News The EuroBasket Women 2015 tournament begins on Thursday (11) and leading female basketball teams from across Europe will go head-to-head for the championship and a chance to compete at Rio 2016 For the first time in the history of the European championship, the event will be held in two countries – Hungary and Romania This will be the second opportunity for Europe’s teams to qualify for next year’s Olympic Games, after the United States’ team came out in front at the World Championships in 2014, taking the first available spot at Rio 2016 The winner of the European championships will be guaranteed a spot at the Games alongside the USA (Follow the race to qualify for the 2015 Games here)In all, 20 teams are up to compete in the group stage Group A includes France, Montenegro, Czech Republic, Romania and Ukraine; group B includes Belarus, Italy, Greece, Poland and Turkey; group C includes Croatia, Great Britain, Latvia, Russia and Serbia; and group D includes Slovakia, Spain, Hungary, Lithuania and Switzerland The top three teams from each group will go forward to the grand final, scheduled for the last day of the championship on 28 June Spain is the favourite, as the European champion and vice world champion from 2014 However, as the next highest ranking teams on the International Basketball Federation’s (FIBA) list after the 2014 World Cup, France and Russia are expected to be serious contenders in the battle for this year’s title The European championship is the first of five continental qualifiers for Rio 2016 The next event will be the qualifier for the Americas (the 2015 FIBA America Championship for Women,from 9-16 August in Canada); Oceania (the 2015 FIBA Oceania Championship for Women, from 15-17 August, held in Australia and New Zealand); Asia (the 2015 FIBA Asia Championship for Women, from 29 August to 5 September, in China); and Africa (AfroBasket Women 2015, from 24 September to 3 October in Cameroon) After the continental qualifiers are over, the remaining basketball places for female teams at Rio 2016 will be decided at the the world FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament for Women 2016, scheduled for June next year Rio2016 com is not an absolute authority on qualification for the Olympic and Paralympic Games, which is an ongoing process Final places will only be confirmed in July 2016 (for the Olympic Games) and August 2016 (for the Paralympic Games) The qualification systems are defined by each sport’s respective International Federation and the International Olympic Committee or International Paralympic Committee, and are subject to change When an athlete or team wins a quota place for their nation, the final decision on whether this ‘slot’ is used and which athletes are sent is taken by the respective National Olympic Committee or National Paralympic Committee (NOC or NPC) Even when athletes win a ‘nominal’ place for themselves, NOCs/NPCs may have to decide who to send if the number of qualified athletes from one country exceeds the quota