16 teams head to Bucharest for FIBA 3x3 U23 Nations League Final

17 Sept 2021

BUCHAREST (Romania) - After a record 28 teams competed in five different conferences this season, we head to the finale of the FIBA 3x3 U23 Nations League 2021. Bucharest, Romania is the home of the 4th edition of this event, taking place on September 17-18.

The event, which features players under the age of 23, has been the starting point for many 3x3 stars, including Olympic medalists.

In 2019, the last edition of the event, France were the winner on the men's side, while Russia took home the title for the women, including Tokyo 2020 silver medalists Evgeniia Frolkina, Olga Frolkina and Yulia Kozik.

 

This event is the culmination of a season's long, 5-conference campaign, that began in May 2021. Teams competed for their spot in the final from the following conferences: Africa-Asia, Europe-America, Europe 1, Europe 2, and U21.

Here were the winners of each conference:

Africa-Asia: Egypt (Men and Women)
Europe-America: France (Men and Women)
Europe 1: Russia (Men) and Poland (Women)
Europe 2: Lithuania (Men and Women) 
U21: Lithuania (U21) (Men) and Czech Republic (U21) (Women)

 

The Romanian men and women join the field as the hosts, while Poland and Israel took the last two spots for the men and Mongolia and Netherlands for the women. They earned these spots as the best-ranked, non-conference winners.

The pools for the event are as follows:

Men
Pool A: Russia, Lithuania U21, Egypt, Romania
Pool B: Lithuania, France, Israel, Poland

Women
Pool A: Mongolia, Egypt, France, Czech Republic U21
Pool B: Netherlands, Romania, Lithuania, Poland

*The pools for the Final were seeded based on the 3x3 U23 federation rankings.

The event will feature a lot of familiar faces, players who already compete for their senior national teams. The Olympian and country's flag-bearer Khulan Onolbaatar will represent Mongolia in the women's category. Noortje Driessen (Netherlands women), Martyna Petrenaite, Livija Sakeviciute and Egle Zabotkaite (Lithuania women) competed at the FIBA 3x3 Europe Cup last weekend. Florian Fortas (France men) and Artem Kiselev (Russia men) have already starred on the FIBA 3x3 World Tour.

Keep an eye on the conference top scorers who will be in Bucharest:

Africa-Asia: Amr Zahran (Egypt men)
Europe-America: Shoham Gat (Israel men), Hortense Limouzin (France women)
Europe 1: Adrian Bogucki (Poland men), Aleksandra Ziemborska (Poland women)
Europe 2: Eimantas Zilius (Lithuania men)
U21: Augustinas Mikstas (Lithuania U21 men), Alzbeta Levinska (Czech Republic U21 women)

Make sure to tune in to all of the action live on the FIBA 3x3 YouTubeFacebook, and Twitch channels.

 

FIBA