Round of 16 of EuroBasket 2025 has been a slaughter for some of the favourites of the competition. While Germany beat Portugal 85-58 on Saturday, the day ended in the most shocking way when Serbia, which was considered by most the main favourite for the title, fall to Finland 92-86.
The Susijengi, Finland men's national basketball team, has grown as the biggest side among Nordic countries as per the FIBA World ranking, and despite having never won a major trophy, they qualified for World Cup in 2023, and have now reached EuroBasket quarter-finals twice in a row. But Saturday's victory will easily go down in history as one of their finest moments, as before the competition started, Serbia, lead by NBA star Nikola Jokic, was picked as the favourite for the title this year by 73.1% of journalists.
"This is a big one for us and for Finnish basketball", Finland's head coach Lassi Tuovi said. "We are very proud to knock out one of the favourites for the title who play great basketball. But I don't think it's even fair to compare this to the others which is bigger."
Veterdan shooting guard Sasu Salin, who plays for Estudiantes, said that it felt like "David against Goliath". Few could believe when Finland went up 11-1 in the first minutes. Although Serbia managed to tie the game, they almost always trailed behind Finland. Even when a comeback seemed inevitable and Serbia took the lead in the final minutes, Elias Valtonen took the put Finland again with eight hugely important points to put 87-81with 53 seconds to go.
"It was an amazing night. We just believed in each other. We were relaxed. Being underdogs was good for us" said Valtonen, who was picked as player of the game.
"Their 20 offensive rebounds were just unacceptable. We knew what they were doing, we prepared well, we watched film, still they managed to just better and more physical than us", lamented Nikola Jovic, returning home at the round of 16, as they did in 2022: their last medal was bronze in 2017, and Serbia has not won a EuroBasket since 2001.