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Argentina's national basketball team remains among the most successful in the Americas and one of the most successful in the world. It is the only national team in the FIBA Americas zone that has won the quintuplet crown: FIBA World Cup (they won the first edition, in 1950), Olympic Gold Medal (2004, considered the highest honor and most important title in the history of the Argentine men's team), FIBA Diamond Ball (2008), FIBA AmeriCup (2001, 2011 and 2022) and Pan American Gold Medal (1995, 2019 and 2023). They are also one of only four countries to have won the Olympic gold medal and FIBA World Cup joining the Soviet Union, the United States of America, and Yugoslavia. They have also won 13 South American Basketball Championships, as well as many youth championships.
Due to the series of good results since the beginning of the 2000s, Argentina reached the first position in the FIBA Men's Ranking at the end of the 2008 Olympic Games. Argentina is a founding member of the International Federation of Basketball (FIBA) and has South America's longest basketball tradition.
The practice of basketball in Argentina was started by Asociación Cristiana de Jóvenes (Young Men's Christian Association – YMCA) in 1912, with the first Federation (Federación Argentina) established to organise competitions not only in Buenos Aires but in several cities around Argentina.
The first national team as covered by El Gráfico magazine in 1921
Argentina played its first international game against Uruguay in 1921.
In 1950 Argentina won its first and only World Championship to date, with a squad formed entirely of amateur players, after defeating France (twice), Brazil, Chile, Egypt and the United States in the decisive match.
With the creation of the Liga Nacional de Básquet in the mid-1980s, a new generation of players led Argentina to a moderate success in the 1986 World Championship where the squad defeated United States for the first time.
2001 was the year when the Golden Generation, winning Argentina's first FIBA Americas Championship – held in Neuquen – where they defeated all of their rivals in the competition. The progress of Argentine basketball would be shown in the 2002 FIBA World Championship, where they became the first team to defeat a United States roster composed entirely of NBA players and also reached the final, finally losing to Yugoslavia. Argentina would reach the finals for the first time since the first World Championship in 1950, but the most important achievement for the squad came in the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens when Argentina won their first gold medal, including another victory over the United States at the semi-finals. The Olympics title in 2004 was the highest honor and most important title won in Argentine basketball history.
Since its establishment, the Argentina national team had worn white kits. The team had a long tenure wearing Topper, which was the official supplier since the 1970s to 2007. In 2002, two light blue horizontal stripes (similar to the National flag) were added to the jerseys. When the contract with Topper expired in 2007, the CABB signed an agreement with Chinese firm Li-Ning, which kept the design established by Topper.
Italian company Kappa was the uniforms supplier since 2013.
In 2014 the company designed a vertical striped model in the style of football and field hockey representatives. The jersey debuted in the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup. When Nike became official sponsor through its brand Air Jordan, the Argentina jersey returned to a simple white color scheme. The deal extended to 2020, when the American company ceased operations in Argentina.
Starting in 2022, Spanish Kelme is the current kit provider for all the Argentina basketball teams.
In July 2017, the Argentine Basketball Confederation announced that numbers 5 and 13 would be retired since the 2017 edition of FIBA AmeriCup and for the rest of championships played by the senior team from then on.
The word básquetbol is specific to Rioplatense Spanish, the standard Spanish dialect of Argentina. In most other forms of Spanish, this word would be baloncesto.
(26 November 2024)
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León Najnudel: (1985)
Flor Meléndez: (1986–1987)
Rubén Magnano: (2000–2004)
