The Serbian national basketball team had an inglorious end to their Eurobasket 2025 campaign, as they were defeated by Finland (92-86) in the round of 16.
The team, coached by Svetislav Pešić, completely underperformed in this match, and the painful elimination could be just the beginning of a turbulent period for the national team, which now faces very important days ahead.
While Serbia is busy analyzing and discussing the elimination from a tournament they entered with thoughts of a gold medal, journalists in the surrounding region are also covering Serbia’s defeat. Almost all regional websites reported the news of Serbia’s elimination from the European Championship, and many media outlets in Croatia even wrote several articles about the events in Latvia.
What are they writing in Croatia about Serbia’s defeat?
The debacle of the Serbian national team attracted a lot of attention in the Croatian media, making it one of the main headlines on all the most-read portals in the country. The focus wasn’t just on the match report from the Serbia vs. Finland game, but also on coach Svetislav Pešić’s press conference, and the statements of certain players from the national team.
“Jutarnji list” used a headline that accurately describes the entire situation: “Complete shock in the neighborhood and a debacle for the Eagles that no one expected! After a drama, Serbia is eliminated from Eurobasket.” They then covered the reactions of coach Pešić and several players. They published an emotional address by Ognjen Dobrić in a separate article, which was at one point the top story on their homepage.
The “Index” portal was among the mildest in its reporting on Serbia’s elimination. “Serbia shockingly eliminated in the Eurobasket round of 16,” was the headline of their first article. They then covered the statements of coach Pešić, the news that FIBA considers this result one of the biggest sensations of all time, and an article stating that Serbs have identified Pešić as the main culprit for the debacle.
In addition to the article on Serbia’s elimination, which they headlined “Serbia defeated after great drama! Police received a bomb threat, the entire street is blocked,” “Večernji” also reported on the health condition of basketball commentator Slobodan Šarenac, who fell ill after the Serbia-Finland game. The morning after the match, the “24 sata” portal’s homepage had no news about Serbia’s Eurobasket elimination, as their focus was on combat sports, but they had published news about the debacle on Saturday evening. In addition to the article on the Serbian team’s elimination under the headline “Sensation at the European Championship: Finns eliminate Serbia!,” there were also fan comments about the game, as well as coach Svetislav Pešić’s statements from the conference.
What are they writing in the rest of the region?
Almost everyone in the region wrote about Serbia’s defeat on Saturday evening and Sunday morning. Montenegro’s “Vijesti” reported on the sensation at the European Championship, and “SportSport” from Bosnia and Herzegovina published as many as four articles on the topic. These included news of Serbia’s elimination, Svetislav Pešić’s press conference, fan criticism directed at him, and finally, Aleksa Avramović’s statement to the television cameras.
The “Klix” portal reported that Serbia had shamed itself, conveyed the information that FIBA considers this a huge sensation, and informed its readers that Slobodan Šarenac had fallen ill after the match against Finland in Riga. The Macedonians were also creative, as the “Ekipa” website described Finland’s victory over Serbia as a “Wonder Never Seen Before.”
Source:Mondo; Photo:FIBA