MIES (Switzerland) - The stage is all set for the FIBA U15 Skills Challenges 2021, with the global event ready to get underway later this week. 

A total of 105 teams competed across Africa, Americas, Asia & Oceania, and Europe in three weeks of competition in the Qualifiers, with 32 teams each advancing to the global stage of the men's and women's events.

For the Global Challenges, the qualified teams are split into eight groups of four in which three games take place in the Group Phase. The top two teams in each group will advance to the Final Round that begins with the Round of 16 and concludes with the two medal games.

The number of teams from each FIBA U15 Skills Challenge is comprised of six teams from Africa, eight from Americas with a further eight from Asia and 10 teams from Europe.

The full participating teams for each event are as follows:

FIBA U15 Skills Challenge 2021

GROUP A: Bulgaria, Lebanon, Ecuador, Morocco
GROUP B: Lithuania, China, Dominican Republic, Cameroon
GROUP C: Poland, Australia, Panama, Tunisia
GROUP D: Spain, Iran, Virgin Islands, Estonia
GROUP E: Belarus, Mongolia, Argentina, Albania
GROUP F: Israel, New Zealand, Venezuela, Madagascar
GROUP G: Andorra, Jordan, Puerto Rico, Guinea
GROUP H: Serbia, Syria, El Salvador, Egypt

FIBA U15 Women's Skills Challenge 2021

GROUP A: Poland, Syria, Guatemala, Egypt
GROUP B: Estonia, Lebanon, El Salvador, Morocco
GROUP C: Israel, Mongolia, Argentina, Madagascar
GROUP D: Netherlands, New Zealand, Dominican Republic, Albania
GROUP E: Lithuania, China, Panama, Andorra
GROUP F: Spain, Iraq, Puerto Rico, Tunisia
GROUP G: Luxembourg, Iran, Venezuela, Uganda
GROUP H: Belarus, Australia, Suriname, Cameroon

This is the inaugural edition of the Skills Challenges at U15 level following the success of the FIBA U17 Skills Challenges with Mongolia winning the men's event and China were victorious in the women's competition.

Both events were introduced as a development tool for national federations at a time when no other FIBA international competitions were able to take place due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The FIBA U15 Skills Challenge 2021 takes place from October 14-27, 2021 with the FIBA U15 Women's Skills Challenge 2021 held from October 15-28, 2021. 

###

About FIBA

FIBA (fiba.basketball) - the world governing body for basketball - is an independent association formed by 213 National Basketball Federations throughout the world. It is recognized as the sole competent authority in basketball by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

For further information about FIBA, visit fiba.basketball or follow FIBA on facebook.com/fiba, twitter.com/fiba, instagram.com/fiba and youtube.com/fiba.