What friendly games Greece, Group C teams will play before EuroBasket? / News - Basketnews.com

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With less than one month left before the EuroBasket 2022, the Mediolanum Forum arena in Assago will be one of the competition's hosts. The home of Olimpia Milano will host Group C, featuring Italy, Greece, Croatia, Estonia, Ukraine, and Great Britain.

Unlike groups A and B, which start on September 1, groups C and D start on September 2 and run through September 8. The four best teams from each group advance to the final stage in Berlin.

Greece

Traditionally, for most people in Greece, August means hitting the beaches and enjoying some time off. However, that's not the case for the Greek national team, which has a very special assignment this year since the EuroBasket 2022 is just around the corner for Dimitris Itoudis and his players.

Before Greece travels to Milan, which will be their starting point in the tournament's group phase, they have a full month of preparation and friendly games ahead of them. The team's training camp kicked off on August 1.

Dimitris Itoudis, who was appointed to the head coach position only four months ago, has invited 23 players.

Full roster:

Nick Calathes Kostas Papanikolaou Kostas Sloukas Giannis Antetokounmpo Giorgos Papagiannis Thanasis Antetokounmpo Ioannis Papapetrou Giannoulis Larentzakis Dimitris Agravanis Leonidas Kaselakis Lefteris Bochoridis Kostas Antetokounmpo Michalis Lountzis Tyler Dorsey Panagiotis Kalaitzakis Dimitris Moraitis Nikos Chougkaz Konstantinos Gontikas Giannis Kouzeloglou Alex Antetokounmpo Lefteris Mantzoukas Omiros Netzipoglou Giorgos Tanoulis

Greece's prep games tip-off on August 9, when the 'Blue and White' squad hosts Spain at the OAKA arena (18:00 CEST). Two days later, the two teams will lock horns again in Madrid (19:30 CEST).

Greece will also host the traditional Acropolis Tournament, held before every major competition, from 17 through 19 August. The tournament's lineup includes Georgia, Poland, and Turkey. It will take place at OAKA, but the exact schedule is still to be released.

Nevertheless, the two-time continental champs, who are in the hunt for their first medal since 2009, will draw the curtain on their pre-EuroBasket obligations with two important official games for the 2023 FIBA World Cup qualifiers.

On August 25, they will be hosted by Serbia in Belgrade, while three days later, they will play Belgium in Athens.

Here's the complete schedule of the Greek national team's scrimmages and official games in August:

August 9, 18:00 CET: Greece 86:70 Spain (Friendly game in Athens, Greece) August 11, 19:30 CET: Spain 87:80 Greece (Friendly game in Madrid, Spain) August 17, 20:00 CET: Greece 101:78 Poland (Friendly tournament in Athens, Greece) August 18, 20:00 CET: Greece 86:70 Georgia (Friendly tournament in Athens, Greece) August 19, 20:00 CET: Greece vs. Turkey (Friendly tournament in Athens, Greece) August 25, 20:00 CET: Serbia vs. Greece (2023 FIBA World Cup Qualifiers) August 28, 19:00 CET: Greece vs. Belgium (2023 FIBA World Cup Qualifiers)

Italy

The training camp in Pinzolo, to which coach Gianmarco Pozzecco has summoned 17 athletes, lasts from August 3-10.

Danilo Gallinari and Nicolo Melli are the two returning star players, re-joining the squad after the Tokyo Olympics.

Full roster:

Amedeo Della Valle Marco Spissu Niccolo Mannion Paul Biligha Stefano Tonut Danilo Gallinari Nicolo Melli Simone Fontecchio Amedeo Tessitori Giampaolo Ricci Tommaso Baldasso Achille Polonara Alessandro Pajola Luigi Datome

After the training camp in Trentino, the team will move to Bologna to face France in the first summer friendly (Friday 12 August, Unipol Arena at 20.30).

Then the trip to Montpellier to return the visit to the French national team and the trip to the tournament in Hamburg (semi-final against Serbia on August 19 and closing match against Germany or the Czech Republic on August 20).

