2023 Serbia FIBA Basketball World Cup team

Serbia
	Flag of Serbia
President	Predrag Danilović
Head coach	Svetislav Pešić
Preliminary round	Group B Winners
Second round	Group I Runners-up
0Playoffs	0Runners-up
PIR leader	Bogdan Bogdanović 21.6
Scoring leader	Bogdan Bogdanović 19.1
Rebounding leader	Nikola Milutinov 8.4
Assists leader	Stefan Jović 5.6
Biggest win	+42; 105–63 China ; (26 August 2023)
Biggest defeat	–6; 77–83 Germany ; (10 September 2023)
Home	Away
	← 2022 EuroBasket
	All statistics correct as of July 24, 2023.

The 2023 Serbia FIBA Basketball World Cup team represented Serbia at the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup in Philippines, Japan and Indonesia.

Serbia qualified for the World Cup by taking the 2nd place in the European Second Round Group I.^[1] The team is coached by Svetislav Pešić, with assistant coaches Oliver Kostić, Marko Marinović, Saša Kosović, Ognjen Stojaković and Nenad Jakovljević. The Serbian team won the fifth place at the previous World Cup.

This was the 4th appearance of Serbia at the FIBA Basketball World Cup; however, FIBA considers Serbia as the successor team of FR Yugoslavia and Serbia and Montenegro who themselves qualified on three occasions. Serbia's best result is 2nd place in 2014; however, FIBA considers Serbia as the successor team of FR Yugoslavia who won 2 World Cups (1998, 2002).

Timeline

24 July: 20-man roster announced^[2]
28 July: The players gathering in Belgrade
1 August – 21 August: Exhibition games
24 August : Final 12-man roster announced
25 August – 10 September: 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup

Qualification

First round

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification
1	Latvia	6	5	1	475	422	+53	11	Second round (Group I)
2	Belgium	6	4	2	460	392	+68	10
3	Serbia	6	3	3	448	439	+9	9
4	Slovakia	6	0	6	376	506	−130	6

Source: FIBA
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Head-to-head results; 3) Points difference; 4) Points scored.

Second round

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification
1	Latvia	10	9	1	807	707	+100	19	2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup
2	Serbia	10	6	4	825	803	+22	16^[a]
3	Greece	10	6	4	775	764	+11	16^[a]
4	Turkey	10	4	6	782	742	+40	14^[b]
5	Belgium	10	4	6	679	717	−38	14^[b]
6	Great Britain	10	1	9	697	832	−135	11

Source: FIBA
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Head-to-head results; 3) Points difference; 4) Points scored.
Notes:

^ ^a ^b Serbia 192–191 Greece
^ ^a ^b Turkey 2–0 Belgium

Roster

Serbia men's national basketball team – 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup roster

Players

Coaches

Pos.	No.	Name	Age – Date of birth	Height	Club
C	3	Filip Petrušev	23 – (2000-04-15)15 April 2000	2.11 m (6 ft 11 in)	Philadelphia 76ers
PF	5	Nikola Jović	20 – (2003-06-09)9 June 2003	2.08 m (6 ft 10 in)	Miami Heat
SG	7	Bogdan Bogdanović (C)	31 – (1992-08-18)18 August 1992	1.96 m (6 ft 5 in)	Atlanta Hawks
SG	9	Vanja Marinković	26 – (1997-01-09)9 January 1997	1.98 m (6 ft 6 in)	Saski Baskonia
SF	13	Ognjen Dobrić	28 – (1994-10-27)27 October 1994	2.00 m (6 ft 7 in)	Virtus Bologna
C	14	Dušan Ristić	27 – (1995-11-25)25 November 1995	2.14 m (7 ft 0 in)	Lenovo Tenerife
SG	23	Marko Gudurić	28 – (1995-03-08)8 March 1995	1.96 m (6 ft 5 in)	Fenerbahçe Beko
PG	24	Stefan Jović	32 – (1990-11-03)3 November 1990	1.98 m (6 ft 6 in)	Basket Zaragoza
SF	27	Dejan Davidovac	28 – (1995-01-17)17 January 1995	2.03 m (6 ft 8 in)	Crvena zvezda
PF	28	Boriša Simanić	25 – (1998-03-20)20 March 1998	2.11 m (6 ft 11 in)	Basket Zaragoza
PG	30	Aleksa Avramović	28 – (1994-10-25)25 October 1994	1.92 m (6 ft 4 in)	Partizan Mozzart Bet
C	33	Nikola Milutinov	28 – (1994-12-30)30 December 1994	2.13 m (7 ft 0 in)	Olympiacos

