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Türkiye's men's national basketball team will play Switzerland at home on July 6 in the last Group C match of the first round of the FIBA 2027 World Cup European Qualifiers.
The game will take place at Sinan Erdem Sports Hall in Istanbul and will start at 19:00 local time.
Türkiye comes into the Switzerland game with a 5-0 record after beating Bosnia and Herzegovina 82-75 away on July 2. This win put Türkiye at the top of Group C before the last round.
The team, called '12 Dev Adam' or '12 Giant Men' in Türkiye, was behind 18-17 after the first quarter and 39-34 at halftime. They came back in the second half, led 59-57 at the end of the third quarter, and finished the game 82-75.
Switzerland has lost all five of its games and is last in the group, already out of the running for the next round. Türkiye, which finished second at the last European Championship, will try to finish the first round unbeaten with a sixth win.
The game against Switzerland will be head coach Ergin Ataman's 100th in charge of the national team. So far, Türkiye has a 55-44 record under his leadership in 99 games.
Ataman first coached the national team from March 2014 to August 2016. During this time, Türkiye played in the 2014 FIBA World Cup, the 2015 European Championship, and the 2016 Olympic qualifiers. The team reached the quarterfinals in 2014, was knocked out in the round of 16 in 2015, and lost in the semifinals of Olympic qualifying in 2016. Ataman stepped down on August 31, 2016.
He returned as head coach in April 2022. In his second stint in charge, Türkiye reached the final of the 2025 European Championship, finishing second and winning silver. This was the country's third silver medal, after the tournaments in 2001 and 2010.
The game against Switzerland will be Türkiye's 1,063rd match as a national team. Their first game was on June 24, 1936, against Greece. Over 90 years, they have recorded 552 wins, 509 losses, and one draw.
The only draw happened on June 13, 1995, in a friendly against North Macedonia in Istanbul, which ended 78-78.
Türkiye's first official win was at the 1949 European Championship in Egypt. The team lost its first two games to Greece and France, then beat Syria.
Türkiye's biggest win was against Libya on September 29, 1980, at the Islamic Countries Sports Games in Izmir, with a score of 142-45, a 97-point difference.
Their worst loss was to Croatia at the 28th European Championship in Germany on June 24, 1993, a 50-point loss, 113-63. More recently, Türkiye lost 96-46 to France in a friendly on July 3, 2024.
Onuralp Bitim was taken out of the squad because of an injury before the games against Bosnia and Herzegovina and Switzerland.
The squad includes Adem Bona, Alperen Sengun, Ercan Osmani, Erkan Yilmaz, Sehmus Hazer, Kenan Sipahi, Malachi Flynn, Berk Ibrahim Ugurlu, Sertac Sanli, Yigit Arslan, Tarik Biberovic, Yigit Onan, Furkan Korkmaz, Yigitcan Saybir, Cedi Osman, Omer Faruk Yurtseven, and Emre Melih Tunca.
Before the last two Group C games, Turkish Basketball Federation (TBF) President Hidayet Turkoglu, TBF Sportive Director Alper Yilmaz, Ataman, and players Cedi Osman and Alperen Sengun spoke to the press at a media day at Besiktas GAIN Sports Complex.
Turkoglu said the team is well-prepared and that winning both games would allow Türkiye to finish first in the group and secure a better position for the next stage.
Yilmaz said the federation wants to take things step by step. He called the two games important milestones on the way to World Cup qualification, which will be decided in later rounds in August, November, and February.
Ataman said the team's goal is to win both games and move to the next round with a 6-0 record. 'We are currently being shown as Europe's best, most in-form team,' he said, pointing to the team's unbeaten run in the group and their second-place finish at the last European Championship.
Osman said the team wants to finish this window with two wins, noting that the Bosnia and Herzegovina game would be tough because the hosts are strong. Sengun said the squad's goal is to finish the group unbeaten to have an advantage in the next stage.
Ataman pointed out that finishing first in the group does not guarantee World Cup qualification. He mentioned strong teams like Italy, Lithuania, England, and Iceland that could rise in the crossover stage.
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