Before the debut at the EuroBasket, there is an away match against Ukraine (venue to be defined) on 24 August and a home game against Georgia on 27 August at the PalaLeonessa in Brescia.

Italy's games:

August 12, 20:30 CET: Italy 77:78 France (Friendly game in Bologna, Italy) August 16, 20:30 CET: France 100:68 Italy (Friendly game in Montpellier, France) August 19, 18:00 CET: Italy vs. Serbia (Friendly tournament in Hamburg, Germany) August 20, TBD: Italy vs. Germany/Czech Republic (Friendly tournament in Hamburg, Germany) August 24, 17:30 CET: Ukraine vs. Italy (2023 FIBA World Cup Qualifiers) August 27, 20:30 CET: Italy vs. Georgia (2023 FIBA World Cup Qualifiers)

Croatia

Croatia starts preparation on August 3 in Opatija, but NBA players Bojan Bogdanovic and Ivica Zubac can join only on August 8.

The new list of 16 players who will prepare for the 2022 EuroBasket, as well as the qualification matches for the 2025 tournament, includes the following:

Roko Rogic Lovro Gnjidic Ivan Ramljak Goran Filipovic Roko Prkacin Mario Hezonja Toni Perkovic Karlo Matkovic Mateo Dreznjak Krunoslav Simon Dominik Mavra Pavle Marcinkovic Bojan Bogdanovic Ivica Zubac Dario Saric Jaleen Smith

Before the EuroBasket itself, Croatia must also play two qualification matches for the 2025 EuroBasket, which will take place in Cyprus, Finland, and Latvia.

As Croatia have been eliminated from the 2023 World Cup, they became one of the two 2022 EuroBasket participants (the other one being Poland) to be placed in the second qualifying round ahead of the next European tourney.

Croatia was drawn into a group with Poland, Switzerland, and Austria. Hence, as announced by the federation, the team's schedule includes four prep games and two official outings.

August 13, 17:30 CET: Bulgaria 68:98 Croatia (Friendly game in Pardubice, Czech Republic) August 14, 17:30 CET: Czech Republic 95:83 Croatia (Friendly game in Pardubice, Czech Republic) August 18, 19:00 CET: Croatia 84:64 Hungary (Friendly game in Opatija, Croatia) August 20, 20:15 CET: Slovenia vs. Croatia (Friendly game in Celje, Slovenia) August 25, 18:30 CET: Poland vs. Croatia (EuroBasket 2025 Pre-Qualifiers) August 28, 20:00 CET: Croatia vs. Switzerland (EuroBasket 2025 Pre-Qualifiers)

Great Britain

Great Britain will look to cement a strong start to the FIBA 2023 World Cup Second Qualifying Round in August when they play guests to Belgium and then return to Newcastle to face Latvia at the Vertu Motors Arena.

Great Britain was the last team to announce the preliminary roster for the upcoming fights in both international tournaments.

No. Player Team 1 Amin Adamu Montana State University 2 Jamell Anderson Manchester Giants 3 Kavell Bigby-Williams Indios de San Francisco 4 Dan Clark Manchester Giants 5 Ashley Hamilton Montreal Alliance 6 Myles Hesson Saga Ballooners 7 Kyle Johnson Hamilton Honey Badgers 8 Sacha Killeya-Jones Hapoel Gilboa Galil 9 Dwayne Lautier-Ogunleye Heroes Den Bosch 10 Callum Lawson Valur 11 Ben Mockford Lyon 12 Luke Nelson ESSM Le Portel 13 Teddy Okereafor Cheshire Phoenix 14 Gabe Olaseni Darussafaka Istanbul 15 Tarik Phillip San Pablo Burgos 16 Kareem Queeley San Pablo Burgos 17 Jacob Round CB Zamora 18 Ovie Soko Shiga Lakestars 19 Mo Soluade CB Coruna 20 Devon van Oostrum Club Melilla Baloncesto 21 Carl Wheatle Pistoia 22 Patrick Whelan Leicester Riders 23 Jordan Williams London Lions 24 Akwasi Yeboah Saint Chamond Basket

No friendly matches have been announced as part of the preparatory plan for the national team as only the World Cup Qualifiers matches are being mentioned before EuroBasket. The latter of the two games will also serve as the team's final outing on home soil before they venture to Milan.

