International

Mar 31 2026

Draw made for FIBA U16 Women's EuroBasket 2026

Ireland have been drawn alongside Denmark and Greece in Group E for FIBA U16 Women's Youth EuroBasket 2026, which will have an alternate format to FIBA's other summer competitions due to an issue in finding a suitable host nation.

Ordinarily the 19 competing teams would take part in a group phase, followed by a knockout/classification round in one host country. However - in light of being unable to confirm a host country in the required timeframe to organise the logistics of the tournament - it has been decided at FIBA Europe's most recent board meeting to operate the tournament in a slightly amended format.

The Ireland U16 WNT programme are heading to Greece this summer ☀️

FIBA conducted the draw for the outstanding FIBA Youth EuroBasket competition, with an amended format for this year only. #GreenMeansGo ☘️ | #IrishBasketball pic.twitter.com/cC6cPgX3Vn
— Basketball Ireland (@BballIrl) April 1, 2026

Three mini-tournaments will take place across three host countries - Greece, Luxembourg and Slovakia. Ireland have been drawn in Group E and will therefore play in Greece against the hosts and Denmark. Group F, which contains Great Britain, Iceland and Norway are the second set of teams competing in Greece. The top two teams in each group will advance to the semi-finals with the overall winner being promoted to Division A for the summer of 2027.

Speaking in the aftermath of the draw, Ireland U16 WNT head coach Paul O'Brien said: " We are really happy to now know our draw for the Youth Eurobasket. We have been handed a tough group but are looking forward to challenging ourselves against some really strong teams. The format is a little different this year which makes every game incredibly important so we have to really prepare well now over the next few months."