Head coach

Svetislav Pešić^[3]

Assistant coach(es)

Legend

(C) Team captain
Club – describes last
club before the tournament
Age – describes age
on 25 August 2023

Earlier candidates

The following were candidates to make the team:

Earlier candidates
Player	Team	Added	Removed	Reason
Aleksej Pokuševski	Oklahoma City Thunder	24 July 2023^[2]	28 July 2023	Injured^[4]
Ognjen Jaramaz	Bayern Munich		31 July 2023	Injured^[5]
Nemanja Nedović	Crvena zvezda Meridianbet		11 August 2023	Withdrew^[6]
Alen Smailagić	Partizan Mozzart Bet		15 August 2023	Injured^[7]
Uroš Trifunović	Partizan Mozzart Bet		15 August 2023	Injured^[7]
Dušan Beslać	Vojvodina		16 August 2023	Roster cut^[8]^[9]
Nikola Topić	OKK Beograd		16 August 2023
Aleksa Radanov	Peristeri		22 August 2023

Staff

Exhibition games

Before the World Cup Serbia will play eight exhibition games. First set will include three closed games against Bosnia and Herzegovina and Poland in Belgrade on 1 and 3 August, and against Montenegro in Podgorica on 5 August. After them team will move to Greece in order to play in 2023 Acropolis of Athens Tournament against Greece on 8 August and Italy on 9 August. After returning from Greece Serbia will play another exhibition game in Belgrade, on 16 August, against Puerto Rico. At the end of August team will leave for China where they will play their last two exhibition games against China on 20 August and Brazil on 21 August.^[10]

1 August 2023

Serbia	vs.	Bosnia and Herzegovina
Played behind closed doors

Belgrade

3 August 2023

Serbia	vs.	Poland
Played behind closed doors

Belgrade

5 August 2023

Montenegro	vs.	Serbia
Canceled

Podgorica

2023 Acropolis International Basketball Tournament

8 August 2023

Report

Greece	64–71	Serbia
Scoring by quarter: 13–16, 22–23, 14–18, 15–14
Pts: Rogkavopoulos 19 Rebs: Mitoglou 10 Asts: Walkup 10		Pts: Bogdanović 15 Rebs: Milutinov 12 Asts: Bogdanović 5

O.A.C.A. Olympic Hall, Athens
Referees: Tsolakos, Somos, Tsimpouris

9 August 2023

Report

Italy	89–88	Serbia
Scoring by quarter: 19–32, 25–15, 26–23, 19–18
Pts: Fontecchio 13 Rebs: Polonara 11 Asts: Severini 5		Pts: N. Jović 18 Rebs: N. Jović 7 Asts: Gudurić 6

O.A.C.A. Olympic Hall, Athens
Referees: Papapetrou, Tziopanos, Agrafiotis

16 August 2023

Report

Serbia	110–75	Puerto Rico
Scoring by quarter: 26–13, 39–12, 24–21, 21–29
Pts: Dobrić 23 Rebs: N. Jović 8 Asts: S. Jović 11		Pts: Waters 11 Rebs: Romero 6 Asts: Thompson 4

Štark Arena, Belgrade
Attendance: 12,526
Referees: Glišić, Jevtović, Pešić

20 August 2023

Report

China	64–87	Serbia
Scoring by quarter: 12–23, 16–20, 23–22, 13–22
Pts: M. Hu 14 Rebs: Z. Wang, Q. Zhou 6 Asts: J. Zhao 6		Pts: Bogdanović 19 Rebs: Petrušev 8

Shenzhen

21 August 2023

Brazil	85–89	Serbia
Scoring by quarter: 20–21, 18–24, 21–19, 26–25
Pts: Benite 17 Rebs: Caboclo 8 Asts: Raul Neto 7		Pts: Petrušev 17 Rebs: Petrušev 5 Asts: S. Jović 4

Shenzhen

Tournament

The 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup is the 19th tournament of the FIBA Basketball World Cup championship that is organized by FIBA.

Preliminary round

Serbia was drawn into Group B with South Sudan, China, and the Puerto Rico and will play all of its group phase matches in Quezon City at the Araneta Coliseum from 26 to 30 August.

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification
1	Serbia	3	3	0	314	223	+91	6	Second round
2	Puerto Rico	3	2	1	285	279	+6	5	Second round
3	South Sudan	3	1	2	268	285	−17	4	17th–32nd classification
4	China	3	0	3	221	301	−80	3	17th–32nd classification

Source: FIBA
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers

Results by round

Round	1	2	3
Ground	H	A	A
Result	W	W	W
Position	1	1	1

Last updated: 30 August 2023.
Source: Competitive matches
Ground: A = Away; H = Home; R = Rest. Result: L = Loss; W = Win; R = Rest; P = Postponed.

