SAN JUAN (FIBA U16 Americas Championship 2017) - The International Basketball Federation in the Americas and the Argentine Confederation of Basketball confirmed that Argentina will host the FIBA U16 Championships of the Americas 2017. The men's event will be held from June 14-18 in the Cincuentenario stadium of Formosa and the women’s event will be held at the CENARD in Buenos Aires from the June 7-11.

The men's tournament will feature the national teams from Argentina, Canada, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Paraguay, Puerto Rico, USA and Venezuela.

The women's tournament will feature the national teams from Argentina, Canada, Colombia, USA and Venezuela, and three more teams yet to be determined to be confirmed to round out the eight participating teams.

The best four teams from each event will qualify to the FIBA U17 Basketball World Cups 2018.

"The FIBA U16 Championships of the Americas 2017 are tournaments of hope and grateful moments. For many of our young future stars this event represents the first opportunity to wear the colors of their national team at the continental level and understand the power that comes with participating in an international competition where national pride comes to the fore. Argentina already demonstrated in 2015, great organizational skills and a very good approach in providing young people with a height experience that encourages and develops love for our sport. We are confident it will be an emotional new chapter in youth basketball in the Americas." Said FIBA Americas President Mr. Usie Richards.

"It is a real satisfaction for us to be hosts of both FIBA U16 Americas Championships. We will do everything to keep up with the two events. We hope to contribute to the development of basketball in the region and, at the same time to continue work on the improvement of our players in the long term," said CABB President Federico Susbielles.

The competition system of the U16 continental tournaments consists of two phases. In the Group Phase, the eight (8) participating teams will be divided into two (2) groups of four (4) teams. Teams will play in round-robin format for three days. The best two teams from each group will advance to the next phase, where the first place of Group A will play against the second place in Group B and vice versa. The winners of the Semi-Finals will advance to the Gold Medal Match, while the losers will play for the bronze of the continental event.

The date of the draw and the pairs of the FIBA U16 Championships of the Americas 2017 will be announced during the following weeks.

The last edition of the FIBA U16 Americas Championship was played in Bahía Blanca, Argentina. The United States finished the continental youth event with a 5-0 record to add its fourth consecutive FIBA Americas U16 title.

The last edition of the FIBA U16 Women's Americas Championship was played in Puebla, Mexico, where Canada captured their first continental title at the youth event.

FIBA