We are recalling all foreign players that have ever played in the League, telling about foreign championships and National teams of different countries in World basketball map project. Today we’re going to talk about basketball in Hungary.
Population: 9,8 mln.
Players in the history of Legaue: 1.
Full list of players: Oliver Tot.
At the beginning of the season 2012/13 there was an 18-year-old Hungarian basketball player with Slovak passport Oliver Tot in the roster of Nymburk. The young player has never played a single game in the VTB League, but among the League’s registered players remains the only player in the history who was born in Hungary. After the VTB League, Tot spent four seasons in the NCAA, and now competes in the Slovak Championship and the Slovak national team.
There were also 4 players with Hungarian passport in the League: ex-players of Nizhny Darrin Govens, Obie Trotter, DeAndre Kane, and forward of Ukranian Azovmash Kristian Lugovtsov in the 2012/13 season. Trotter played for Hungary 8 times in qualifications for the 2013 Eurobasket Cup, and Govens played the same amount in qualifications for the 2017 World Cup.
Basketball in Hungary
League: Nemzeti Bajnokság I/A
Founded: in 1933
Number of teams: 14
League’s web-site: http://hunbasket.hu/
The Nemzeti Bajnokság I/A has 14 teams from 13 different cities, with none from Budapest, the capital of Hungary in the 2019/20 season. No less surprising seems the fact that the most titled club of the country – Gonved (33 titles) – last time has won the Hungarian championship in 1997, and today performs in the second league.
The first stage of the tournament – the regular season – is held in 2 parts (26 games), in the second stage the teams are divided into 3 groups (1-5 places, 6-10 places, 11-14 places), and after that a play-off series with 8 clubs (up to 3 wins, the series for the 3rd place – up to 2 wins).
The winner of the championship gets a draw to the Champions League, and silver and bronze medalists represent their country in the FIBA European Cup. Previously, teams from Hungary also competed in the Eurocup and the Adriatic League.
Among the former stars of the Hungarian Championship there are also players who competed in the VTB Unified League: in the 2014/15 season, Ryan Richards (22.3 points) became the most successful player of the championship, and two years later Darrin Govens (21.1 points) took the title.
Interesting fact
At the 2017 All-Star Game of the Hungarian Championship, Kendrick Perry (Szolnoki Olaj) was the starting point guard for the East team, and Darrin Gowans (Falco Szombathely) was the starting point guard for the West team. After a year American players played together for Nizhny Novgorod.
Hungarian National team
FIBA rank: 39
FIBA members: since 1935
Achievements: Gold on Eurobasket 1955, silver on Eurobasket 1953, bronze on Eurobasket 1946
The main achievements of the Hungarian National team were taken in the 1940s and 1950s. In 1953 «Magyars» took second place at the European Championship in the USSR, where they have lost gold to the hosts of the tournament, but already two years later on the home Eurobasket in Budapest they managed to take revenge and for the first time in their history became the strongest team of the continent.
The Hungarian national team also won the bronze Eurobasket of 1946 (the MVP title at that tournament went to the Hungarian basketball player Francois Nemeth), three fourth places at the European Championships (1957, 1959, 1963) and four participations in Olympic Games (1948, 1952, 1960, 1964) .
Since 1971, Hungary has only participated twice in the finals of Eurobasket and now ranks 39th in the FIBA ranking.
The most famous Hungarian players
Francois Nemeth. MVP of Eurobasket 1946, bronze medalist of Eurobasket 1946 and 4-time champion of France. In 1991, François Nemeth was one of the 50 greatest FIBA players, becoming the only Hungarian representative on the list.
Janos Greminger. MVP of Eurobasket 1955, Eurobasket champion 1955 and silver medalist of Eurobasket 1953. In 1995, Greminger was awarded the Order of Merit for Hungary.
Laszlo Hodi. Eurobasket Champion 1955, Olympic Champion 1952 and European Silver Medalist 1953, the first person to compete in the Olympic Games for two teams (after Hungary Hodi played for Australia). In 1995, he received the Order of Merit for Hungary and in 2012, he was inducted into the National Basketball Hall of Fame.
Kornel David. 3-time Hungarian champion, Lithuanian champion and 2-time Spanish Cup winner. The only Hungarian basketball player in the NBA history. He spent three seasons abroad playing for Chicago, Cleveland, Toronto and Detroit.
Adam Hanga. 2-time Hungarian All-star, winner of the Spanish Cup (2018) and best defensive player of the Euroleague (2017). In 2011, Hanga was selected with the 59th pick in the NBA draft but continued to perform in Europe.
Dmitriy Kolinov
