HERAKLION (2015 FIBA U19 World Championship) - Youth is being served at the 2015 FIBA U19 World Championship as all 16 participating countries have at least one player born in 1997 or later - meaning at least one year younger than the designated 1996 birth year for the tournament. 

Here are the cold hard facts: 77 of the 192 total players in Heraklion were born later than 1 January 1997 - or 40.1 percent of all athletes. Fifty-eight of those - or 30.2 percent - are from 1997; while 17 players - 8.9 percent - were born in 1998; and two players are from 1999. 

Egypt actually have both of the 1999-born players - Ahmed Khalaf, who turned 16 on 24 February 2015; and Esam Mostafa, who will not celebrate his 16th birthday until 3 August. The African team also features three 1997-born players and one from 1998.

At the other end of the spectrum, Egypt have the oldest player in the tournament - Basem Alian, who was born on 1 January 1996 and three of the oldest six players.

Despite his tender age, Khalaf is already playing in his second global competition as he came on strong for Egypt in the second half of the 2014 FIBA U17 World Championship. 

Those who watched the U17 Worlds last summer definitely recognise plenty of players in Crete as 37 of them are playing up in age group for the U19 Worlds. In fact, Australia, Serbia, Spain and the United States all have five players on their teams who played in Dubai last summer. And of the 10 countries with teams at both events, Canada is the only one without a member of its 2014 U17 team in Heraklion. 

There are nine teams in Heraklion with as least five players born in 1997 or later. Tunisia lead the way with nine such players. Australia are second with eight, while Serbia and Argentina both have seven players. 

There is a mix of reasons for that as some countries have very strong 1997 and 1998 generations while others have had to dip down to younger players because many of their 1996 players are unavailable. 

Not all of the teams are relying on younger players.

Turkey is the only team with 11 players born in 1996 and their sole 1997-born player - Furkan Korkmaz - is one of the most talented players in the competition.

Canada and Dominican Republic meanwhile both have 10 1996-born players on their 12-man roster.

And just like many fans will recognise many players from last year's U17 Worlds, fans watching the action in Heraklion will likely see some of these future stars again on the global stage. Nineteen of them are eligible age-wise to play at the 2017 FIBA U19 World Championship. 

FIBA