World Cup appearance in 1986. The national team was drawn into Group B in the preliminary phase. Their first game of the tournament was an 79–84 win against Uruguay. Israel would go on to attain second place in group play with an (3–2) record, to move on to the next round. However, Israel was not as successful in this phase, as they would finish up with a losing record (2–3) to be relegated to the classification round. There they went (1–1) to come in 7th place at the competition overall. EuroBasket 2017 Israel won the rights to be one of four co-hosts for EuroBasket 2017. With Israel hosting Group B in Tel Aviv, the team went up against Italy in their first game, and were thoroughly dominated in an 69–48 defeat. Heading into their second game of the tournament, Israel had Lithuania standing in their way. Israel ran out to an early first period lead, but the team could not maintain the momentum, as they fell to (0–2) and desperately needing a win in their next game. Germany was the opponent for the national team in their third match of group play, and they were victorious in a remarkable 80–82 win. Sitting with an (1–2) record, Israel were intent to even it all up with their game against Georgia. However, even behind the strong performance from Gal Mekel, and his 23 points were not enough. Israel would lose a heartbreaker in overtime 91–104. Their last game of group play, and positions nearly determined, Israel would fall once more. This time at the hands of Ukraine, 88–64, to end the tournament with an (1–4) record. 2019 World Cup qualification During the process for Israel to reach the 2019 World Cup, the team went through World Cup qualifiers, where they were drawn into Group H for the first round of qualifiers. Israel's first game was a comfortable 88–68 win at home against Estonia. Heading to play Greece on the road in their next game, the team looked to move to (2–0). Although Greece would have none of it, as they dominated Israel 82–61, dropping the team to a record of (1–1). Israel would eventually get things on track, as they finished the rest of group play at (3–3), enough to advance to the second and final round of qualifying. For the second round of World Cup qualifying, Israel was placed into Group