MUNICH (Germany) - FIBA Europe has authorized a change to the competition system of the FIBA U16 European Challenger in Skopje after two of the participating teams, hosts North Macedonia and Greece, were forced to withdraw from the tournament.

In the run-up to the start of the competition on Monday August 16th, first the Basketball Federation of North Macedonia and later the Hellenic Basketball Federation informed FIBA Europe that their respective preparations were disrupted due to complications caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

All participants are required to adhere to the FIBA health and safety protocol and also to follow the advice and regulations of the local health authorities, and therefore neither of those teams will be able to compete in the Skopje Challenger.

Despite the two withdrawals, the Basketball Federation of North Macedonia has proceeded with their organization plans and FIBA Europe has worked with the hosts to make all necessary logistical adjustments and changes to the format of the Challenger.

There will be four participating teams in the tournament - France, Lithuania, Russia and Romania - and they will play in a round-robin format on the first three game days.

The first-placed team at the completion of the group stage will face the fourth-placed team in one Semi-Final, while the second-placed team will face the third-placed team in the other Semi-Final.

The winners of the Semi-Final will meet in the Final for the title while the two losing teams will face each other in the 3rd Place Game.

FIBA