By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
FIBA Europe has announced a change in the schedule of EuroBasket 2015 as the Classification Game for 7th place has now been added to the programme on 18 September in Lille.
Following a decision by the FIBA Central Board in Tokyo, last week, regarding the Olympic Qualifying Tournament (OQT) next year Europe is set to enter a minimum of five (5) teams instead of four (4) as it was the case until now.
Those will be the teams ranked from third (3rd) to seventh (7th) place at EuroBasket 2015, as the two teams who will play the final qualify automatically to Rio 2016.
In practical terms this means that the Classification Game for 7th place at the EuroBasket which was originally not scheduled must now be played in order to determine that last qualifying spot.
The two games for Classification 5-8 will now both be played on 17 September and the losers of those two encounters will meet in the Classification Game for 7th place which will be played on 18 September, at 18:30 CET.
The format for the Olympic Qualifying Tournament (OQT) for Men will see three Olympic Qualifying Tournaments (OQTs) consisting of six teams each, with the winning team from each event earning a berth for Rio 2016.