FIBA EuroBasket 1987 - ERT Broadcast Opening Sequence

Copyright (c) 1987 International Basketball Federation & FIBA Europe

EuroBasket 1987 was the 25th staging of Europe's most prestigious basketball championship tournament held under the auspices of FIBA Europe. Taking place between 3 and 14 June 1987, Greece was the host of this edition, with the Peace and Friendship Stadium in Piraeus being the main setting for the tournament.

For Greece, 1987 sees itself as the best year for its national team – the event's hosts, given that despite entering the tournament as one of the underdogs, they themselves did rose to the top of European basketball for the first time in its history.

In the early years of the EuroBasket, the title was won by Latvia, Lithuania, and Czechoslovakia. But then, both the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia came around and they would go on to rule the tournament as regional powerhouses in later years. The USSR had won 14 titles since 1947; with the exceptions of 1949 (they skipped the tournament entirely), 1955 (won by Hungary), and 1983 (won by Italy). Yugoslavia, on the other hand, had put the Soviets to a halt on their EuroBasket title streak in 8 editions, winning three trophies in a span of three editions from 1973 to 1977.

Both the hosts and the almighty USSR had already met in the group stage, with the victory went to the Soviets at 69-66. But the Greeks were ready to avenge their group stage loss to the same team in the final matchup that took place on 14 June 1987, in front of thousands of their home fans at Piraeus.

It was a similar story in overtime as the two teams fought neck and neck for European glory, up until in the last minutes of the game, Argiris Kambouris came to the rescue, grabbing the rebound of Memos Ioannou’s missed effort and was fouled on the putback attempt. With ice in his veins, Kambouris scored both free throws to put the Greeks ahead 103-101 with less than four seconds to play. Sergejus Jovaiša tried to put up a buzzer-beater to send the game to a second overtime, but to the delight of the Greeks, the shot was off the mark and Greece went triumphant at 103-101.

Ultimately, the championship match between Greece and the Soviet Union was the last final for the USSR prior to the socialist country's dissolution four years later in 1991, as in the next EuroBasket in 1989 held in Yugoslavia, they went on to finish at third after being beaten in the semi-final, yet again, by Greece.