China

This will be the first game between Serbia and China in the World Cup. The Serbians won two of the three Olympic Games matches: 1996 as Yugoslavia and 2016 as Serbia. The Chinese won in the 2004 Olympics.

26 August 2023
20:00 (UTC+8)

Boxscore

Serbia	105–63	China
Scoring by quarter: 25–14, 30–20, 22–13, 28–16
Pts: Bogdanović, Marinković 14 Rebs: Milutinov, Ristić 6 Asts: Gudurić, S. Jović 6		Pts: Zhao R. 17 Rebs: Cui, Zhou 5 Asts: Zhao J. 6

Araneta Coliseum, Quezon City
Attendance: 7,292
Referees: Yohan Rosso (FRA), Andris Aunkrogers (LAT), Rabah Noujaim (LBN)

Puerto Rico

This will be the second game between Puerto Rico and Serbia in the World Cup. The Serbians won their last meeting in 2019 and also won in the final of the 2016 FIBA Men's Olympic Qualifying Tournament and in the semi-finals of the 2020 edition of the said tournament.

28 August 2023
20:00

Boxscore

Puerto Rico	77–94	Serbia
Scoring by quarter: 15–27, 12–30, 31–18, 19–19
Pts: Piñeiro 14 Rebs: Conditt 11 Asts: Waters 9		Pts: Bogdanović, N. Jović 17 Rebs: Milutinov 15 Asts: S. Jović 6

Araneta Coliseum, Quezon City
Attendance: 2,944
Referees: Yohan Rosso (FRA), Leandro Zalazar (ARG), Carlos Peralta (ECU)

South Sudan

This will be the first competitive game between South Sudan and Serbia.

30 August 2023
16:00

Boxscore

South Sudan	83–115	Serbia
Scoring by quarter: 20–30, 19–26, 26–27, 18–32
Pts: Jok 21 Rebs: Omot 5 Asts: Jones 6		Pts: N. Jović 25 Rebs: Milutinov 10 Asts: S. Jović 13

Araneta Coliseum, Quezon City
Referees: Yohan Rosso (FRA), Kerem Baki (TUR), Rabah Noujaim (LBN)

Second round

Serbia qualified for the Group I where it will play against first two teams from preliminary round group A Dominican Republic and Italy and will play all of its group phase matches in Quezon City at the Araneta Coliseum from 1 to 3 September.

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification
1	Italy	5	4	1	404	370	+34	9^[a]	Quarter-finals
2	Serbia	5	4	1	502	380	+122	9^[a]	Quarter-finals
3	Puerto Rico	5	3	2	444	449	−5	8^[b]
4	Dominican Republic	5	3	2	425	444	−19	8^[b]

Source: FIBA
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers
Notes:

^ ^a ^b Italy 1–0 Serbia
^ ^a ^b Puerto Rico 1–0 Dominican Republic

Results by round

Round	1	2
Ground	H	A
Result	L	W
Position	1	2

Last updated: 3 September 2023.
Source: Competitive matches
Ground: A = Away; H = Home; R = Rest. Result: L = Loss; W = Win; R = Rest; P = Postponed.

Italy

1 September 2023
16:00

Boxscore

Serbia	76–78	Italy
Scoring by quarter: 19–23, 23–17, 20–19, 14–19
Pts: Bogdanović 18 Rebs: Milutinov 12 Asts: Bogdanović 4		Pts: Fontecchio 30 Rebs: Fontecchio 7 Asts: Pajola 6

Araneta Coliseum, Quezon City
Referees: Antonio Conde (ESP), Luis Castillo (ESP), Martin Vulić (CRO)

Dominican Republic

3 September 2023
20:00

Boxscore

Dominican Republic	79–112	Serbia
Scoring by quarter: 15–29, 20–27, 18–31, 26–25
Pts: Towns 25 Rebs: Towns 7 Asts: Montero 4		Pts: Bogdanović 20 Rebs: S. Jović 6 Asts: S. Jović 7

Araneta Coliseum, Quezon City
Attendance: 6,616
Referees: Yohan Rosso (FRA), Luis Castillo (ESP), Gatis Saliņš (LAT)

Final round

Quarterfinal

This was the second game between Lithuania and Serbia in the World Cup. The Lithuanians won the first meeting in 2010. The Lithuanians also won in the semi-finals of EuroBasket 2015, which was the last competitive game between the two teams.

