BEIRUT (Lebanon) - The FIBA Regional Office-Asia on Friday, July 31, has confirmed the groupings and schedule of the much-awaited FIBA U18 Asia Cup 2026 to be held on August 13-23 in Ahmedabad, India.
The groupings and schedule are as follows:
Sixteen teams divided into groups of 4 will compete in the biennial competition's 28th edition, beginning with the busy Group Phase that will run for a total of 6 days from August 13-18 featuring 4 games a day.
The top teams in each group by the end of the preliminary stage will book a direct ticket to the Quarter-Finals. Teams finishing 2nd and 3rd in their pools, meanwhile, will play in the Qualification to Quarter-Finals.
The play-in to the Final Phase's opening round is scheduled on August 20. The Quarter-Finals will then be played the following day, the winners of which will advance to the Semi-Finals set on August 22.
Aside from moving on, the 4 teams reaching the penultimate stage will qualify for the prestigious FIBA U19 Basketball World Cup 2027 that will be held in Pardubice, Czechia on June 26 to July 4, 2027.
Classification Rounds 5-8 will also be held for this year's U18 meet, beginning on August 22 as well - just before the Semi-Finals. Losing teams in the Quarter-Finals will make up the cast in a bid to salvage some pride.
The one-game Final is set on August 23, which will be preceded by the Classification 5-6, Classification 7-8, and the Third-Place Games as the tournament assures to be action-packed all the way to the end.
Australia are coming in as the defending FIBA U18 Asia Cup champions after ruling the 2024 games in Jordan.
FIBA