Team in focus: Finland

HELSINKI (FIBA Basketball World Cup) - The 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup is just around the corner. In the lead-up to the biggest international basketball event, we take an individual look at all 24 teams.

Country: Finland
FIBA bwin Ranking Men: No. 39
Last participation in the FIBA Basketball World Cup: No past appearances
Best result in the history of the FIBA Basketball World Cup: No past appearances
Result in qualifying tournament for 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup: 9th place at EuroBasket 2013 (3 wins 4 defeats; Finland received wild card)

Basketball's popularity in Finland is at an all-time high, and much of the credit has to go to the performances of the men's national team.

At consecutive EuroBaskets, in Lithuania (2011) and Slovenia (2013), the Wolfpack have overcome the doubters and progressed from the opening round.

Last year, they did something else that was extremely important.

Finland, though already eliminated from contention for a spot in the Quarter-Finals, played hard in their last game and throttled Slovenia in front of a partisan crowd in Ljubljana, 92-76.

The Finnish players were not the only ones to make headlines in 2013, but the fans, too. Many travelled and supported them to create a wonderful atmosphere.

After signing off from the competition with an impressive victory, coach Henrik Dettmann and the federation received the good news that they had been selected as one of four national sides to receive wild cards.

So what can Bilbao, which is where Finland will play in Group C against the United States, Ukraine, New Zealand, the Dominican Republic and Turkey, expect from the surprising team from the north of Europe?

The Finns want to play, Dettmann has said, modern, fast and attractive basketball.

The side has plenty of players who will launch shots from long range, with two of the most dangerous Petteri Koponen and Mikko Koivisto.

Koponen, who often brings the ball up the court, is probably the team's most explosive player but the advantage that Finland has is that many of its players will launch attempts from the arc.

On the inside is the best player in the history of Finnish basketball, Hanno Mottola.

Having retired from the national team several years ago, Mottola realized he still had a tremendous hunger to play basketball for his country and came back into the fold.

He has successfully battled back from a knee injury that cut short his EuroBasket experience last year.

Gerald Lee,Tuukka Kotti and Kimmo Muurinen are others who will man the low post and ensure toughness.

Joining the team this summer for the first time is Erik Murphy, an American-born big man who spent most of his rookie campaign in the NBA in 2013-14 with the Chicago before finishing with the Utah Jazz.

A 2.08m power forward whose mother hails from Finland, he has made a smooth transition to international basketball this summer. He adds both size and another perimeter shooter to the line-up for Dettmann, a coach who is thrilled to be back in the biggest and most important hoops tournament.

Dettmann led Germany to the bronze medal 12 years ago at the FIBA World Championship in Indianapolis.

FIBA