5 September 2023
16:45

Boxscore

Lithuania	68–87	Serbia
Scoring by quarter: 25–24, 13–25, 17–24, 13–14
Pts: Sedekerskis 14 Rebs: Sedekerskis 9 Asts: Jokubaitis 9		Pts: Bogdanović 21 Rebs: Petrušev 6 Asts: Gudurić 6

Mall of Asia Arena, Pasay
Attendance: 6,223
Referees: Omar Bermúdez (MEX), Mārtiņš Kozlovskis (LAT), Johnny Batista (PUR)

Semifinal

This was the first competitive game between Serbia and Canada.

8 September 2023
16:45

Boxscore

Serbia	95–86	Canada
Scoring by quarter: 23–15, 29–24, 23–24, 20–23
Pts: Bogdanović 23 Rebs: Milutinov 10 Asts: S. Jović 5		Pts: Barrett 23 Rebs: five players 3 Asts: Gilgeous-Alexander 9

Mall of Asia Arena, Pasay
Attendance: 8,630
Referees: Yohan Rosso (FRA), Julio Anaya (PAN), Manuel Mazzoni (ITA)

Final

This was the second game between Germany and Serbia in the World Cup. The Germans won the first meeting in 2010. The Germans also went 2–0 in their head-to-head matchups in the first round of the 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup European Qualifiers.

10 September 2023
20:40

Boxscore

Germany	83–77	Serbia
Scoring by quarter: 23–26, 24–21, 22–10, 14–20
Pts: Schröder 28 Rebs: Voigtmann 8 Asts: Voigtmann 3		Pts: Avramović 21 Rebs: N. Jović 8 Asts: Bogdanović 5

Mall of Asia Arena, Pasay
Attendance: 12,022
Referees: Roberto Vázquez (PUR), Omar Bermúdez (MEX), Gatis Saliņš (LAT)

Statistics

Player statistics

Legend
GP	Games played	GS	Games started	MPG	Minutes per game
FG%	Field-goal percentage	3FG%	3-point field-goal percentage	FT%	Free-throw percentage
RPG	Rebounds per game	APG	Assists per game	SPG	Steals per game
BPG	Blocks per game	PPG	Points per game	EF	PIR per game

Player	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3FG%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG	EF
Aleksa Avramović	7	0	17.3	.636	.263	.880	1.4	2.1	1.6	0.3	11.3	11.9
Bogdan Bogdanović	8	8	27.8	.644	.423	.853	3.3	4.6	2.1	0.4	19.1	21.6
Dejan Davidovac	8	0	15.3	.750	.273	.375	2.6	1.4	1.3	0.4	3.8	6.9
Ognjen Dobrić	8	7	20.4	.645	.192	.800	2.0	0.8	1.0	0.3	8.4	7.1
Marko Gudurić	8	0	17.1	.812	.412	.864	2.1	3.3	0.4	0.1	8.3	10.6
Nikola Jović	8	8	23.9	.704	.423	.769	3.0	2.6	0.4	0.1	10.1	12.0
Stefan Jović	8	8	21.6	.583	.278	.571	2.0	5.6	1.1	0.0	5.9	10.0
Vanja Marinković	8	1	16.0	.545	.452	.889	1.3	0.5	0.6	0.1	7.8	7.3
Nikola Milutinov	8	8	24.5	.661	.000	.793	8.4	2.3	0.6	0.6	12.1	19.5
Filip Petrušev	6	0	13.8	.762	.600	.800	3.5	0.8	0.2	0.5	8.2	10.8
Dušan Ristić	5	0	8.7	.556	.833	.333	3.0	0.0	0.2	0.2	5.4	5.8
Boriša Simanić	3	0	6.5	1.000	.000	.500	1.0	0.3	0.0	0.3	1.0	2.0
Total	8	8	200.0	.667	.377	.783	34.1	23.6	9.1	2.9	95.1	117.9

Last updated: 10 September 2023.
Source: 2023 Serbia team

References

^ "Mukama je kraj, sad ide ono pravo: Srbija na Mundobasketu!". mozzartsport.com. Retrieved 28 July 2023.
^ ^a ^b "Окупио се тим Србије: Селектор Пешић одредио списак кандидата за национални тим на Светском првенству 2023". kss.rs (in Serbian). Retrieved 28 July 2023.
^ "Team roster: Serbia" (PDF). FIBA. 25 August 2023.
^ "Srbija ostala bez Pokuševskog". mozzartsport.com (in Serbian). Retrieved 28 July 2023.
^ "Jović stigao u Pešićevu četu, ali zato Jaramaz otpao". mozzartsport.com (in Serbian). Retrieved 31 July 2023.
^ "Немања Недовић неће бити део тима Србије на Светском првенству". kss.rs (in Serbian). Retrieved 11 August 2023.
^ "Србија у среду дочекује Порторико". kss.rs (in Serbian). Retrieved 15 August 2023.
^ "Србија убедљива против Порторика". kss.rs (in Serbian). Retrieved 15 August 2023.
^ "Pešić odredio 12 igrača za Mundobasket". mozzartsport.com (in Serbian). Retrieved 22 August 2023.
^ "Put ka Mundobasketu: Osam utakmica, prilika za osvetu Italijanima, dva rivala iz grupe i novi plejmejker Zvezde". mozzartsport.com (in Serbian). Retrieved 28 July 2023.

