Great changes have taken place in the competition system and participating teams of this European Championship. Initially, the European Basketball Association was prepared to keep the original 16 national team competition system, but in order to better meet the needs of the rapid development of European basketball, last September, the Lithuanian Basketball Association and the European Basketball Association reached an agreement to expand the 20 1 1 European Championship to 24 national teams. By then, more European fans will flock to Lithuania, the basketball country along the Baltic Sea.
European championship system
The new European Championship system includes three stages: group stage, promotion stage and final stage.
Group stage:
Twenty-four teams were divided into four groups, A, B, C and D, with 6 teams in each group, and five rounds of group round robin were held. The top three in the group advanced to the second stage.
Promotion stage:
12 teams qualified in the group are divided into two groups, E and F, and 6 teams in each group play the second round robin. The top four in the group advanced to the final stage.
Final stage:
The eight teams that have advanced will be cross-eliminated according to the group ranking in the promotion stage, and the four teams that have won will advance to the semi-finals. After the semi-final cross-elimination, the winning team will play the championship final.