The 36th regional FIBA European championship, or Eurobasket, will take place from September 7th until the 20th of September.

(Discuss the tournament in our forum)

The tournament will be hosted by seven cities in Poland – Gdansk, Poznan, Warszawa, Wroclaw, Bydgoszcz, Lodz and Katowice, and help to determine 6-7 spots in the 2010 World Championships to be held in Turkey next year.

Many key players will be missing in this tournament, including Dirk Nowitzki, Andrei Kirilenko, Theo Papaloukas, Jose Calderon, Ramunas Siskauskas, Dimitris Diamantidis, Luol Deng, and Sasha Vujacic.

The absence of these players has created parity amongst the competition this year. Outside of a complete collapse by favorites Spain, there are no clear cut medal favorites as there has been in the past when teams like Greece or Lithuania were almost certain to medal.

A Russian team without Andrei Kirilenko? A Greek team without Diamantidis and Papaloukas in the backcourt? Germany without Nowitzki?

It’s tough to say how these programs will fare without their leaders.

Croatia always brings a strong team. France and Slovenia both look good on paper, but whether that translates on the court remains to be seen.  And which Turkish team will show up?

Turkey has already qualified for the World Championships because their country is hosting the tournament next year.

Whether Europe receives six or seven berths depends on where Turkey finsihes.  If they finish in the top-six, Europe will only have six representatives, but if Turkey finishes below sixth place, the top six teams plus Turkey will qualify for the Eurobasket.

Other teams looking to make noise are hosts Poland, Great Britain, Israel, Serbia, Latvia, Bulgaria and F.Y.R. of Macedonia.

You can discuss the tournament in our 2009 Eurobasket forum, or visit the official site at Eurobasket2009.org.