If you want to know who I thought the winners and losers were from this summer’s European youth tournaments, you can check that out here.

I also throw in the fact that my opinion is that youth tournaments are only important in terms of identifiying top talent for the senior teams.

But, some people prefer the number crunching angle. I have seen things based around win percentages, but the Division A and B system screws this up too much, while the split after the Round of 16 at Division A tournament format adds further complications.

So, I will let you digest and discuss the merits of this so-called ‘Depth Chart’ for each of the 28 nations who competed in U16, U18 and U20 – arguably offering an overall evaluation of their strength in depth at youth level in Europe right now.

Although I still prefer the non-numerical breakdown and consideration as to who has future senior performers! Many of which Blue Star Media have been talking about in past months!

First number is overall ranking. Second number in ( – ) is overall finishing positions combined from U16, U18 and U20.

1. France (8)
2. Hungary (12)
2. Spain (12)
4. Italy (19)
5. Russia (21)
6. Serbia (23)
7. Latvia (25)
8. Belgium (26)
9. Czech Republic (35)
10. Slovenia (36)
11. Poland (37)
12. Croatia (38)
13. Germany (40)
14. Turkey (41)
15. Lithuania (42)
15. Sweden (42)
17. Bosnia and Herzegovina (52)
18. Netherlands (53)
19. Portugal (55)
20. Greece (56)
21. Belarus (57)
22. Romania (66)
23. Israel (71)
24. Ukraine (75)
25. Slovak Republic (78)
25. Great Britain (78)
27. Ireland (82)
28. Iceland (91)

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Photo: FIBA.com