Finland's journey to the FIBA 2023 Basketball World Cup and, perhaps, Paris 2024
The Wolf Pack are on the hunt for a first appearance at the Olympic Games in 60 years. With the NBA's reigning Most Improved Player leading the charge, can Finland upset the odds and qualify for Paris 2024?
Basketball
When one thinks of the sporting heritage of Finland, one of the world's most northern and geographically remote countries where winter temperatures can range from -25°C to -50°C, basketball does not immediately come to mind. Ice hockey, skiing, ski jumping sure, but basketball? There's not much history there.
Finland has never won a medal in the sport at any major tournament and has only qualified to compete in the basketball tournament at the Olympic Games on two occasions (in 1952 and 1964 in the men's competition).
And yet, despite the weight of history suggesting otherwise, Finland's men's basketball team has, in recent years, started to become more of a regular fixture on the international scene. Buoyed by Utah Jazz star Lauri Markkanen, could Finland upset the odds and make a deep run at the upcoming 2023 FIBA World Cup?
Finland's history with international basketball
Finland's relationship with professional basketball dates back to 1939, when the Finnish Basketball Association and the first men's league - the Korisliiga - was founded (the top league for women, the Naisten Korisliiga, was founded five years later in 1944). However, it's the Koripallon I-divisioona - the second-tier pro league - that is responsible for producing Finland's best and most well-known basketball player in history: Lauri Markkanen (more on him in a moment).
Finnish teams haven't performed particularly well on the international scene when it comes to club basketball, but in what could be a sign of changing times, Karhu Basket (based in the town of Kauhajoki - population 12,723) has participated in the FIBA Champions League (the top-level competition organised by FIBA Europe) for the past three seasons.
Finland's international teams haven't fared much better: the women's side appeared in five editions of EuroBasket (the European championships) between 1952 and 1987, with 6 wins in 34 games, and has failed to qualify for a major tournament since.
The men's team, nicknamed Susijengi (The Wolf Pack), have played in 17 EuroBasket tournaments, with their best finish coming at EuroBasket 1967 when they finished in 6th place. At the most recent EuroBasket in 2022, Finland finished 7th, and have qualified for EuroBasket 2025 as co-hosts.
In 2014, Finland qualified for their first-ever appearance at the FIBA World Cup (finishing 22nd), and will make their second appearance at the competition later this year in August. The 2023 edition of the World Cup carries particular significance, as the tournament will produce seven directly qualified national teams for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games - two of which will come from the best-placed European teams at the end of the World Cup. For Finland, who have only qualified for the Olympics on two occasions (once at Helsinki 1952 as hosts (finishing 9th) and at Tokyo 1964 (finishing 11th)), the 2023 World Cup provides a golden opportunity to end their 60-year absence from the Games.
Lauri Markkanen key to Finland's path to Paris 2024
Much of Finland's success in recent years and, by association, the growing profile of the sport in the country, can be attributed to Lauri Markkanen.
The 25-year-old was drafted No.7 overall in the 2017 NBA Draft after spending one year at the University of Arizona and immediately made his impact felt on the top men's league in the world, earning a place on the All-Rookie First Team. However, it has been this most recent season where the 2.13m (7 feet) athlete has really shone: Markkanen - who is only the third Finn to have played in the NBA - posted career highs in points (25.6), rebounds (8.6) and assists (1.9) per game en route to earning his first All-Star selection and winning the NBA's Most Improved Player award.
Markkanen's 'explosion' in the NBA this season came off the back of his incredible performances at EuroBasket 2022, where he averaged 27.9 points on 54.2 per cent shooting to go along with eight rebounds per game. In the Round of 16, Markkanen scored 43 points to lead Finland to a 94–86 win over Croatia, setting a new all-time record for a Finnish player at EuroBasket while simultaneously guiding Finland to its first quarter-final appearance in 55 years (Finland would lose to Spain in the quarter-finals).
Replicating that feat at the World Cup will be quite the challenge for Markkanen and co. Finland, currently ranked 24th in the world, find themselves in Group E alongside Tokyo 2020 bronze medallists Australia, world No.11 Germany and world No.36 and co-hosts Japan. To have any hope of progressing from the pool phase, Finland will likely have to beat two of the aforementioned teams. It seems a difficult task on paper, but given the form of Markkanen, and the encouraging play Finland demonstrated at EuroBasket 2022, it's not an impossibility. And if Finland do overcome this initial hurdle, who's to say the Wolf Pack couldn't make a deep run in the tournament? Doing so would prove historic for countless reasons - not the least of which could mean qualification to the Olympic Games.