External links

Official website
2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup Profile at FIBA Website

[table_hth_SRB0.94108508431403-3] Serbia 192–191 Greece

[table_hth_TUR0.94108508431403-4] Turkey 2–0 Belgium

[table_hth_ITA0.73129246557657-13] Italy 1–0 Serbia

[table_hth_PUR0.73129246557657-14] Puerto Rico 1–0 Dominican Republic

[1] "Mukama je kraj, sad ide ono pravo: Srbija na Mundobasketu!". mozzartsport.com. Retrieved 28 July 2023.

[20-man-roster-2] "Окупио се тим Србије: Селектор Пешић одредио списак кандидата за национални тим на Светском првенству 2023". kss.rs (in Serbian). Retrieved 28 July 2023.

[5] "Team roster: Serbia" (PDF). FIBA. 25 August 2023.

[6] "Srbija ostala bez Pokuševskog". mozzartsport.com (in Serbian). Retrieved 28 July 2023.

[7] "Jović stigao u Pešićevu četu, ali zato Jaramaz otpao". mozzartsport.com (in Serbian). Retrieved 31 July 2023.

[8] "Немања Недовић неће бити део тима Србије на Светском првенству". kss.rs (in Serbian). Retrieved 11 August 2023.

[9] "Србија у среду дочекује Порторико". kss.rs (in Serbian). Retrieved 15 August 2023.

[10] "Србија убедљива против Порторика". kss.rs (in Serbian). Retrieved 15 August 2023.

[11] "Pešić odredio 12 igrača za Mundobasket". mozzartsport.com (in Serbian). Retrieved 22 August 2023.

[exhibition-games-12] "Put ka Mundobasketu: Osam utakmica, prilika za osvetu Italijanima, dva rivala iz grupe i novi plejmejker Zvezde". mozzartsport.com (in Serbian). Retrieved 28 July 2023.

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v t e Serbia men's national basketball team
Competing since 2006 Formerly part of Serbia and Montenegro and Yugoslavia
History	All-time roster Rivalry with Croatia 2007 EuroBasket 2008 EuroBasket qualification 2009 EuroBasket 2010 World Championship 2011 EuroBasket 2012 EuroBasket qualification 2013 EuroBasket 2014 World Cup 2015 EuroBasket 2016 Summer Olympics qualification 2016 Summer Olympics 2017 EuroBasket 2017–2019 World Cup qualification 2019 World Cup 2020–2021 EuroBasket qualification 2021 Summer Olympics qualification 2021–2023 World Cup qualification 2022 EuroBasket 2023 World Cup 2024 Summer Olympics 2024–2025 EuroBasket qualification
Head coaches	Zoran Slavnić (2007) Dušan Ivković (2008–2013) Aleksandar Đorđević (2013–2019) Igor Kokoškov (2019–2021) Svetislav Pešić (2021–)
Administration	Predrag Danilović (President) Nenad Krstić (Vice-president) Zlatko Bolić (Secretary General) Dragan Tarlać (Director)
Major tournaments	2007 EuroBasket 2009 EuroBasket 2010 World Championship 2011 EuroBasket 2013 EuroBasket 2014 World Cup 2015 EuroBasket 2016 Summer Olympics 2017 EuroBasket 2019 World Cup 2022 EuroBasket 2023 World Cup 2024 Summer Olympics
Notable matches	2009 EuroBasket final 2014 World Cup final 2017 EuroBasket final 2023 World Cup final
Medals (6)	Silver medals 2009 EuroBasket 2014 World Cup 2016 Summer Olympics 2017 EuroBasket 2023 World Cup Bronze medal 2024 Summer Olympics
Youth teams	U-20 U-19 U-18 U-17 U-16
1992–2006	All-time roster Gold medals 1995 EuroBasket 1997 EuroBasket 1998 World Cup 2001 EuroBasket 2002 World Cup Silver medal 1996 Summer Olympics Bronze medal 1999 EuroBasket
Run by Basketball Federation of Serbia