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By Stathis Trapezanlidis/ info@eurohoops.net
Once again Spain and France are among the big favorites to win the 2015 EuroBasket and by now their battles tend to become classic. The Furias Rojas are the ones who have been dominating in Europe in the past decade and the French the ones that aspire to build their own empire having already made the start with winning the trophy in 2013 in Slovenia and the silver medal in Lithuania.
Eurohoops looks back and presents all the games the two teams have played in a final stage of the European championship. In total, the French and the Spaniards have clashed 20 times in the EuroBasket, with the Iberians having 16 wins (80%)! Of course, in this flashback are not included clashes between the two from the Mundobasket, where the score is tied (2-2). France won last year’s quarterfinal in Madrid and in the group stages in 2010, while Spain prevailed last year in the group stages and in 1986 on the tournament’s opening day.
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[lptitle title=”11. 1963-1973 Group stage“]
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The feared Spaniards
The Spaniards remained undefeated for 32 years and 12 consecutive games against the French (1963-1995). In the first decade (1963-1973) the French were very weak and finished at the bottom of the first round groups. There is no prehistory between the two teams prior to 1963 when France was powerful having won a silver medal and three bronze medals since Spain didn’t even take part in the final stage!
The Spaniards, on the other side, with players like Clifford Luyk, Wayne Brabender and Emiliano Rodriguez on their roster won several distinctions with the highest being the advancement to the final in 1973. In this period the two teams met four times. In 1963 the Spaniards prevailed 86-70 (Buscato 24 points, Gilles 18 points), in 1965 90-77 (Rodriguez 25 points, Jouaret 14 points), in 1971 79-66 (Luyk 21 points, Gilles 18 points) and in 1973, in the most competitive game they’d ever played with each other up to that point, 85-80 (Brabender 18 points, Bonato 23 points). All of the games were for the first stage (groups) of the EuroBasket.
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[lptitle title=”10. 1981-1987 Group stage“]
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Spain scoring hundreds of points
The French have strengthened but not yet enough to contend for the qualification to the next stage of the tournament. The two teams met four times in the group stage of the first three EuroBasket competitions of the 80s and the Spaniards once again won all of them. San Epifanio’s Spain reached the final once again ten years later (1983) in a tournament that France hosted but once again could not win the gold medal.
The games between them were again in the framework of the first stage (groups). In 1981 in Czechoslovakia the Spaniards prevailed 102-93 (Sibilio Huguesis 20 points, Beugnot 15 points), in 1983 in France 75-73 (Sibilio Huguesis 26 points, Szanyiel 16 points), in 1985 in West Germany 109-83 (Margall 21 points, Cham 14 points) and lastly in 1987 in Greece they crushed the French 111-70 (San Epifanio 34 points, Dubuisson 17 points).
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[lptitle title=”9. 1989 Knockout for 5th place“]
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The Spaniards got the ticket for the Mundobasket
In 1989 in Yugoslavia the most important game to date between the two teams took place as the 5th place in the tournament was up for grabs, a place that would grant the winners the ticket to the Mundobasket the following year in Argentina. Both had finished in third place of their groups since there was no quarterfinal stage then. The Spaniards won 95-87 with San Epifanio scoring 22 points. For the French, who were now competitive, Dacoury was the top scorer with 20 points.
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[lptitle title=”8. 1991 Knockout for the bronze medal“]
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The French lost the medal
This was the first game between the two teams with the bronze medal as the prize. In the semifinals, while the Italians defeated the Spaniards in a very close game, the French could not compete with the excellent Yugoslavs. In the third place playoff the Spaniards were once again better, winning the game. The game’s best players were Martin Espina (26 points) and Amoros Villacampa (25 points). The great “Epi” won his last medal in a EuroBasket. From the French, Ostrowski (19 points) and the then young Rigaudeau (17 points) were the standouts.
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