25 August, 20:30 CET: Belgium vs. Great Britain (2023 FIBA World Cup Qualifiers) 28 August, 19:00 CET: Great Britain vs. Latvia (2023 FIBA World Cup Qualifiers)

Ukraine

Since July 28, the Ukraine national team has started their preparation in Riga, where practices began. Both of the squad's NBA players, Svyatoslav Mykhailiuk and Alex Len, are expected to appear 28 days before the EuroBasket.

Overall, 15 players were invited to the first gathering.

Full roster:

Bohdan Blizniuk Viacheslav Bobrov Volodimir Gerun Artem Kovalov Pavlo Krutous Alex Len Denis Lukashov Sviatoslav Mikhailiuk Artem Pustoviy Issuf Sanon Ilya Sidorov Dmitro Skapintsev Ivan Tkachenko Andrii Voinalovich Vitaly Zotov

Before taking on Italy in Riga on August 24 and Iceland on August 27 in Reykjavik for the second round of the 2023 World Cup Qualifiers, Ukraine will play three friendlies.

They will travel to Istanbul to participate in a tournament along with the host team and Poland, while another game against Finland will take place a few days later.

Full schedule:

August 8, Riga (Latvia): Ukraine 112:78 Lithuanian students August 11, 19:00 CET: Turkey96:70Ukraine (Friendly tournament in Istanbul, Turkey) August 12, 16:40 CET: Ukraine 88:60 Poland (Friendly tournament in Istanbul, Turkey) August 13, 19:00 CET: Slovenia 86:82 Ukraine (Friendly tournament in Istanbul, Turkey) August 18, 17:30 CET: Finland 97:94 Ukraine (Friendly game in Helsinki, Finland) August 24, 17:30 CET: Ukraine vs. Italy (2023 FIBA World Cup Qualifiers) August 27, 22:00 CET: Iceland vs. Ukraine (2023 FIBA World Cup Qualifiers)

Estonia

Estonia head coach Jukka Toijala announced a preliminary roster that includes 18 players.

Sten Sock Kerr Kriisa Siim-Markus Post Kristian Kullamae Mart Rosenthal Martin Dorbek Robert Valge Janari Joesaar Henry Drell Sander Raieste Artur Kononchuk Gregor Hermet Siim-Sander Vene Kaspar Treier Christian Kitsing Maik-Kalev Kotsar Matthias Tass Rauno Nurger

Estonia will face Lithuania in back-to-back prep games on August 4 and 7. From August 12 to 14, they will be the hosts of a tournament welcoming Belgium, Bosnia, and Herzegovina.

Right after that, Estonia will travel to Riga to square off with Latvia in their last prep game.

On August 25, they face reigning EuroBasket champs Slovenia in Celje, while three days later, they will host the Finnish national team in Saku Suurhalli. Both matches belong to the second round of the 2023 FIBA ​​World Cup Qualifiers.

The complete schedule stands as follows:

August 4, 18:30 CET: Lithuania 84:70 Estonia (Friendly game in Klaipeda, Lithuania) August 7, 18:30 CET: Lithuania 90:88 Estonia (Friendly game in Alytus, Lithuania) August 12, 18:00 CET: Estonia 79:66 Belgium (Friendly tournament in Tartu, Estonia) August 14, 16:00 CET: Bosnia and Herzegovina 89:102 Estonia (Friendly tournament in Tartu, Estonia) August 19, 18:00 CET: Latvia vs. Estonia (Friendly game in Riga, Latvia) August 25, 20:30 CET: Slovenia vs. Estonia (2023 FIBA World Cup Qualifiers) August 28, 17:00 CET: Estonia vs. Finland (2023 FIBA World Cup Qualifiers) Subscribe to BN+ and get access to exclusive content.