By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
FIBA announced the new dates of the postponed FIBA U18 European Championship 2016 that had been previously postponed indefinitely due to the political situation in Turkey during summer.
Here is the press release by FIBA:
The Executive Committee of FIBA Europe has decided that the FIBA U18 European Championship 2016 that could not be played this summer will now be staged in Samsun, Turkey, from 16-22 December 2016.
Initially set to take place in the northern Turkish city from 30 July to 7 August, player welfare was made the utmost priority given the unrest in the country at the time, and the tournament was postponed indefinitely.
The new dates were announced in Munich on Friday, with the competition format exceptionally being amended. The new system is as follows:
- The Group Phase (Four groups of four teams each) will be played on Day 1, 2 and 3
- No Round of 16
- The top two teams from each group will advance to the Quarter-Finals
- The bottom two teams from each group will play classification games for 9th to 16th spot
- Day 4 will be a rest day
- Quarter-Finals will take place on Day 5
- Semi-Finals will take place on Day 6
- The Final will take place on Day 7
The teams that finish in the top five will earn spots in Cairo, Egypt, for the FIBA U19 World Championship 2017, which will be played out 1-9 July, whilst the bottom three teams will be eliminated to Division B for 2017.
“We are now fully confident that this tournament will go ahead with total safety assured,” commented FIBA Executive Director Europe, Kamil Novak. “We have received excellent co-operation from our member federations, and have made this decision of the change of dates and competition format with strong support.”