TALLINN (Estonia) - Estonia have locked up qualification for FIBA EuroBasket 2025 with one game to go. That means the up-and-coming basketball country has reached the continent's flagship event three of the last four editions.
Estonia have begun developing more and more talent and those improved players are really starting to pay dividends as the Baltic nation reached back-to-back Final Rounds - and seventh overall.
Estonia remained top of the standings in Group H after picking up a win over North Macedonia, taking their record to 4-1, putting them out of reach of the 1-4 North Macedonia.
How they qualified
Gameday 1: MKD 69-74 EST Gameday 2: EST 65-59 LTU Gameday 3: POL 78-82 EST Gameday 4: EST 86-88 POL Gameday 5: EST 84-65 MKD
Remaining fixtures
Gameday 6: LTU vs EST
Qualifiers heroes
The wins in the second and third window are all the more impressive considering Jukka Toijala left his post as head coach from the first window and was replaced by his former assistant Heiko Rannula.
The team has excelled with good balance. Janari Joesaar, Kristian Kullamae and Siim-Sander Vene have been the leading trio, but others have contributed with games in double figure scoring as well.
After missing the previous window, it was nice to see Maik-Kalev Kotsar back with the team, as the big man can surely be the difference maker when FIBA EuroBasket 2025 tips off in August.
History
Estonia have now reached the FIBA EuroBasket for a seventh time. They played in the competition in 1937 and 1939 and then became part of the Soviet Union. Estonia made it to EuroBasket in their first possible opportunity upon independence in 1993.
Estonia, however, did not return until 2001 and then were absent from the event until 2015. After missing the event in 2017, Estonia were back in 2022 and now have made it back-to-back.
They took fifth place in both 1937 and 1939 and were sixth in 1993.
Best finish: 5th in 1937, 1939
Tickets
FIBA