EuroBasket

EuroBasket, previously referred to as the European Basketball Championship, is the main basketball competition contested biennially by the men's national teams governed by FIBA Europe, the European zone within the International Basketball Federation. The championship was first held in 1935.

History
The first EuroBasket competition was held in Switzerland in 1935 which was held in Switzerland as FIBA was created in that country only three years earlier. In the first competition, Spain and Portugal had to play in a qualifier to see who would make it into the main draw. In the end, Switzerland would take out there only EuroBasket to date when they defeated Spain 24-22 in the final. The next two competitions would see Lithuania take out the trophy in an eight-team competition.

After the Second World War, the competition saw the rise of the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia which first appeared in 1947 with the Soviet Union taking out the title in Czechoslovakia. The next edition saw the only edition that was played outside of Europe with Egypt hosting and coming runner-up to the French who would take out the title. 1951 would see the competition expand to an eighteen team competition with no less than four debuting in the competition. After two round of group stage matches, the final would see the Soviet Union take out the title as they defeated Czechoslovakia in the final by only three points. The Soviet Union would win the following tournament on their home court winning every single game in the progress. 1955 saw the competition introduce a 30 second clock which would change the way the game was played. After losing to Italy in the opening round, it paved the way for Hungary to take out the title for the first time finishing ahead of Bulgaria who also claimed their first medal.

1957 saw the format of the competition change with another round introduce in between the first and final round. This was mainly to reduce the final round to only four teams compared to the eight that had been played in the previous two editions. The Soviet Union in the end would take their fourth gold medal finishing on top in the final round ahead of Czechoslovakia and Bulgaria