Photo: FIBA.BASKETBALL

In 2009, Finland failed to even qualify for FIBA EuroBasket in Poland. Ironically, that absence proved to be the best thing that could have happened. It lit a spark, the beginning of a long climb that has since redefined Finnish basketball.

Their rise has been steady and relentless. In 2015, they reached the Sweet 16, finishing 16th. Two years later, the arrow pointed higher, with Finland placing 11th – marked by the coming-out party of Lauri Markkanen, who announced himself on the international stage.

By 2022, the breakthrough became undeniable. First, 5,000 traveling fans painted Prague blue and white during the Group Phase. Then, Markkanen detonated with a legendary 43-point eruption to topple Croatia and send Finland to their first ever Quarter-Finals.

“It’s nice making history, but you want to continue making it,” Mikael Jantunen reflected after that run.

Now, history is no longer just a glimpse. Finland stand in the Semi-Finals of EuroBasket 2025. From non-qualification to being among Europe’s elite four in just 16 years, the transformation is staggering.

“Basketball wasn’t so big and people were not so interested,” recalled head coach Lassi Tuovi. “So for those people who have been working all these years to build this, I’m very happy.”

One of those visionaries is Henrik Dettmann, the 67-year-old architect of modern Finnish basketball. Dettmann coached Finland first in the 1990s, then again from 2004 to 2022, laying the foundation for this golden era.

“We invested so much of our efforts into coaches, their education and development. It paid off, even faster than I could’ve imagined it. We were also lucky that new young talented coaches showed up. That’s what it’s all about, finding people with qualities and attracting them into your sport,” Dettmann explained to MeridianSport after Finland’s historic upset of Serbia in the Round of 16.

One of those young coaches is none other than Tuovi himself. At just 38 years and 251 days old, he became the youngest coach to reach the EuroBasket Semi-Finals since Spain’s Moncho Lopez did so in 2003.

And Tuovi is not alone – his contemporary, Tuomas Iisalo, is now the head coach of the Memphis Grizzlies in the NBA.

Their coaching philosophies mirror each other: rhythm, offensive rebounding, and fearless three-point shooting.

Rhythm is more than just speed; it’s about constant motion. Spike dribbles, hard cuts, no standing still – always forcing defenses to react.

“We try to keep the game very fast,” said 34-year-old veteran Sasu Salin, before joking, “We have guys – I’m the slowest so I can say ‘we’ have guys – who are capable of doing that.”

Then there’s the glass. Finland crash the offensive boards with abandon, often sending three or four players to fight for second chances. That mentality has made them the second-best offensive rebounding team in the tournament at 14.6 per game, just behind France.

It’s no accident. Tuovi at Strasbourg and Iisalo at Bonn and Paris created teams that dominated Europe in offensive rebounding. That identity is now etched into Finland’s DNA.

As Salin pointed out, the big men embrace that freedom: “These guys coming to the national team, Muurinen and Markkanen before him, they don’t put any limits to their style, how they play, how our team is going to do.”

And finally, the three-point revolution. Everyone has the green light, but it’s not reckless – it’s built on trust and chemistry.

“That’s actually the strength of the group,” Tuovi said. “You don’t make 10 threes in the first half just because we’re good at shooting. It’s because you know the guy will pass the ball, and the next time you’ll pass it back. It’s pretty simple, but it takes a lot of trust and time together to build it.”

It’s a style that’s thrilling on the floor – and endearing off it. Finland’s quirky sticker-slap ritual before games has become a fan favorite.

“I don’t know about the screaming and slapping, but we got a crazy captain who thought it was a good idea. Apparently it works, so I’m not saying anything against it, but I don’t know where that idea came from,” Jantunen laughed.

Markkanen added, “We played so late in the tournament in the Group Phase. That was just kinda to wake everybody up.”

Now, two games remain, and the dream has never felt closer.

“We really wanna do something big,” said Salin.

“Everybody is happy, but we still can make more history. We’ve got the most important game of Finnish basketball on Friday. It’s nice making history, but you wanna continue making it,” Jantunen echoed.

And Tuovi, always calm, always focused, summed it up: “I’m extremely excited to play a do-or-die game with this group. It’s been fun. It’s going to be fun on Friday. Step by step.”

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