EuroBasket 2013
EuroBasket 2013 was the 38th edition of the EuroBasket championship that was organized by FIBA Europe. It took place from 4 September until 22 September 2013 in Slovenia. The number of participating teams was 24. France defeated Lithuania in the final to win its first title. Tony Parker was named the tournament's MVP. Host selection. Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Czech Republic, Germany, Italy and Slovenia brought forward a potential candidature for the FIBA EuroBasket. Countries which were interested in submitting a formal candidature had to do so by . On , it was announced that only two countries, Slovenia  and Italy had submitted formal bids. On , Italy announced its withdrawal from the run. The Basketball Federation of Slovenia (BFS) thus remained the only candidate organizer. The decision on the candidacy was officially reported after FIBA Europe's meeting in Munich, Germany on . In March 2011, the BFS appointed the economist Aleš Križnar as the director of the event. Format. In the first stage, every team had to play against every other team of their group (round-robin). This meant five matches per team. From every group, the three best teams advanced to the second stage and the three worst  teams were eliminated. In the second stage, two new groups were formed. The three best teams from groups A and B were united to form group E and the three best teams from groups C and D were united to form group F. In these two new groups of the second stage only matches by teams that had not yet played each other have to be played. As for the matches that had already happened in the first stage, their results also counted in the second stage. Therefore, every team played three matches and there are 12 teams in the  second stage. Out of the second stage, the four best teams from each of the two groups advanced to the quarterfinals (8 teams in total) whereas the two worst teams will be eliminated from the championship (four teams in total). Financing. The fee that Slovenia had to pay to FIBA Europe amounted to 6 million euros. According to the agreement, half of the money was paid by the Slovenian state. Logo, official song and mascot of the championship. The official mascot was Lipko, whose name came from combining the Slovenian word for linden tree and the diminutive ""ko"". The word  lipa is of Slavic origin. Lipko is spelt the same in every language and in every market where he is present. Venues. On 24 March 2011, it was officially announced that the preliminary round would be played in Novo Mesto, Jesenice, Koper and Ptuj. Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia, will host the final round at the Arena Stožice. On 18 June 2012, it was announced that the city council of Ptuj cancelled their bid for the tournament. Novo Mesto cancelled their bid on 2 July 2012. On 28 August 2012, it was confirmed that the preliminary round would be played  in Celje and Ljubljana (Tivoli Hall) instead of Ptuj and Novo Mesto, which cancelled their bids. Qualification. Olympic Games or Olympic Qualifying Tournament participants Spain, France, Russia, North Macedonia, Lithuania, Greece, Slovenia and Great Britain all qualified directly to the EuroBasket 2013 Final Round. The 31 remaining teams were divided into 5 groups of 5 teams and 1 group of 6 teams. The first and second placed teams in each group plus the 4 best third placed teams were qualified for the Final Round. The Qualifiers were played between 15 August and 11 September 2012. The EuroBasket 2013 draw took  place on 18 November 2012; first time in the history the draw took place underground – in the Concert Hall of Postojna Cave. Draw. The EuroBasket 2013 draw took place on 18 November 2012, first time in history the draw took place underground – in the Postojna Cave Concert Hall, divided the qualified teams into four groups of six, groups A, B, C, and D. It was decided that games would take place in Celje, Jesenice, Koper and Ljubljana. Included are the latest published FIBA World Rankings prior to the draw. Preliminary round. Group A. Venue: Tivoli Hall, Ljubljana Group B. Venue : Podmežakla Hall, Jesenice Group C. Venue: Zlatorog Arena, Celje Group D. Venue: Arena Bonifika, Koper Second round. The two groups comprised the three best-ranked teams from Groups A, B, C and D. Teams coming from the same initial group did not play again vs. each other, but "carried" the results of the matches played between them from the first round. The best four teams advanced to the quarterfinals.