Skopje and Gevgelija Wrap Up the European U16 Basketball Championship
Ten days, two host cities, and national junior teams from across Europe — the U16 Division B European Championship closes today, with Macedonia once again proving it knows how to host.
From August 5 to 15, Skopje and Gevgelija were the center of European youth basketball. The Macedonian Basketball Federation hosted the U16 European Championship, Division B — games in Skopje were played at "T Arena," while Gevgelija's matches ran through the "NB Noel" and "26 April" sports halls.
This isn't the federation's first time hosting a tournament like this — several youth European championships have passed through Macedonia in recent years, and each new edition, federation officials say, strengthens the country's reputation as a reliable partner within European basketball.
Tournaments That Matter When No One's Watching
Cadet championships rarely fill stands and even more rarely make headlines — the players are 15, 16 years old, names that mean nothing to anyone yet. But it's exactly at tournaments like this that future national team players get built: the kids playing in front of half-empty halls in Gevgelija today could, a decade from now, be the ones wearing the national jersey on a much bigger stage.
For Macedonia, hosting also means something else — a chance for young basketball players from across the continent to get to know Skopje, Gevgelija, and the country itself, outside the context of politics or daily headlines.
MKNews Hub · Sport · August 15, 2026
