2021 FIBA U16 Women's European Challengers explained

Tourney Name:	FIBA U16 Women's European Challengers
Year:	2021
Size:	270px
Dates:	9–16 August 2021
Num Teams:	29
Venues:	5
Cities:	5
Website:	www.fiba.basketball
Prevseason:	2019 Division A ← 2019 Division B ← 2019 Division C
Nextseason:	2022 Division A → 2022 Division B → 2022 Division C

The 2021 FIBA U16 Women's European Challengers were international basketball competitions which took place from 9 to 16 August 2021, replacing the cancelled 2021 FIBA U16 Women's European Championship.^[1] Top two teams from groups A, B and C qualified for the 2022 FIBA Under-17 Women's Basketball World Cup.

History

The 2020 edition of FIBA U16 Women's European Championship was to be held in Matosinhos, Portugal but was postponed to 2021 due to COVID-19 pandemic. Since the pandemic continued in 2021, the FIBA Europe decided to hold alternative format of competition to replace traditional format of U16 Women's European Championship where 16 or more teams gather in one place.

Structure

The events are to be played on a voluntary participation basis, with promotion/relegation to be frozen across Divisions A, B and C.
The Top 18 ranked teams (16 currently in Division A, plus two additional teams by 2019 ranking in respective category) to play three tournaments of six teams each (Groups A, B and C).
All other registered teams, ranked 19 and lower, to play in tournaments of up to six teams each (Group D).
One tournament of up to six teams to be created with the lowest-ranked teams to accommodate Division C and Small Countries. (Group E).
All tournaments to be played in Round Robin format, with groups to be created by "serpentine" style allocation, taking the hosting situation into consideration.

Participating teams

Top-18 Challengers

19–24 Challenger

25–29 Challenger

Top-18 Challengers

Group A

The Group A tournament was played in Helsinki, Finland.

Group B

The Group B tournament was played in San Fernando, Spain. Hungary qualified for the 2022 FIBA Under-17 Women's Basketball World Cup as hosts.

Group C

The Group C tournament was played in Matosinhos, Portugal. Russia originally qualified for the 2022 FIBA Under-17 Women's Basketball World Cup, but were excluded due to their country's invasion of Ukraine and were replaced by Belgium.

19–24 Challenger

Group D

The Group D tournament was played in Piešťany, Slovakia.

25–29 Challenger

Group E

The Group E tournament was played in Tbilisi, Georgia.

External links

Notes and References

News: FIBA Europe Board approves alternative format for Youth Competitions, new dates for Small Countries Championships . 21 July 2021 . . 11 May 2021.