122142−20

Belgium41–51BulgariaTurkey38–32BelgiumFrance53–49BelgiumBulgaria52–45TurkeyFrance56–49BulgariaFrance40–42Turkey

Group B RankTeamPtsWLPFPADiff 1. 630175121+54 2. 521157127+30 3. 412140177−37 4. 303133180−47

Soviet Union60–42ItalyCzechoslovakia37–53Soviet UnionGreece42–62Soviet UnionItaly34–66CzechoslovakiaGreece51–64ItalyGreece40–54Czechoslovakia

Final round

5th-8th place classification playoffs

Classification 5–8 Italy48–36BelgiumTurkey42–36Greece

Classification 7/8 Belgium39–28Greece

Classification 5/6 Italy43–38Turkey

Medal Round: Bracket

Semifinals France50–59CzechoslovakiaSoviet Union72–54Bulgaria

Bronze-medal match France55–52Bulgaria

Championship Czechoslovakia44–45Soviet Union

Final standings

Team rosters 1. Soviet Union: Otar Korkia, Stepas Butautas, Joann Lõssov, Anatoly Konev, Ilmar Kullam, Heino Kruus, Alexander Moiseev, Justinas Lagunavičius, Anatoly Belov, Vasili Kolpakov, Yuri Larionov, Evgeni Nikitin, Viktor Vlasov, Oleg Mamontov (Coach: Stepan Spandaryan)

2. Czechoslovakia: Ivan Mrázek, Jiri Baumruk, Zdeněk Bobrovský, Miroslav Skerik, Jaroslav Šíp, Jan Kozák, Miroslav Baumruk, Karel Belohradsky, Miroslav Dostal, Jindrich Kinsky, Zoltan Krenicky, Jiri Matousek, Milos Nebuchla, Arnost Novak, Karel Sobota, Zdenek Rylich, Stanislav Vykydal (Coach: Josef Andrle)

3. France: André Buffiere, René Chocat, Jacques Dessemme, Louis Devoti, Jacques Freimuller, Robert Guillin, Robert Monclar, Marc Peironne, Marc Quiblier, Jean-Pierre Salignon, Pierre Thiolon, André Vacheresse, Jean Perniceni, Justy Specker (Coach: Robert Busnel)

4. Bulgaria: Georgi Georgiev, Stefan Bankov, Nejcho Nejchev, Vladimir Slavov, Ilija Asenov, Petar Shishkov, Kiril Semov, Konstantin Totev, Anton Kuzov, Gencho Rashkov, Ivan Vladimirov, Dimitar Popov, Metodi Tomovski (Coach: Veselin Temkov)

References

External links FIBA Europe EuroBasket 1951 FIBA article