A 2019 marked by the SUCCESS of Spanish Basketball

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The first championship in two decades without Pau Gasol or Juan Carlos Navarro was a golden claim. Spain did not go to China among the great favorites but ended up climbing to the top of the world podium, thirteen years after Saitama, with an extraordinary level of basketball and a new lesson in the team values ​​that have made it great among the greats. The first step on the road to gold was taken in February, when Spain finished as group leader in the qualifying phase after defeating Latvia in Riga (62-67) and Turkey in Tenerife (74-58) and closed with a record of 10-2 some 'windows' for history. Of their twelve players, five had participated to a greater or lesser extent in the classification 'windows'.

Already in the World Cup, Spain closed the first phase undefeated with victories over Tunisia (101-62), Puerto Rico (73-63) and Iran (73-65), facing the crossroads with two spectacular victories over Italy (67-60) and Email Data Serbia (81-69), beat Poland in the quarterfinals (90-78), defeated Australia in an agonizing and very exciting semifinal after two overtimes (95-88) and became world champion, clearly surpassing in the final (95-75) to the Argentina of Campazzo, Scola, Laprovittola, Deck and company. Ricky Rubio had the added prize to his extraordinary World Cup by being chosen MVP of the championship, and together with him he formed the best quintet Marc Gasol, accompanied by the Serbian Bogdanovic, the Argentine Scola and the Frenchman Fournier.



For Scariolo it was also a historic World Cup because it meant his seventh medal (fourth gold) in nine summers leading the National Team. For Marc Gasol, elevated in just a few months as NBA champion and world champion. And for Marc himself and Rudy Fernández, the great captain, because they became the only two world champions on two occasions. Upon their return, players and coaches experienced an impressive reception from thousands of fans gathered in Madrid's Plaza Colón. “You arrive in Spain and see the enthusiasm that you have awakened, the joy generated, especially among the youngest. They look at you, they ask you… That, for me, is priceless,” said Marc Gasol. The Golden National Team, led by Sergio Scariolo once again, was made up of Rudy Fernández as captain, Ricky Rubio, Sergio Llull, Marc Gasol, Juancho Hernangómez, Willy Hernangómez, Quino Colom, Pau Ribas, Pierre Oriola, Xavi Rabaseda and Javier Bearán.