PITESTI (Romania) - A total of 21 nations will compete for Division B glory - and spots in next year's FIBA U20 EuroBasket tournament - in one of 16 youth events taking centre stage this summer.
The tournament will take place in Pitesti, Romania from July 12-21.
Who is participating?
There will be 21 teams that will fight for Division B glory. They have been split into three groups of five and one group of six. The Group Phase is as follows: Group A: Latvia, Switzerland, Finland, Croatia, Slovakia Group B: Netherlands, Great Britain, Azerbaijan, Portugal, Ireland Group C: Sweden, Hungary, Armenia, Ukraine, Kosovo, Moldova Group D: Bulgaria, Georgia, Romania, Estonia, Albania
What is the schedule?
The Group Phase will take place across the first seven days of the tournament with two rest days on July 15 and July 18. Classification games and the Quarter-Finals (in the form of a bracket) will begin on July 19, followed by the Semi-Finals on July 20. The Final will take place on July 21, with the Classification games also determining each of the 21 positions.
As Greece cannot be relegated from Division A as they will host the 2025 edition, if they finish between 14th-16th, then only two teams will earn promotion from Division B.
You can check out the full schedule here.
Who were the winners in 2023?
Czechia returned to Division A, one year removed from being relegated following an 85-72 victory over hosts North Macedonia in the Final. Ondrej Hustak scored 17 points and 9 rebounds to lead the winners.
Despite the loss, the North Macedonians were also promoted to Division A for the first time since 2007.
Former MVPs
Czech playmaker Ondrej Svec dazzled all tournament long en route to his MVP award, averaging 12.1 points, 6.0 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 1.4 steals per game. Svec ranked second on the team in the first three stats was tied for first in steals. He filled the stats in the Final with 4 points, 7 rebounds, 9 assists and 1 steal.
The previous five winners of the tournament's MVP are as follows:
2023: Ondrej Svec (CZE) 2022: Mihailo Boskovic (SRB) 2019: Rafael Lisboa (POR) 2018: Lukasz Kolenda (POL) 2017: Emanuel Cate (ROU)
Roll of honor
The most successful sides in Division B are Poland, Montenegro and Georgia who are all two-time champions, with Poland owning the joint-most overall medals with five. With last summer's win, Czechia have also reached the podium five 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 also check out the action from the FIBA U20 EuroBasket tournament.
FIBA