Georgia’s basketball squad will play Finland in the quarter-final stage of EuroBasket 2025. The match kicks off at 6 p.m., with live coverage provided by the Georgian Public Broadcaster’s First Channel.
Georgia
For the Georgians, this is already a historic EuroBasket campaign: we’ve never reached the quarter-finals before.
Captain Tornike Shengelia says: “It’s a historic achievement, something to celebrate, but we’re not planning to rest on our laurels.”
Both Tornike and every member of the squad are fully aware of how vital the upcoming match against Finland is and what achieving victory would truly signify. Two more wins guarantee a medal. We have never been this close to the podium.
Georgia’s national team conducted an open training session on September 9, during which it was evident that the team was in high spirits, displaying both enthusiasm and a fighting spirit. This comes as no surprise whatsoever; Georgians are remarkably good at mobilising themselves. Sixty years ago, the legendary Latvian coach Alexander Gomelsky remarked that Georgians possessed an almost superhuman capacity for concentration and strength when it comes to a decisive match. That’s how it was against Spain, France, and let’s hope that’s how it will be against Finland too.
Tactics
Finland’s national team is an awkward opponent for us: they have always tried to unsettle Georgia’s squad with three-pointers and have won all four matches precisely from the perimeter. We have only met once at a European Championship (in 2011), and they sank 13 three-pointers against us then.
The same thing happened to Serbia; Finland coolly knocked down three-pointers, sinking 15 and securing victory.
For the Serbians, this was somewhat unexpected; they weren’t prepared for it and never quite worked out what was happening until the end. Georgia, however, knows that Finland shoots three-pointers from every point on the court because they have no other chance of winning.
Finland has Lauri Markkanen, an NBA-level forward, but neither Markkanen nor the Muurinen-Lehtonen duo will gain an advantage over Georgia now, nor have they managed it before. The reason is that our squad featured Zaza Pachulia and Giorgi Shermadini previously; now we have Bitadze, Shermadini, Shengelia, Mamukelashvili and Burjanadze.
Commentary
Teemu Raniko, member of Finland’s coaching staff:
“Georgia has a tall squad. They try to decrease the tempo and score points from under the basket. Georgia excels at offensive rebounds, so we will need to work hard on rebounds. We met them in the qualifiers, though they had a different composition then. For EuroBasket, they added Mamukelashvili and Bitadze, which is a significant strength.”
Duda Sanadze, Georgian shooting guard:
“The victories against Finland in the qualifiers were crucial. If we had lost either one, we might not have made it to the European Championship. However, we got through the qualifiers, the EuroBasket group stage, the round of 16, and now, in the quarter-finals, we’re meeting Finland again. Our opponents are a very different team from the qualifiers; they have Lauri Markkanen, who has radically changed the team’s playing style. We have also added Goga Bitadze and Sandro Mamukelashvili, who play in America. It’s going to be a very interesting match.”
Head-to-Head
We first met Finland’s national team in 2004. This was in the B Division, in Tbilisi, with 12,000 supporters in attendance. We were trailing 39-52 at half-time but ultimately won 85-78. We lost the return match, which prevented us from moving up to the A Division.
Finland was in our group the following season, too. We couldn’t make it to the play-offs for promotion to the top league due to an away defeat. In 2011, we finally managed to play at EuroBasket, though Finland was drawn against us there as well, and we lost 73-87.
Finland’s coach, Lassi Tuovi, says we have a score to settle. He’s referring to the recent qualifiers, in which we beat the Finns twice. The overall record stands at 5-4 in Georgia’s favour.
Should they reach the EuroBasket semi-final, Alexander Djikic’s coached side will face the winner between Germany and Slovenia. The match will begin later at 10 p.m., and you can watch it live on GPB First Channel.
