FIBA Europe Under 20
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FIBA Europe had introduced the U20 European Championship for Women in 2000 with 24 nations participating in the qualifying round.
10 teams had joined Spain and the Slovak Republic (hosts) in the final tournament.
Russia had become the first champions beating the Czech Republic in the final (84-57) while Romania had edged out Turkey for bronze (58-55).
In 2002 25 teams took part in the qualifying round of which once again 10 teams qualified for the final. They were joined by Russia as defending champions and the Czech Republic, the hosts.
The Czech Republic went on to become champions by beating Russia in the final (77-74) while France defeated Latvia for bronze (77-62). All four teams from the semi-final qualified for the first FIBA U21 World Championship for Women in 2003.
The last U20 European Championship in which teams needed to qualify was hosted by France in 2004. Russia picked up their second title by beating France in the final (80-64) while the Czech Republic had to settle for bronze after defeating Hungary (72-52) in the third place match.
Since the summer of 2005, the qualification series was stopped and instead a Division A championship for 16 teams only was created. At the same time a Division B championship was introduced for the remaining nations.
The concept of relegation and promotion was introduced with the last two teams from the Division A championship being replaced by the top teams from the Division B tournament.
Russia were crowned champions of Europe on five occasions: 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008 and 2010.
France and Spain are next on the list with two titles, France won in 2005 and 2009 while Spain picked up the trophy in 2007 and 2011. The Czech Republic (2002) are the other winners.
In 2007 it was announced that the U21 World Championship would be stopped. Today FIBA Europe is the only zone that still has regular championships for this age group.
You will be able to find the links on the right side of this page of our own coverage from previous U20 European championships.
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Picture credits:
womensbasketball-in-france.com
FIBA Europe
Last update: 22 July 2011
