Steutel thanks fans for continued support

The city of Tampere has been taken over by FIBA EuroBasket. The streets are full of fans and the locals are embracing the tournament with the fan zone a hive of activity on game days. The blue of the Finnish jerseys is the dominant colour but alongside them are supporters from around Europe enjoying one of the world’s top basketball tournaments.

Among them is a GB contingent who, with their Union Jack flags, have made their support known for team and the respect is reciprocated with the players grateful for their backing.

Speaking after the Sweden game, GB Head Coach Marc Steutel said: 'I look around after the game and I see our players thank the fans here in Finland who have travelled.

'I know how professional my group is and we want to try and ensure that the travelling fans that have come out here are proud of our intent and are proud of the way in which we are competing. We appreciate the support that they are giving us out here in Finland.'

Travelling fan Matija flew from London to Tampere with three friends and shared his story with GB Basketball, expressing how grateful he and his group were for the opportunity to connect with the team post-game.

Thank you for a wonderful weekend, It’s been such a pleasure to come here and support the team. We are looking forward to following you for the rest of the tournament and beyond!Matija, GB Fan

In Tampere the Finland game was a sell-out with 12,900 fans packed into the Nokia Arena. Back home in the UK fans gathered in London to watch the game at an event hosted by basketball influencers SBB in collaboration with Subway. The event saw GB athletes, friends, family and fans come together to get behind the team.

GB Basketball partner, Subway's watch party hosted by SBB

Having seen photos and videos of the occasion, Luke Nelson said: ‘A massive thank you to the supporters back home. To see the watch party the other evening – for us as players - it felt good to know that we had the support of back home. We felt that for a lot of that Finland game we showed some good basketball which we can be proud of, but we want to deliver that complete performance.’

With two big games remaining against Germany and Lithuania, GB will continue to demonstrate the fight that they pride themselves on in their commitment to the GB jersey and Steutel is calling on the fans to continue their passionate support.

Steutel added: 'We obviously haven’t had the outcome or the performances over the three games consistently enough that we want and yet we know that we still have people who are passionate about basketball in Great Britain supporting us from a distance. From the bottom of my heart a thank you to everyone on behalf of our group for continuing to support us and we will need that even more over the next two games for sure.'

GB Basketball partner, Subway's watch party hosted by SBB