SKOPJE (North Macedonia) - With spots in next year's FIBA U16 EuroBasket up for grabs, the teams from Division B will all be fighting for those coveted spots.
The tournament will take place in Skopje, North Macedonia from August 8-17.
Who is participating?
A total of 22 teams will compete for the Division B crown. They have been split into four groups with two groups of five and two groups of six. The Group Phase is as follows:
Group A: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Portugal, Hungary, Switzerland, Belgium Group B: Netherlands, Iceland, Czechia, Luxembourg, Montenegro, Cyprus Group C: Romania, Slovakia, Great Britain, Ireland, Denmark, Norway Group D: Estonia, Ukraine, Sweden, Austria, North Macedonia
What is the schedule?
The Group Phase will take place across the first five days of the tournament with a rest day on August 11. After a second rest day on August 14, the Classification Round tips off on August 15 as will the competition bracket beginning with the Quarter-Finals, until the Final on August 17, with the classification games also determining each of the 22 positions.
The top three teams will earn promotion to Division A next summer.
You can view the full schedule here.
Who were the winners in 2023?
Croatia erased the memories of their first relegation to Division B the year before by hammering Bulgaria 85-67 in the Final to bounce straight back to the top division. Their success capped a convincing camapaign, where they won by an average points margin of 30.8 points.
Borna Katanovic collected 26 points, 9 rebounds and 4 steals to lead Croatia to a deserved win.
Former MVPs
Katanovic's tally in the Final was the icing on the cake as he scooped MVP honors. For the tournament, the small forward averaged 18.1 points, 4.6 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 2.5 steals.
Here are the previous five MVP winners with Jeremy Sochan of the San Antonio Spurs in the NBA a big name to have received the award: 2023: Borna Katanovic (CRO) 2022: Christian Anderson (GER) 2019: Jeremy Sochan (POL) 2018: Pavel Sakov (RUS) 2017: Nikos Rakovopoulos (GRE)
Roll of honor
Germany are the only team to have won the Division B title three times with their most recent being in 2022. Following Germany, the most successful sides are Poland, Czechia and Russia, who are all two-time champions. Bulgaria have now been on the podium four times.
How to watch?
All the action will be available to watch live on the FIBA YouTube channel - and can also be accessed via the respective game pages on the website.
Want more action?
The best way to keep up to date for all of the action is via the official tournament website as well as following NextGenHoops across social media - on X, Instagram and Facebook.
Don't forget to check out the action from the FIBA U16 EuroBasket and FIBA U16 EuroBasket, Division C tournaments.
FIBA