FIBA Tournament and Travel Information 2025

Click on the links below for details related to that age group tournament.

When are the rosters updated and players confirmed?

The official rosters are on each team’s page and are not confirmed until the day before the competition at the technical meeting in the host city. It takes FIBA sometime to then update the website and this often occurs during the first day of games. The players listed on the FIBA website before the tournament start vary from 14-20 plus names and they will be the players who are currently in the national squad at that age group. During this year I have been following all the prep tournaments and will be having a live database in excel format for subscribers with likely team lists up until final confirmation. As I did last year I will follow up with each player personally to check their high school graduation to give you the most accurate information possible.

Which FIBA event should I attend?

Is one of the questions I am asked most often at this time of year so I thought it would be a good idea to share some guidance on the best return on your investment in time and money when deciding where to travel to this summer.

Background info on FIBA events

FIBA has five zones, Africa, Americas, Asia, Europe and Oceania. The European youth tournaments (Now called EuroBasket) are held every year at u16, u18 & u20 with an A Division of 16 teams and B Division (usually between 16-24 teams) and a C Division for small countries. Normally 3 teams will be demoted and promoted between the A & B divisions each summer. To qualify for the World Cup (which is held at u17 and u19 alternating years) FIBA gives the host nation a spot and 5 spaces for Euro Teams, 4 from Asia (which includes Oceania) 4 from Americas and 2 from Africa, most of the other FIBA zones have a qualifying competition for the World Cup the preceding year rather than annual competitions like we have in Europe.

What ‘class’ is playing in which age group?

Remember that all European countries have their own rules for when players will graduate, starting age at pre-school, age of graduation, specialist sport schools and winter or summer graduation makes it difficult to speculate without checking with the players directly. In general, most of the players playing in this summers u18’s will end high school summer 2025-2027 and most in the u16’s will be 2026-2029’s. Typically over 90% of players playing in the u20 event are already committed or playing pro. Likewise few players at the u19 World Cups are still open.

Which FIBA Zone events are the best to attend?

Europe, and not because I am biased but it’s the region FIBA recognises as having the top teams (hence minimum of 5 qualifiers for the World Cup) and the most games with a minimum of 16 teams playing at each event compared to Asia or Africa zone where sometimes only 8 teams are playing. The u17 World Cup is a good event to attend however probably best to attend the later stages of the event as there are some low level teams and blow out games during the group stage.

When is the best time to attend one of the events?

Calendar permitting I think the best time to attend a FIBA Division A event is the first 3 days, teams play all their group games on the first 3 days of the event and with 8 matches on each day (games typically start around 1 pm as teams have a practice schedule in the morning) so its possible to watch 4 games from Group A&B on day one groups C&D on day two and rewatch teams/players you are most interested in on the third day. As the number of teams fluctuates in the B Division the game schedule varies with different rest days and number of teams playing which can make jumping between events difficult to maximise your schedule especially when travel between the host countries is complicated.

Is Division B & C worth attending?

For over 10 years I have always attended both the A & B division, yes the standard at Div A in general is much higher however the best Div B teams can compete with the bottom end of the top tier and there are always individual players at Div B who are legit high level prospects. Div C I keep track of but the stats are not a good guide, top players in the event sometimes post crazy points and rebounds but the standard is low. The best players from those events are often playing in a different country during the club season.

If you have to pick between either u16 or u18 Eurobasket

It really depends on why you are coming, if you are starting out and want to get a handle on the landscape your first summer then I suggest you head over the u16 A. If you need to get a return quickly (in terms of signing players) then u18’s and I would suggest that Mid Majors and lower focus on the B Division as its likely that most of the best players at the u18A event have already been recruited by programs more established in International recruiting. However you really shouldn’t be coming over without some key targets and those kids knowing that you are going to be in the stands.

Which countries are playing at this summer’s EuroBasket events?

The draw for the groups took place in February and you can check this post to see the dates and teams attending each event this summer. Reminder if a u16 Team gained promotion from last summer competition it’s the Nation not the players who are promoted so it’s possible to have a very good group of players playing in Division B at u18 who last summer gained promotion for their country at u16’s.

Finally attending a FIBA Eurobasket event without also having a trusted scouting service providing reliable information on the players graduation is close to a waste of time and money! For the Eurobasket events I provide subscribers a roster with the players grad year (that I have checked with the players personally) to give you accurate information. There can sometimes be four different recruiting classes playing on one team, you wouldn’t attend an AAU event without knowing if you are evaluating freshman or seniors so it makes no sense to come to Europe and not have that information.

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